We, Synod Fathers, gathered in Rome together with Pope Francis in the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, greet all families of the different continents and in particular all who follow Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We admire and are grateful for the daily witness which you offer us and the world with your fidelity, faith, hope, and love.Each of us, pastors of the Church, grew up in a family, and we come from a great variety of backgrounds and experie...

I, no doubt as many of you, heard about the work of the Synod on the Family through glaring news headlines earlier this week. It was a couple of days before I located the document itself (in its unofficial translation) on the Vatican’s website. By the time I read it I had already been bombarded with bloggers and journalists that had either usurped the Synod document to confirm their agenda or rejected it outright as a sell-out.This morning I found the Message of the Synod Fathers issued at the ...

 In preparation for the Synod on the Family, Pope Francis made it clear that the Synod Fathers do not have to “fix” the family. Rather, he is concerned that the family, rather than being an object for concern and study, be the subject of evangelization.It took me awhile to get to the meaning of the phrase “subject of evangelization.” My memories of diagramming English sentences in school helped me. A subject, Sister taught us, is who or what is doing the acting and an object is who or what i...

A friend just called me to ask for prayers for a sister who is having problems with her teenage son. We talked about many things including the challenge of being there as family members struggle through issues and challenges in today’s society.  The fabric of our relationships stretch and strain to absorb so many challenges today—big and small! The good news of the Gospel is that being born into a family is being born into a community.Particularly as Catholics we have an inescapable connection...

Two phone calls from members of my family are etched into my heart. They were spouses and parents whose hearts were breaking. I’m sure you’ve received similar calls: perhaps it was a brother whose wife is divorcing him, or a friend whose child is marrying outside of the Church, a mother whose son is caught up in gang violence, or a young adult who can’t find a job and a place to belong. Family is the place we should be able to find a shelter for our hurting hearts, and sometimes it is family ...

Electricity is a powerful image for the Christian life. A lamp gives light only when it is plugged in. When our computer doesn't turn on, the first thing we check is whether it is plugged in or the battery charged. Blessed James Alberione said that holiness was living the Christian life at high voltage. We have no light within unless we are "plugged in" to the grace God gives us in Christ. It is a simple way of expressing Jesus’ statement that we are the branches and he the Vine. Unless we are ...

The buzz has been out since 2013 that Pope Francis has decided to convoke an Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to treat the topic: The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization. The Synod is less than a month away now. On October 5-19, Pope Francis will bring together key religious leaders from around the world for the Extraordinary Synod on the Family. So what is a Synod on the Family going to do, you might ask. You may have heard about already in t...

Hi Moms! Have you ever had to deal with your child whining, “Mom, why can’t I have that?” as you navigate the grocery store? Hey there, Dads! Do your kids sometimes want to do some activity that’s a bit too old for them and you have to tell them, “When you get older, OK?” and they don’t particularly like that response? I know my parents did when I was growing up and I wasn’t always ready to hear what they were trying to teach me about not being selfish and thinking of others before mysel...

“How can I make you happy?” Most days I don’t really know the answer to this question—if you ask my husband he will tell you honestly he has been trying to figure that one out for thirty-plus years! But we both know one thing that consistently makes me happy—a book. As a publicist here at Pauline Books & Media, I am surrounded by books, and am blessed to work with many talented authors. Sometimes, however, God reaches out with his grace and touches me with the words of an author I will ...

Summer months are here. Kids are out of school. Some of the pressures that fill our lives from September to May are not as heavy. We have the chance to steal away for vacation, even if it's for just a week-end. I often think of all the vacations we went on as children…. They were great fun…for us kids. While I’m sure my parents enjoyed them also, they were still the parents even on vacation, still doing the driving, the disciplining, the listening, the teaching, the ...