Who is your mother?When we answer that question, we all probably think first of our biological mothers, the women who brought us into the world, the women who packed our school lunches and helped us with homework and told us bedtime stories. But “mothering” is an activity that covers a lot of ground: there are countless women out there (and a few men, too) who have played a significant role in “mothering” us. Unfortunately, on Mother’s Day, we tend to forget them. W...

"Just talk to me." That’s what I used to say when I telephoned my mother. I was in my early twenties, living alone for the first time and feeling completely overwhelmed by life, and from time to time I’d call her up, crying, and I’d say, “please just talk to me.”And she would. She chattered on about the repairs to the roof that my father was finally getting around to, or the neighbor who’d thrown a loud party last Saturday night, or the book she&rsqu...

Archbishop Fulton Sheen was known, not just as a Catholic media personality, but also as a spiritual director who always had time to meet with people, individually, often for hours at a time. While any number of unexpected people were converted thanks to his work, he was modest about his efforts. “I am only a porter who opens the door,” Sheen said. “It is the Lord who walks in and does the carpentry and the masonry and the rebuilding from the inside.”Many of the archbisho...

If you are, then you’re not alone. A lot of people wonder about what will happen to the Church throughout this century and beyond. When I find myself worrying about the Church’s future—and believe me when I say I do—there is one place that I can turn that invariably gives me hope. I hope for the Church’s future for the simple reason that I have studied its past.Our history is filled with many inspiring, miraculous, and beautiful moments. It tells tales of heroi...

Can you remember who influenced your life the most? Perhaps it was someone from your childhood, an adult—such as a relative or teacher or priest—who made you see clearly what was important for you, what shape your life should take?That’s usually the way it happens: children are most often influenced by the lives of adults around them. But in one little-known situation, it worked the opposite way. And, oddly enough, the adult influenced by the child’s life lived half a wor...

As inhabitants of the 21st century, we tend to think that our style of anything—fashion, thought, language, music—is the best that things have ever been. We’ll listen to songs from the past with a grin of nostalgia. We’ll look at clothing from the past with a grimace of how-could-we. And while we know that the treasures of Catholic spirituality might be relevant to us today, we often get stuck precisely on their style.No one talks the way people used to, and no one writes...

by Alexis WalkensteinThat was the last thing I uttered when I was inside the crypt at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City at Christmastime 2008. I was praying to then-Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen, asking him for intercession with a litany of impossible prayer requests, three for others, and two for me. I closed my prayer with, ”If you help me with these intentions, I will promote you.” That profound moment inside the crypt was a stand-out moment of so many thin...

With the exception of the Bible, it is perhaps the most widely read spiritual book in the world. It was first published anonymously in 1418 and consists of a series of counsels of perfection that are as relevant today as they were when it was written.It is The Imitation of Christ, and every Catholic should own a well-thumbed and much-consulted copy!When its author, Thomas à Kempis, was a boy, he attended a school operated by the Brethren of the Common Life. He was so impressed with t...

Mary Lea Hill, FSP, has added a new book to her repertoire: The Church Rocks, an engaging and often amusing whirlwind tour of Church history. We caught up with the Crabby Mystic to ask her a few questions about it. Your new book, The Church Rocks, gives young people an overview of Church history in a delightful and entertaining way. But… why do we need to know about all this?We need to teach Church history to young people because it is our history, their history – it is a story...

If there’s one thing on which all Christians agree, it’s that the Gospels are at the heart of our faith. These are the stories of the Son of God: his birth, life, death, and resurrection. And if there’s one thing on which all Christians seem to disagree, it’s in how the Gospels should manifest in our lives, how we can live out their mandates. There’s a group of people who don’t seem to be concerned with the “how,” because, ...