Top 10 Ways to Make a Family Rosary a Reality

Praying together doesn’t have to be such a struggle

You know that the rosary is a powerful, Christ-centered prayer, and you would like to pray it as a family to bring its many benefits into your household. You envision a reverent domestic scene, gathering with your children around the family altar. They are purposefully fingering the appropriate beads and reciting the Hail Marys and Our Fathers with devotion. In Latin. Gregorian chant wafts softly in the background. Angels smile.

In reality, the children sprawl in various attitudes of beleaguered exhaustion on the couch and floor. Your tween daughter’s rosary is intricately woven between her fingers as if it were auditioning for a new career as brass knuckles. Whether you have eyeball-rolling teens or couch-acrobatic toddlers, here are 10 creative ideas for incorporating the rosary into your family’s daily routine in ways that are engaging, meaningful and, most importantly, doable.
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Your Place in the Domestic Church

“The work of evangelization begins at home.” –Pope Francis, April 2014

These are the resources included on the handout for the talk I gave at Holy Rosary, Edmonds on Sept. 19. The talk provided lots of practical ways to live out the liturgical year in the domestic church. You can download a PDF of the handout here, but all the live links are below. Continue reading “Your Place in the Domestic Church”

Pope Francis’ Bite-Sized Advice for Families

The pope’s weekly teachings pop with truth, freshness and vitality

If you have five minutes and a smartphone while waiting in the grocery store checkout line, you have enough time to read one of Pope Francis’ recent Wednesday audiences on the family.

Through this yearlong series, Pope Francis has been preparing the church for the World Meeting of Families this month in Philadelphia, as well as for the bishops’ Synod on the Family, which will gather in Rome in October. He urges prayer for the success of these important events, and highlights the importance of educating ourselves more deeply about the truth of marriage and family at this time. Continue reading “Pope Francis’ Bite-Sized Advice for Families”

The New Feminism and the Feminine Genius

Here are some writings on the New Feminism, also related to Catholic Womanhood and Spiritual Motherhood:

St. John Paul II, The Gospel of Life (Evangelium vitae), 1995

St. John Paul II, On the Dignity and Vocation of Woman (Mulieris Dignitatem), 1988

St. John Paul II, Letter to Women, 1995

St. John Paul II, on The Genius of Women, 1997, USCCB.

Dr. Pia di Solenni, blogging on Patheos. Nice video of her talk on Feminism and Beauty. Great interview about her dissertation.

Rebecca Ryskind Teti, “Woman, You are a Gift!” podcast

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Healing a Hurting Marriage

Retrouvaille offers hope for couples on the road to divorce

One-quarter of all Catholic marriages end in divorce, according to the most recent data from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. Chances are, at some point, most Catholics will encounter a family member, friend or fellow parishioner suffering distress in their marriage, even if they do not experience it themselves. The good news is that there is a successful Catholic program specifically designed to help heal and rebuild hurting marriages. Named Retrouvaille, a French word meaning rediscovery, it is offered several times a year in the Seattle Archdiocese. Continue reading “Healing a Hurting Marriage”

The Importance of Fatherhood

Pope Francis’ advice for fathers: be present, practice mercy

Daddy!” This call can mean so many things. It could be a delighted greeting at the end of a workday: “You’re home!” Or a proud, “Watch me do this!” On the other hand, “Dad!” could also express indignation at a boundary set — an important but less popular duty of fatherhood. “Dad!” could mean, “I’m scared — hold me!” or “Your turn, catch!” “Dad?” could mean, “Can you explain this/fix this/give me my allowance?”

What does it take to be a good father, to respond well to all those calls for Daddy? In two recent talks, Pope Francis (whose title, papa, means “daddy”) reflected on this. He said it takes presence and forgiveness. Continue reading “The Importance of Fatherhood”

Celebrating Spiritual Motherhood

All women, mothers or not, have a special gift of receptivity to the human person

There is something about a woman’s beauty that is life-giving. The radiance of a bride on her wedding day becomes the loveliness of a new mother’s smile as she gazes at her infant. Our grandmothers are beautiful because of their loving hearts, which nurture ours. The beauty of the Blessed Virgin Mary shines especially in her “yes” which brought the life and grace of Christ to us. And all women, married or not, and regardless of whether they have ever had children of their own, have a beautiful vocation to “spiritual motherhood.” Continue reading “Celebrating Spiritual Motherhood”