Spanning Continents and Centuries Our Lady's Message Is Clear

“The messages of Our Lady of Akita seem to be unfolding today,” I said recently to a friend, who agreed and said I should also check out those of Our Lady of Good Success and some others.

        I did, and then wrote an article about it. There were some pretty alarming messages; here’s just a little preview:

       Our Lady of Akita prophesied: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops.” Then she warned:

If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad...

      Centuries earlier, in Quito, Ecuador, Our Lady of Good Success said something very similar. After describing the prevailing impurity in our times, she concluded, “Fire from heaven will be needed to purify these lands.”

      And Our Lady of San Nicolas cautioned: “God’s warning is over the world.… Two-thirds of the world is lost, and the other part must pray and make reparation for the Lord to take pity.… The earth is in great danger.”

       The article not only provides much more detail, but also gives the Church’s teachings on private revelations, what stringent criteria the Church uses in determining if they authentic, and the background and credibility of each of the Marian apparitions discussed.  

        To read the article in full, click here.
 

 SICDAMNOME [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

 Our Lady of Akita

Seeking God's Grace-Filled Healing for Sex-Abuse Victims

I’m not exactly eager to share very personal matters on a public platform, but I realized recently that my story could be helpful — both to those who are blessed not to know firsthand what being victimized in such a way is like and how long its negative effects can last, and to those who have suffered, to my fellow survivors, to give them hope. 

See my latest article, in the National Catholic Register:


http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/seeking-gods-grace-filled-healing-for-sex-abuse-victims

Why I Won't Be Leaving

Many people assume that those raised Catholic or Christian who retain their faith as adults haven't really thought about it and are just blindly following what their parents told them. 
     I don't know how common that really is. Most of the practicing Catholics and Christians I know have thought a lot about it. It's kind of necessary when you live in a culture that belittles or outright attacks your beliefs left and right.
     At least that's the case for me. I certainly studied and tested other worldviews. As a young adult, I  began researching--and today still continue to learn more about--the claims of Jesus to be the Christ and of the Catholic Church to be the Church He founded. I've been struck by just how solid both claims are, on so many levels: historical, logical, philosophical, theological, and evidential. To me the most compelling proofs were 

• the mysteriously empty tomb--to which history attests in multiple ways;
• the apostles’ honesty and sincere witness, verified by their willingness to ... 
• leave everything, including their homeland, to share the Gospel,
• be rejected, punished, and imprisoned, and 
• ultimately to die for proclaiming that Jesus had risen from the dead; 
• the conversion of Paul, who originally disbelieved and persecuted Christians and had nothing to gain by joining them; and
• the writings of the early Church Fathers.

     But with the recent "summer of shame" for Catholics, we have a different reason to just walk away. And many have. Over the past two months, my own parish has seen a significant decline in Sunday Mass attendance.
      Not I, though; I'm staying with the Church in this dark hour. The article link below explains ... 

      Why I Won't Be Leaving

Purification and Reparation: What Catholics Can Do With Our Present Anger

As for many Catholics, this "summer of shame" has been trying for me. Not for my faith or for my loyalty to the Lord or the Church, but trying to my patience. I'm sad and disgusted.

I do believe, however, that God can bring good out of anything and will do so if we pray. It is good for evil done in darkness to be brought into the light. That is the first step to restoration.

There are steps that we can and must make too. Read more here.

How It Went When I Discussed FABMs with My Doctor

Check out my latest article on the Natural Womanhood website:

How It Went When I Discussed 

FABMs with My Doctor

The Connection between the Sexual Revolution and “MeToo”: An Interview with Mary Eberstadt

From reading her works, I already knew Mary Eberstadt to be intelligent, articulate, and insightful. On May 31, 2018, I discovered that she's humble and approachable as well. 

It was a privilege to sit down and talk with her before the #MeToo Moment Conference: Second Thoughts on the Sexual Revolution in Washington, D.C., that day. You can read my interview with her and excerpts from her paper here:

The Connection between the Sexual Revolution and "MeToo": An Interview with Mary Eberstadt

Mary Eberstadt giving the Opening Remarks at the #MeToo Moment Conference

Reflections on the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Saints have reflected on the fact that Jesus called Himself the “door” and that his Heart was opened by a lance. He is the door through which we attain union with God, and the door of His Heart has been opened for us in His loving self-sacrifice on the Cross.

             How do we enter that Door? We think we are too large. But Christ is God and truly infinitely greater than we. If we are members of His Body, then we are like His cells. This leads to the question: which cells enter the sacred chambers of His Heart: the blood cells.

            The mission of a blood cell is to bring oxygen to the rest of the cells of the body. Our mission as Christians is not merely to enter the Sacred Heart of Jesus and stay there, basking in His love. He doesn’t call us to a mere me-and-Jesus existence. We are also meant to go on and share that Gospel, that wonderful divine invitation with others. To do this, we must be transformed by the Holy Spirit, the Breath of Life. Just like physical blood cells need to go by the lungs to be oxygenated, we need to get in touch with the Holy Spirit to bring the Breath of Life to the rest of the Body.

            A red blood cell that bypassed the lungs would be pretty useless. It might be very busy circulating all over the Body over and over, but its mission of delivering oxygen (or Life) to the rest of the body would be completely unfulfilled. 

            On the other hand, a red blood cell that spent all its time in the heart or lungs, selfishly grasping direct contact with the Source of Life constantly, would also miss its mission, its reason for being. In fact, it could help form a clot and thus block the mission.

            Thus we need both. We need to come back again and again to the heart and lungs—to Jesus and the Spirit—to be renewed in grace, and we need to go back out again and again and bring that grace to others. It is not our own grace, but God’s; we cannot create grace any more than red blood cells can create oxygen. But He has given us the sublime privilege of helping to deliver His life-giving grace to others.

            There is need to return to the heart and lungs again and again, to renew God’s grace in us in the sacraments (especially the Eucharist) and in prayer, but there is no need to take up residence there. We are still in His Body and part of His Body when we go out and fulfill our mission. He is always with us. Hence it is not a matter of either-or: contemplation or mission; it is both. 

            Spend time with Him again and again in prayer and be strengthened by getting close to Him (spend time in His physical Presence in the Blessed Sacrament). Then go out every day and share that Breath of Life with others.

MeToo Moment Conference Rethinks Sexual Revolution

I was blessed to attend the #MeToo Moment: Second Thoughts on the Sexual Revolution conference in Washington, D.C., last week. 

I think this conference has the potential to be one of if not the most significant "moments" for American women in the past 50 years.

I'll be writing several articles related to this. Here's the first, for Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly, an overview with links to all the talks of the conference:

#MeToo Moment: Second Thoughts on the Sexual Revolution Conference

Helen Alvaré wrapped up the conference with "A Way Forward"

Reproductive Respect

Here's another post I wrote for Natural Womanhood. (I should have given notice of this one first as it came earlier--in March). 

     As a former feminist, I find it particularly ironic (and frustrating) that feminists don't see the gender inequality inherent in chemical contraception. So when International Women’s Day rolled around last  March, I saw it as an opportune time to expose this blind spot in the efforts for gender equity. 
      Click here to read the article.

Natural Womanhood

I'm so grateful to have been invited to write occasionally for Natural Womanhood. This important website is spreading the good news about fertility-awareness-based methods of achieving or avoiding pregnancy. All from a health perspective. 
     This is a much-needed endeavor because the sad fact is the vast majority of people today have little or no knowledge of how bad chemical contraceptives are for women or that there is a range of natural alternatives.
     Here's a link to my latest post there: 
How FABMs Improve Couple Communication in an Age When We Especially Need It

Al Kresta on the Past, Present, and Future of Catholic Radio

Being asked to interview Al Kresta was a welcome proposal because I'm a big fan of his radio show, Kresta in the Afternoon. But it was also a bit intimidating, because he is such an excellent interviewer himself. 
     Dr. Ray Guarendi--another popular Catholic radio show host--often jokes about competing with Al Kresta for the "Annual Humility Award." If there were such a thing, I think Mr. Kresta could really be a contender. At least, I found him to be intelligent, wise, and dedicated, yet also unassuming and very easy to talk with.
     To read the interview in Catholic World Report, click here.

Mary Beth Bonacci Is Back!

I was blessed to work at Ignatius Press in-house a year after I graduated from college--indeed there have been and continue to be manifold blessings from working with Ignatius Press. One blessing was meeting Mary Beth; she'd come into the office periodically between trips.
      Mary Beth Bonacci was among the very first national chastity speakers. If you've ever heard any of her presentations, you know why. She makes excellent points and is engaging and hilarious at the same time.
      She had reduced her speaking significantly a decade or so ago, but then I saw on Facebook that she was starting to make herself more available for speaking engagements again. Mary Beth gave a fascinating account on her website about one factor in these decisions: her stalker.
      I thought this was a story that needed broader coverage, so I called her up and interviewed her. You can read the interview here at Catholic World Report.
   

Former Warner Bros Executive Uses Gifts for Christ

Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly asked me a couple years ago to write an article on how the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was transforming their media outreach in a major way. (You can find that article here.)

      So I had the pleasure of interviewing some very interesting players: John David Long-Garcia, editor of Angelus News; David Scott, director of communications for the archdiocese; and Matt Meeks, head of the archdiocesan digital team. In the course of our conversation, Matt let drop some fascinating tidbits of his own journey, which I felt would make a great story.

      When Catholic World Report invited me to pitch some interview ideas, Matt's story came to mind. Here's the link to the resulting interview: "This Former Warner Bros Exec. is Making Digital Media Work for the Church."

Interview with Marcus Grodi

It was my privilege last fall to interview Marcus Grodi, founder of the Coming Home Network and host of the EWTN television/radio show The Journey Home on the show's 20th anniversary. Indeed, our conversation was so rich as to warrant two articles in Catholic World Report. The first, "Marcus Grodi Reflects on 20 Years of The Journey Home," came out in December 2017. The second article is still in production and regards trends in conversion to the Catholic Church, a topic on which he is in an excellent position to discuss.


To read the first article, click here.

Father Capodanno--Modern Hero

       At a graduation lunch in June 2017, I was privileged to sit at the same table with Archbishop Timothy Broglio. He shared with us that his archdiocese, the Archdiocese of the Military Services, U.S., had just finished compiling and sending all the documentation for Fr. Capodanno's cause for canonization to the Vatican's Congregation of the Causes of Saints. I interviewed him a few months later to learn more. Here's the article I authored about it for Catholic World Report: 

Honoring “the Grunt Padre” 50 years after his death

Servant of God Father Vincent Capodanno died administering the sacraments to men in combat. Fifty years later, the cause for his canonization is underway.

“He certainly could be a patron for doing the right thing at the right time,” Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio told Catholic World Report, speaking of Servant of God Father Vincent Capodanno’s willingness to “obey God rather than...

To finish reading the article, click here.

"Nun and Nunner" (and other matters)

Obviously, I haven't posted here in a while. So I thought I'd give an update and share what I've been up to.

I finally finished my first book, and it's now in the hands of the publisher, Ignatius Press. Currently titled "How Do I Love Thee? Eight Ways to Love God Revealed by Love Himself," it's due out in the fall of 2018.

Before and since completing it last summer, I've mostly been doing freelance writing. I was invited by Catholic World Report to do some writing for them, which has been great.

I'll post here (gradually) links to some of my articles published in the last six months or so.

Here's one I did somewhat recently for Our Sunday Visitor, about a couple young women who have a great comedy-music act, "Nun and Nunner." I've never laughed so much while conducting an interview as I did with them.

Click on the title to read: "A New Sister Act: Nun and Nunner"