Twice now I have had the good fortune to be pregnant during Advent. All of the gospel readings come alive in a special way for me. For instance, both times, the Sunday that we read the Visitation gospel, I happened to be six months pregnant—exactly the same as Elizabeth. As Elizabeth tells Mary that the [...]

Crowns fall fittingly upon the head of the Virgin during this month of May, but it is also fitting that they fall upon the head of every mother. Mothers possess hearts that act like God’s megaphone. It is of the very nature of mothers to be God’s proxy in a world weary of God. Even [...]

God created the world not out of necessity but out of generosity. Eternally blessed and perfect in himself, God had no need to create and no need of creation. Instead, in freedom he created in wisdom and in love. Each creature God endowed with gifts proportionate to its role, but he crowned man with a [...]

The days are long and lonely for millennial moms who are often living outside of Catholic community simply because there are so few of us going to Mass and even fewer having babies. In a society that claims children as the heaviest burden we 20-somethings can undertake, we ache for the companionship of other mothers with [...]

We have a crisis of womanhood in our culture. Everyone knows it. Few admit it. Generations ago, the secular-humanists designed a brave new woman who is shrill, selfish, arrogant, and bossy (oh no! the ‘b’ word!). With a clarifying view to Scripture, we can see in retrospect that we have all (myself included) become—at least [...]

This is a week for celebrating life. In Washington D.C., the March for Life continues its long tradition of marking the anniversary of Roe v Wade with a massive demonstration in remembrance of the unborn. Appropriately enough, Pope Francis set the week off by affirming the Church’s stance on artificial contraceptives on his visit to [...]

President Obama’s remarks on October 31 to Rhode Island College were pro-women, at least according to some. He spoke of the need for equal pay for equal work, for increased career opportunities for women and improved leave policies for working parents who needed to take care of a sick child. All of these promises, no [...]

When Hilary Rosen said that Ann Romney had “actually never worked a day in her life,” she probably didn’t expect the reaction her comment would generate. Defenders of Ms. Rosen have tried to convince us that she misspoke or we misunderstood. One might excuse Ms. Rosen if she were a neophyte to the political scene, [...]

Most Americans are unaware that about $700 Billion a year of federal taxpayers' money is handed out to non-taxpayers allegedly below a poverty line (in addition to $250 Billion a year given out by the states). After Barack Obama became President, he increased federal welfare spending by a third because, as he promised during his [...]

Forty years ago, the sexual revolution broke through the last barricades of Victorian propriety. A whole generation drifted toward moral anarchy in its fitful pursuit of sexual liberation. At the end of the day, the casualties of this revolution surround us—AIDS patients, aborted children, and single mothers. But only recently have the intellectual elite come [...]

The feminist slogan of the sixties, "sisterhood is powerful," was not in itself a falsehood, but insofar as it led to an eclipse or a denial of the value of motherhood, it created a great deal of confusion and unhappiness for young women. Whereas the late John Paul II saw motherhood as a fulfillment of [...]

Many years ago, my mother compared her life as a mother of nine children to a Merry-Go-Round. She said it felt like she stepped on each morning and spun around and around until the end of the day when she stepped off, slept a little, and got right back on the neext day. Back then, [...]

A quick look around the Catholic mom-o-sphere might leave you with the impression that most Catholic moms -- especially those with large families -- are a bunch of Frugal Frannies. And that might be so. Depending where you click, you can find articles about sewing your own clothes, baking your own bread, and making your [...]

I'm reading books to my older girls when my 16 month old starts opening and closing her chubby hands (the sign for "milk"; lest you be too impressed, she knows about four signs: "book," "more," "milk," and "please," all the important things in life). "Maa! Maa!" (her word for milk) she says emphatically, hands still [...]

I have crossed over to the other side. I'm not sure when it happened, but something fundamental about my circumstances has changed. I am an old person now. I first realized it a few years ago when I was flipping through a women's magazine and an ad caught my eye. It was the kind of [...]

My mother did not, to my knowledge, abort any of her children. I do, however, distinctly recall a miscarriage she suffered when I was twelve years old, which caused her great emotional and physical pain. I understood, from my adolescent perspective, that what was lost was somehow precious to her. As another of her children, [...]

During my pregnancy with my first child, I belonged to an interdenominational Bible study that was filled mostly with medical students who planned on doing mission work. Waddling in to the room, I remember feeling like a spiritual slacker surrounded by all these selfless MDs-to-be, discussing their plans to spread the Good News while offering [...]

Over the past six years, people -- particularly other moms -- have asked me how I've handled being a military mom. Most of the time, I just chuckle. I don't feel like I've handled it at all. Basically, I've let our Blessed Mother handle it for me, and I merely go along for the ride. [...]

  "So what do you do?" I'm asked over drinks at a recent party.   I mentally flip through a list of possible responses. I hesitate, considering my interrogator. I think I remember someone mentioning he works as a neurosurgeon.   He performs brain surgery. I wipe little bottoms.   So here's my quandary: Do [...]