Puberty
Can You Celebrate Your Family in the Face of Imperfection?
Download the PDF Over the past ten months, we have reflected on various themes about what it means to be a family. In doing so, we have been joining the Church in an ongoing reflection. This reflection could be said to begin with Pope Saint John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Familiaris Consortio, “The Role of…
Read MoreCivility: Time for a Comeback
Download the PDF A recent experience literally made me stop in my tracks in disbelief. While on my nightly walk, I noticed a group of grade school children arguing in a neighbor’s yard. Their voices were extremely angry as they stood face to face poised for physical combat. Unmistakably, a line had been drawn about…
Read MorePreparing Yourself to Discuss the Deep Moral Issues
If you don’t feel knowledgeable or equipped to discuss the deeper moral issues with your child, don’t worry. You are not alone. Several factors make these moral issues challenging to approach: Catechesis in moral issues has been lacking and even confused since the 1960s. Fully understanding moral theology requires a bit of philosophical knowledge that…
Read MorePhysical Maturity: Setting Standards & Boundaries
Physical maturity according to God’s plan begins with the realization that the body is good. God created the human person as an integration of body and spirit. The body expresses the spirit. So our bodies reveal the “Imago Dei” – the image of God – to the physical world. God calls us to respect both…
Read MoreDoes Your Family Impact the Culture or Not?
How can your family have a positive impact on culture? Is it up to the schools to form your children into good citizens and faithful disciples of Christ? Or do parents need to take more responsibility for the education and formation of their children? Let’s reflect on the most powerful way to impact the culture by impacting your family.
Read MoreReady or not, here it comes. School is back in session!
Necessary Conversations So much changes with the start of a school year. Some families look at the return to set schedules, planned activities and earlier bedtimes with delight while other families loathe the loss of spontaneity and impulsivity. The personality of your family certainly colors how you will embrace the start of the academic year.…
Read MoreHow Can You Run an Ordered Household?
An ordered household is vital for children’s health and thriving. But how can we provide order in our busy, chaotic world? In this article, we explore the solution.
Read MoreChastity and Related Virtues
Virtue A Virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good. We develop virtues or good habits through education, good acts frequently done, and perseverance in struggle. There are four virtues that are considered pivotal to human persons: prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. These virtues are stable dispositions of the intellect and will…
Read MoreThe Importance of Relationship for Emotional Maturity
Raise Them WellEmotional Maturity TRAIN THE YOUNG IN THE WAY THEY SHOULD GO;EVEN WHEN OLD, THEY WILL NOT SWERVE FROM IT (PROVERBS 22:6). There’s another hole in our house. We have a hole in a bedroom, a couple in the basement, and now there’s a new one in the bathroom door. When I asked the kids…
Read MoreIntellectual Maturity: How Do We Know What Is True?
“And be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God” Romans 12:2 Many times my middle school daughter has come home saying that a teacher or a friend challenged a truth of…
Read More