My newborn and his backstory

Thomas Emil

10lbs 7oz

19.5" long

December 29th

If you follow me on Instagram or my blog's Facebook page then you've already met our new son, but here he is for the blogging world: Thomas Emil. 

Thomas, who I will now refer to as Tee on the blog, was born via a scheduled c-section the day before our 9th wedding anniversary. 

Travis chose his first name in honor of Thomas Aquinas. Honestly, the only thing I know about Aquinas is that he was a great deal smarter than I am so, while I will make attempts to learn more about the saint so I can instill a devotion in my son, I'm letting the bulk of that work fall to Travis. 

I chose the middle name Emil in honor of Fr. Emil Kapaun. I am still learning about Fr. Kapaun, whose cause is open for canonization, but the more I learn the more inspired I am. There are certain saints who seem to reach out to us at different times in our lives and Fr. Kapuan is definitely one of those cases. If you're not familiar with him, please take a minute to watch (or even just listen) to this video:

You can also learn more about him here.


But now back to Tee.

Look at those toes!

Tee's pregnancy was a surprise and one that sorta knocked us off our feet for a moment, while still making me really happy. And then, shortly after we announced the pregnancy, something happened. I mentioned it, but I am ready to tell the whole story now because of a comment our parish priest made to me last weekend. His words knocked me off my feet again, in a completely different way, and I felt like the story - which had been so painful and personal - should be told from this perspective that is filled with light. 

 One evening about half way through the pregnancy I started to feel a little ill so I went to bed early. In the middle of the night I woke up in pain - it felt like I was having a long, strong contraction. It didn't stop.

My womb, which reached the top of my belly button, was incredibly tender and tight. The contraction would increase in intensity, making me cry and feel nauseous, and because nothing made it improve and the contractions were time-able Travis took me to the hospital.

I was taken to labor and delivery and my midwife's ob happened to be the one who saw me. He had no idea what was going on. The high risk doctor came to see me and he had no idea what was going on. I was having contractions, it hurt like hell any time anyone touched any part of the lower half of my belly, and we didn't know why.

They started me on antibiotics and gave me and morphine for the pain, and the ob explained that they believed there was an infection in my womb, causing the pain and my low fever. Because of the infection they didn't know if they would be able to stop labor but even if labor stopped they didn't know how the infection would effect the baby. The doctor explained this and left. The nurse remained.

I asked her if my baby was going to die. She looked at me and told me that they believed I was in labor and had an infection in my womb. If the baby was born he would not be viable because of his gestational age. If the baby was not born the baby would probably still not survive because of the infection and the baby's gestational age.

She left the room and Travis and I called our parish to let them know that I was in the hospital and things were not looking good for our unborn child.

I began to drift to sleep because of the morphine and Travis left to find some coffee. The next thing I knew there were two nurses standing by me. They were talking over me, thinking I was still asleep and so I closed my eyes. My nurse said to the other, "I am having a hard time placing the monitor to find the fetal heartbeat. But really it doesn't even matter, you know." I opened my eyes just enough to see the other nurse nod and say, "Because of ... yeah." "We shouldn't even have to because it doesn't matter," my nurse said. She sounded annoyed.

And I knew what they meant. It didn't matter if they did fetal monitoring because the baby was going to die one way or the other. The morphine made me drift back off to sleep.

The next time I woke up Travis was in the room and I told him what had happened with the nurses. A sonogram and amnio had been ordered and so we decided to learn the sex of the baby so we could pick out a name in the time we had left. I sat and started to plan out the funeral in my head.

Shortly after our priest, Fr. W, arrived with the Eucharist. We explained the situation to him and he prayed over me and took the Eucharist out, held Him over my womb, made the sign of the cross, and then gave me and Travis Holy Communion.

The sonographer came and everything looked fine - our little boy (boy!) was kicking happily. They looked at my ovaries, appendix, and the whole of my womb - everything looked fine. The high risk doctor took a sample of the amneotic fluid (amnios hurt, fyi) and said the color looked good. Over the next 24 hours every single test came back normal, my contractions stopped, and the tenderness went away. They never figured out what was going on exactly but then it cleared up and I was discharged.

At home we quickly learned that if I did too much my contractions would kick in again so I was put on temporary bed rest and after almost two weeks of letting my body rest everything was back to normal. Travis and I just went on thinking it was this weird fluke. We were grateful that the baby was alive and well and we just fell back into the normal rhythm of life.

Tee was born (I'll tell that story another day) and, honestly, I didn't think of the illness and how we almost lost him except for one passing thought when he was a week old. But then last week, when Tee was two weeks old I saw Fr. W and he looked at my son and asked how he was doing.

"He's fine. A good sleeper and a really sweet baby," I said.

"You see," he said, "that's the power of the Sacraments! It's a miracle. The Eucharist did it. We thought he was in trouble but he's fine. It's the power of the Sacraments - and our faith!"

And I felt like an ass. A complete and utter ass. How had I missed that? How had I just assumed it was a fluke? My baby was likely going to die, but then my baby and my body were blessed by our Eucharistic Lord, and my baby lived.
 

Glory to God in the highest - my son lived. 

A Picture Perfect Holiday... or not

This post was originally featured on Mama Needs Coffee. 

When Jenny asked me to share with her lovely readers about the traditions and decorations and incredibly well-though-out reasons behind them that help define Advent in our home I thought, "I've got this."

Here's the truth: I don't.

I sit here 38 weeks pregnant and having contractions. I have pain in my my SI joints that is so bad I sometimes cannot move and usually walk like a zombie. I can fall asleep on the sofa at any time of day. Dinner tonight may possibly be cold cereal.

The plans I had for this year's fall and winter have all pretty much been laid aside for the advent of the baby in my womb. Even the things three weeks ago I thought we'd be able to pull off have fallen to the wayside.

For sure we'd still be able to cut down a Christmas tree on Guadete Sunday... or not.
For sure I'd be able to make the St. Lucy rolls and share them with my friend's family who just had a Lucy of their own... or not.
For sure my eldest child and I would be able to do the Jesse Tree together, reading the Scripture and discussing the meaning... or not.
For sure I could at least sit with my kids and re-enact the nativity story with them using our toy nativity.... or not.

But all of that is okay. This Advent we're doing what we can do and the little things still matter and still make a difference. This year's Advent is different than last year's, just as they will each probably vary for us. Our little traditions don't make or break the holiday season and since I'm not the liturgical living police I'm not gonna sweat what we have not accomplished this year.

But because this is a peak about what we are doing to keep Advent in our home I'll show you what we have accomplished.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care and St. Nick filled them on the eve of his feast day.

Also, the "Dad Zone" was marked out on the carpet.

Our nativities were set up (we have 4, two of which are kid-friendly). The "grown up" nativities are empty, waiting for the Holy Family to arrive.

Holy Mary, St. Joseph, and their donkey always hang out on the Advent wreath until December 24th. We have lit the candles almost every night at dinner, singing "O Come, O Come, O Come-O" as my three year old calls it. Then ensures a lively discussion of who got to blow out the candles last and whose turn it is this night. No child has been burnt and the two year old's hair was only slightly singed, once. 

The Wise Men are on the bookshelf, way off in the Far East, aka: the far side of the living room. After Christmas they'll move to the Advent Wreath, where we'll have a white Christmas candle for the kids to fight over. 

My living room's gallery has a couple of items that change for each season: the "chalk board" (actually foam board and white paint pen) and the Audrey Eclectic artwork.

The kids art gallery (rope + clothespins attached to the wall) was cleared of all Thanksgiving artwork to make room for the Christmas projects. The Jesse Tree has a few more ornaments (colored and hung by my oldest) but then that petered out. But it still looks nice next to the nativity, which the kids do play with, even if we don't have theological conversations about it. 

And while we didn't actually cut down the tree on the Third Sunday of Advent, we did drive to a tree place in the steady rain. I sat in the minivan with the little kids while my husband bought a pre-cut one and tied it to the top of the vehicle with the help of our 6 year old (it was adorable). It stands, sorta majestically, in the corner of our living room with a crooked star and most of the decorations on the top half.

It took our family a few years to find which Advent traditions work best for us, but even those still fluctuate a bit. At this point, St. Nick filling stockings for his feast day (and no Santa at Christmas) works well for us - making it easier for me and my husband to teach about a saint and generosity while keeping the emphasis a bit more on Mass and Christ than on the presents. Having the nativities out but waiting for Christmas and Epiphany to move all the figures to the stable is a fun way for the kids to interact with the nativity story and they serve as aides in my personal prayer life as well. Getting the tree, cranking up the Christmas music, and busting out any remaining decorations on Rejoice! Sunday helps my family to actually rejoice.

All together, doing Advent the way we do makes it feels like our home is preparing a bit more each week for Christ's birth. It's like nesting, but for the Infant Christ.

Announcing the Finding Your Fiat Catholic Women's Conference

Some friends and I have been working on something behind the scenes for a couple of months now and today is the day I finally get to tell everyone. 

This summer, June 24-25, Molly Walter, Abbey Davis Dupuy, and I will be offering a Catholic women's conference called Finding Your Fiat.

We really believe it will be great. We talked about what we wanted in a conference (a fun, come as you are night out + talks given by women we know and admire who can speak to our hearts about our lives + affordable!) and then we set out to make it happen. 

We kept things simple (no vendors, no swag bags, nothing too fancy) which kept ticket prices and our stress levels low. We focused on bringing in great speakers and a yummy lunch and booked a parish hall so we could have access to Reconciliation, Mass, and a quiet chapel to pray. 

Our speakers will be amazing! Jenna Guizar and Meg Hunter-Kilmer will be keynoting and our growing list of breakout speakers already includes Annie Tillberg and Marie Miller.

Friday night we're co-hosting a Girls' Night Out with Blessed Is She and it will be wonderful. So. Much. Fun.

Tickets will go on sale soon but we wanted to share the date and info with you now so you can make plans and possibly add it to your Christmas wishlist. 

You can learn more about the Finding Your Fiat conference at our website. And I hope I can see you this summer!

The Rest of the Story & Pre-Gaming for Halloween

A few years ago, one of our children would awaken to someone calling their first name, telling us the voice sounded like a little girl’s. That same child would also run down the hall in the middle of the night, screaming, crying, heart pounding, terrified of something, something they couldn’t explain but it knew our child’s name. I had always believed in the “visible and invisible” but it was this experience that initiated my desire to understand the difference between the invisible good and the invisible bad.

The invisible evil—demons and Satan himself, prowling about the world seeking the ruin of souls—are just as much a reality as our Guardian Angels and Saint Michael, who will defend us in battle and be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

Those words were written by me, and were published today for the Blessed Is She devotion. While I go into a bit more detail in the devotion several women have asked for the rest of the story: what did we do to help and protect our child in this situation. So here it is, the rest of the story:

Our home was blessed when we moved in but with this issue we wondered if it should be blessed again. We told a couple of priests about it (our pastor and a family friend) and asked for their thoughts on the issue. Then, armed with their advice; a respect for the situation; and formation we had received in spiritual warfare we proceeded:

When our child would hear the voice again or have a bad nightmare I would make the sign of the cross on the 4 corners of the child's bed, praying out loud, "In the Name of Jesus Christ, nothing evil can touch this bed." Then I would bless and mark my child with the sign of the cross and pray out loud, "This child belongs to Christ and in His Name nothing not of God can come near. No evil is allowed near my child, in the Name of Jesus Christ." I would pray the Guardian Angel prayer and the St. Michael prayer over the bed. I would entrust my kiddo to the care of the BVM and then I would go into the hallway and, again praying out loud, I would announce that only angels of God were allowed in my children's rooms, in our house, on our property, or anywhere near our house or family members. I used holy water and continued to pray in the Name of Christ that anything evil would leave immediately. I told satan and his demons to go back to Hell.

Travis did his own version of all this, too and after several incidents it stopped. Because I am my children's mother I have spiritual authority over them and knew that, while submitting to God and calling on His Name we would be safe. Also, because I had discussed it with priests beforehand I knew that what I was doing was safe and that we weren't working with something scarier or in need of "the big guns" aka an exorcist or even someone ordained. So what I was doing was in my job description, so to speak.

I say that because I really do believe that satan is real and he is trying to get at us and so I don't want anyone to think I  took this lightly or that I am offering advice for what you should do. Just as you have authority over your children, your pastor has authority over you and so do talk to him if something creepy / supernatural is happening in your home.

Now, you can read the rest of today's Blessed Is She devotion here. In fact, I think you should. Once I saw the following tweet from Pope Francis I thought, "The Holy Spirit has a message for today."

You can read about a couple other run-ins I've had with the supernatural in this post, The Seen and the Unseen and St. Michael the Archangel.


And now for the second half of this post: a little bit of pre-gaming for Halloween.

In case you're scratching your head wondering why - after the experiences described above - I would celebrate Halloween in our home I share this excerpt with you, taken from a post I wrote a few years back:

Somewhere between the occult and harvest parties lies what Halloween could and should be...

We’re Catholics, folks. We own weird, bizarre, and even slightly creepy. We reverence bone-y relics, we do exorcisms, we have holy cards of St. Peregrine showing off his cancerous leg. We look death and evil squarely in the eyes and say, “Oh, it’s you” and roll over on our beds to go back to sleep. We do this because we know that Christ has conquered death. Mary’s heel is squashing the serpent’s head. St. Michael has satan in chains, ready to cast him into Hell.

You can read the rest here: Halloween in Our Home.

Queen Elsa, a pirate, a princess, a little lion man, and No Noggin say Hello from the Troll Bridge.

And just for good measure, here's my Halloween playlist:



HAPPY HALLOWTIDE, EVERYONE!

Getting back into the swing of things: Living liturgically in the month of October

The last few months have been so crazy for my family. There was the scare that we were losing our baby, the bed rest that followed, the death of my grandmother, and the wedding of my sister-in-law. 

I've been living my life, scrambling from one thing to the next, unable to do anything because I was always playing catch-up and running late and missing things completely. 

For a bit I was feeling doomed to continue in this way until I was reflecting on my faith and what I love about it. Hands down, one of the greatest gifts the Catholic Church gives me is the structure and rhythm of incorporating liturgical living into our domestic church. I realized that while I had needed to discard meal planning and feast day celebrating while I was in the hospital, on bed rest, and the days that followed it was time to bring them back. 

For me, feast day celebrating is usually pretty basic. I have to feed my family and life runs more smoothly with a meal plan so I just sit down with my calendar, take note of any feast days I want to celebrate, and write out a menu. 

But sometimes I don't even try to have a meal that makes sense with the saint. I'm not making French food for St. Therese, for example. In those situations dessert and a holy card are enough for me. And more often than not, just dessert. 

But I thought I'd share the feast days I'm planning on trying to celebrate this October. Just having these things noted on the calendar make me feel like I'm regaining a hold on my life. 

So here's to living intentionally!

I'm going to sneak this first one in at the last minute but...

September 29th - Michaelmas: 

Here's our menu for Tuesday's dinner + my interview with Haley from Carrots for Michaelmas. 

October 1st - St. Therese of Lisieux: 

Roses on the dinner table with a holy card + a simple dessert

October 5th - St. Faustina:

Pierogies + Polish sausage for dinner and the hope that we'll pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet 

October 7th - Our Lady of the Rosary:

Chocolate chip and mini marshmallow rosary for dessert

October 19th - St. John de Brebeuf, St. Isaac Jogues, and Companions 

Burgers and french fries - all American fare for the North American Martyrs

October 22nd - St. John Paul the Great

Pierogies and Polish sausage for dinner, plus my favorite JPII jam, and some more ideas with a Knot Bad Video

October 31st - All Hallows Eve

Halloween in Our Home

All Saints' Day Halloween Party - games + food + costumes + decorations

The Assumption and some great milestones

Let's start off with one of my favorite Marian songs, courtesy of JJ Heller. Or as Sebastian says in The Little Mermaid: moooood music.



Today is the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. It's the day we Catholics honor Mary's special relationship with Christ and our belief that God preserved her from sin and therefore brought to Heaven body and soul at her death.

When I think of Mary I prefer to think of her as the mother of a grown Son. As I wrote once, "I like to think of her, Jesus and the apostles sitting around and she's telling them stories of the days in Egypt. Of the goodness of her husband. Of what it was like when the angel came to her. Of her three months with Elizabeth. I think that by the time she was standing at the foot of the cross she wasn't as thin as she had been in youth, though she was solid and strong. Her hands and face weren't as firm and wrinkle free. This is the woman I turn to for help in prayers."

Beyond just being a wonderful feast day, there's also some great things happening with two ministries I love (and I'm a part of).

One year ago today Blessed Is She launched and it's been such an answer to prayers for me: a daily devotional that is written by Catholic women for Catholic women. That's not fluff. That's not heretical. That's well done. Praised be Jesus! For example, here's today's devotion.

There's even a sweet giveaway happening over at the Blessed Is She site in honor of the celebration.

Additionally, The Visitation Project now has it's own website, thanks to your generosity. Coming very soon will be a newsletter for our listeners, special exclusives, and aired episodes available on iTunes.

Thank you to everyone has supported BIS and TVP over the last months.

Now go eat some blue jello with marshmallows or whipped cream (like a sky, get it?)!

Happy Feast Day!

Fulton Sheen Family Day - making our faith fun and interesting through Venerable Sheen

The second annual Fulton Sheen Family Day was held this past weekend in El Paso, Illinois. 

Why El Paso? Well, while New York is where Sheen is currently entombed, D.C. is where he spent the majority of his life, and Peoria is where he was raised and first served as a priest, it was in the small town of El Paso where Fulton Sheen was born, baptized, and spent his earliest years. 

St. Mary's Parish and Fr. Don hosted the event and while numbers were low it was a really wonderful day. 

At registration kids grabbed a bag, filled it with a Sheen holy card, coloring book, and comic book. We ask for a $1 per person donation, which helps us offset the cost of supplies but also keeps the event family (and budget) friendly. Everyone was also able to enter for a one of our door prizes.

Ignatius Press, Sophia Press Institute, the Sheen Foundation, and musician Matt Faley all made donations for the door prizes.  

We also gave away Sheen's World Mission Rosaries, dvd's, holy cards, and more.

The sisters who run the Sheen Museum in Peoria (a really great visit if you ever get the chance!) brought some relics and other interesting items to display.

We even got a picture of St. Mary's priest, Fr. Don, wearing Sheen's chasibule. 

The sisters also brought this great timeline of Sheen's life. 

Here's one of my favorite facts:

Fr. Don brought a collection of photographs from all the times Bishop Sheen returned to El Paso. He came back several times throughout the years to preside at the wedding of family members and to be present for other special events.

There were four activity stations and each one had a simple version for younger kids and a more detailed version for older kids. All the stations taught about the faith but also related to Fulton Sheen's life. There were adults and teens at every station to explain the craft and how it related to Sheen. Our hope is that children and parents alike will find the Sheen Family Day to be a fun, interesting mini pilgrimage. We hope they will walk away having learned something new that will lead them to know and love Christ more, and having enjoyed being Catholic.

Miraculous Medals:

Spiritual Adoption of Unborn Babies & Fetal Models:

A priest is not his own:

(The kids colored and tape up the altar, then colored the stand-up. One side was a priest, the other Christ.)

World Mission Rosary:

Snacks! Because the day began at 2, followed by a kid-friendly holy hour at 4, with the invitation for the Sheen Family Day attendees to stay for the 5pm Mass, we wanted to make sure there were snacks to help keeps kiddos happy and tummies content until dinner time.

Katie's mom made the cookie cakes with the Sheen chalkboard frosting.

Lots of fruits and veggies, too!

And cute plates and napkins.

The extra tables had coloring sheets so families could snack and color, or even grab some of these and take them home in their goody bags.

Following the activity and snack time, we headed over to St. Mary's Church for a holy hour. If you ever get to St. Mary's make sure you check out the Baptismal register, where Sheen signed his name at his entry during one of the visits

Fr. Don sat on the steps and talked to the kids about Christ in the Eucharist and led the kids in prayers. As runaway toddlers brisked past him, he didn't bat an eye, and a musician led songs throughout the hour, too.

Katie even created a special booklet for kids to use while they prayed.  L told me it was the best holy hour she'd ever been to.

The whole day afternoon was really wonderful, and it wouldn't have been possible without the generosity of the following:


The Sheen Foundation, for their donation of various books, printed materials, and for bringing special relics and Sheen Museum items.

Sophia Press Institute, for their donation of God's World and Our Place in It, Wartime Prayer Book, and Angel in the Waters

Ignatius Press, for their donation of Remade for Happiness

Matt Faley, for the donation of his album The Only Light

Katie Bogner, who put a great deal of time, talent, and treasure into developing the day, recruiting volunteers, planning and preparing for the crafts.

Sr. Lea, Sr. Anne, Fr. Don, and all the folks who volunteered - this really couldn't have happened without them.


Next year we plan on being back in Peoria. I hope to see you then and there!

My Five Favorite Things About Being Catholic

In all reality a list of what I love about being Catholic and why I am Catholic could go on and on. And on. 

Last week's episode of The Visitation Project was actually about our favorite things about being Catholic so I thought I'd add to the conversation by playing along with Jenna's lovely link-up. So, in no particular order:

My five favorite things about being Catholic! 

#1 - The consistency. Everything we believe is connected and I love that. The Teachings of the Catholic Church are clear (even where they are empowering us to use our own discretion) and they are all intertwined. What we believe about being made in the Image and Likeness of God is directly related to what we believe about the moment of conception, and those are both related to what we believe about marriage, and those are all related to what we believe about salvation, and those are related to redemptive suffering. When a minister of the Eucharist holds up the Sacred Host and says "The Body of Christ" I say "Amen." And that "Amen" means that I believe. I believe that Host really is the Body of Christ, which means I also believe in transubstantiation, Holy Orders, the authority of our local bishop, papal succession, papal infallibility, and really everything that the Church teaches. It's all connected, there's no loopholes, and everything is bathed in charity and love of God.

#2 - The Sacraments. Of course of all the Sacraments the Eucharist is my favoritest favorite but they are all incredibly special to me. The holy gift of Baptism and Confirmation, the blessing of Marriage, the awesomeness of Holy Orders, the restoration of Confession, the peace and healing of Anointing of the Sick, and my Lord and my God in the Blessed Sacrament. What gifts! Thank you, God, for the Sacraments. +

#3 - The beauty The mural in my parish literally and figuratively looks like hell though it is supposed to depict the Last Supper. A lot of recent music is horrible. But then there's singers and songwriters like these two, creating beautiful songs of praise.


And then there's videos like this one, from Likable Art:


Okay, even if you don't usually watch videos in blog posts, please watch the one above. It's short and lovely. The birthday cake part makes me cry every. single. time.

#4 - The community. Catholicism is possibly just as quirky as it is beautiful and true, so it's really great to have a tribe of people who get it. In a special way I appreciate my Catholic friends who live near me, those who I connect with online, and those who are in Heaven. All three of those groups of friends have been irreplaceable in my life and in helping me to grow in my faith. The Catholic community has often prayed for me when I just didn't have the words and I have literally seen the dead come back to life because of this community.

#5 - The order it brings to my life. I struggle with pacing myself and creating a rhythm to our days. That's why I'm glad the Church does this for me. Advent and Lent help me prepare for Christmas and Easter and not lose sight on why they matter. Feast days and Friday's fasting help me keep in check the calendar and what's important. Grace before meals, morning prayer, the angelus, compline... all these things (if and when I use them, which is almost always for some, often for others, and rarely for the rest) help me mark the moments of the day and return to Christ repeatedly. The way the Church breaks down the liturgical seasons and the hours of the day truly is a blessing to me.


Also, want to know more about my love, love, love! of God and faith? Well here you go:
Creating a Catholic culture in your home
Ideas for building a Catholic culture in our parishes
Tips you may not get in RCIA

How can we build a Catholic culture in our parishes? Well, I just so happen to have some ideas.

It's probably already pretty clear but I'm a Catholic geek. Not in theologian-geeky way. Not in the way where I write really awesomely insightful commentaries on pop culture and legit culture. I'm a Catholic geek in that I sit around and daydream about ways that we can build up our parishes. I think about how I can possibly tell people about events happening at our parish so they'll want to come. I create wishlists of people who I want to be more engaged and using their fabulous personalities and talents to build up the Church.

See? Kinda geeky.

So I have all these ideas and I don't know what to do with them, or even if they're good ideas. But I'll tell you this: Besides the Sacraments, what I want more than anything from parishes is for them to actively be building a Catholic culture. I want all parishioners to stop being culturally Catholic and start living out their faith vibrantly.

I'm so bored with local parishes doing the same things that the local protestant churches and secular culture are doing. I want to see Catholic parishes sponsoring activities that are unapologetically Catholic.

I want to see parishes helping families to create Catholic cultures in their homes. I want to see those families' cultures to then feed back to the culture of the parish. And I want to see the Catholic culture that is thriving in the parish and the home spread into communities so that everyone knows that there is something special happening at the local Catholic Church, beyond transubstantiation.


Of course this won't be a one-size-fits-all list, but I want to see something like:

- An All Saints' Halloween party that has all the creepy quirkiness of Halloween and Catholicism instead of another Trunk-or-Treat.

- Egg hunts, special coffee-and-donut socials, and maybe even  fun coloring page inserts in the bulletin during the fifty days of Easter instead of the Easter Bunny showing up at an egg hunt during Lent.

(Like these or these.)

- Parish cookbooks that have a whole section dedicated to meatless meals and education on the fact that if you're not practicing meatless Fridays you need to be doing another kind of penance every Friday of the year.

- But then of course we'd need special bulletin announcements celebrating Meat Fridays!

(We could use Kendra's!)

- Then, instead of having Santa Claus come to a Christmas party during Advent, St. Nicholas would visit the coffee-and-donut social just before his feast day.

- And instead of the Catholic parish hosting a generically Christian VBS, the same one as all the other churches in town, they would sponsor an authentically Catholic, engaging, and fun Totus Tuus youth program during the summer.

- Imagine if all the existing ministries would support, promote, encourage, and work with one another, plugging people into ministries that fit their personalities, stages in life, talents, and needs. Also, this kind of collaboration could and should lead to co-sponsoring larger events like bringing in top-notch, national speakers or musicians or parish-wide picnics with bouncy houses and catered meat.

(We had Auntie Leila come last year. Next goal: Fr. Barron or Audrey Assad or why not both?!)

- Events that are family friendly because children are either welcome / encouraged to attend, or free babysitting is provided are held on a regular basis.

- And imagine a playground that is close to the church so kids can run out and play after Mass while their parents visit. A couple of benches would be even better so parents can sit and watch kids play while their friends / spouses go to confession or split a holy hour.


These are the kinds of things I daydream about. These are the ideas that I geek out about. An entire parish, authentically living out the Catholic faith in a way that is joyful, beautiful, and fun.

Of course with this list I am also hoping that as the Catholic culture grows so will a deep love and reverence for the Eucharist; a strong appreciation for holy orders, religious life, and the sacrament of matrimony; and a true sense of gratefulness for reconciliation.

I don't know if my ideas are the best way to make happen my end goal, my ultimate dream of a thriving, Christ-centered, joyful, truly Catholic parish, but they're where I'm starting. There's nothing wrong with brainstorming, right?


And now a special note to my blog readers and especially other bloggers:

I'm really excited to be part of a special initiative called The Credo Project. The bloggers who are part of it love our Catholic faith and want to share it with our readers. We are therefore putting buttons in our sidebars that link to the website Catholics Come Home. If you have a blog and want to join us in sharing what we believe as Catholics, please grab a button and join us! You'll see mine is already sitting pretty to the right. :)

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<a href="http://www.catholicscomehome.org/discover-a-beautiful-faith/"><img border="0" src="../../albums/u394/mollymakesdo1/Credo 125_zps1hqqgd4w.jpg"/></a><br/>



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<a href="http://www.catholicscomehome.org/discover-a-beautiful-faith/"><img border="0" src="../../albums/u394/mollymakesdo1/Credo 200_zpsxwqrjnzu.jpg"/></a><br/>

300 x 300

 

<a href="http://www.catholicscomehome.org/discover-a-beautiful-faith/"><img border="0" src="../../albums/u394/mollymakesdo1/Credo 300_zpsuk8tac7y.jpg"/></a><br/>

(With many thanks to Molly from Molly Makes Do and Kendra from Catholic All Year for creating the buttons for The Credo Project!)


PS. I'm at Blessed Is She today talking about the children of Fatima, the converts of Athens and you!