The following letter was written some years ago by a father to his teenage son, who had asked him for advice about how to pray and how to be a better Christian. When OnePeterFive was given a copy of it, we sought permission to share it with our readers. Dear N., I’ve intended for a…
“Frankly, this song scares me to death.” —Harry Chapin explaining his song “Cat’s in the Cradle”[i] At the school where I teach, I routinely take my baseball glove and go to the grade five playground at recess. In doing so, I have drawn the interest of several boys. These boys have started bringing gloves to…
I am husband and father of two, still shy of 30, whose most interesting quality is probably that I’m a Scottish immigrant in the midwestern United States. I’ve been in America for almost three years, having married into the family, as it were. I would like to share an experience and an invitation. The Experience…
Last summer brought to light how terribly wounded the Church, the Body of Christ, is. As St. Paul tells us, “if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). When the Body of Christ is injured, we fall on our knees! We pray. We follow the example of the…
The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives the following definition of charity: “Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God” (1822). How do we grow in this virtue, which is clearly connected to our moral life…
Editor’s note: The following comes from an anonymous contributor. I am a middle-aged woman with an attachment disorder.* Due to the death of my mother shortly after my birth and a series of misguided actions on the part of well meaning relatives, I have found it extremely hard to bond with people. In particular, I…
My family and I were spread out in the living room, surrounded by that comfortable cacophony of semi-clutter that makes a house a home, poised to embark on our nightly rosary…when the phone rang. (Of course.) My brother answered in that classic teenaged, almost military style, in which his tone conveyed absolutely nothing to the…
I was recently asked by a number of people: “When ought one to point out liturgical abuses and endeavor to correct them?” My interlocutors had been confused by a number of partial truths. Let us, then, exclude several erroneous answers. “To correct an abuse, you need to have perfect charity and disinterested motives.” No man…
Competing to Win Years ago, as a basketball camp counselor, I was assigned to room with another counselor. He was a few years younger than I; he was also black, taller, stronger, and far more athletic than I. At the time, I might have dismissed his superior physique and athleticism as genetics and talent. His…
Pope Francis was recently featured in a short online video to promote his monthly prayer intention. Unfortunately, the video has given the impression that the pope is promoting religious indifferentism, and as such, it has scandalized not a few Catholics. My purpose here is not to analyze this particular video or intention, but to examine a larger question…
