In 2015, I had a three-year-old, a one-year-old, and a sudden panic about the world I was raising them in. I have never been particularly outgoing, but when my first child was born, I found myself making friends more easily than ever before. Groups for natural parenting abounded. Every mother wanted what was best for…
Bear with me in a little folly. I present a fictional account on a hypothetical “what if?” question. That is, what if the great patron saint of parish priests, the Curé of Ars (St. Jean-Marie Vianney), were alive in our times and placed in a typical parish? Based on the Abbé Francis Trochu’s biography of…
By a Homeschooling Mother of Eight “Try harder.” These were the words spoken by my spiritual director as I tried to explain my difficulty in reacting with cheerfulness to the everyday demands of life with a large family. I was struggling to adopt a placid tone rather than an abrupt one toward my children when…
Editor’s Note: Dr. Kwasniewski is taking a short break from writing new material for OnePeterFive while he finishes a number of books he has agreed to deliver to publishers. We wish him well in these endeavors and may reprint from time to time some of his earlier and now mostly forgotten articles until his return.…
When I spent a lot of time hanging around the Toronto Oratory, lo! these ten years ago, I was always hearing from the good fathers about St. Philip Neri, his spiritual approach and his programme of the spiritual life. Five years of weekly spiritual direction later, and I can say that I at least remember…
In 2011, Ash Wednesday wasn’t until March 9th. It had felt like eons since we had celebrated Epiphany that year. I felt extra ready for Lent because of the late start. I had all my activities prepared to do with our eight children (we homeschool); we had many fruitful preparatory conversations, with much prayer involved…
Almost everyone I know has been living through a stressful time since last year. So, I hesitate to claim anything extraordinary about what I have experienced. But is there not at least something ironic about losing one’s eyesight in the year 2020? Well, that is what happened to me. Following a brief illness and a…
The Statio Radiophonica Vaticana — better known in the English-speaking world as Vatican Radio –which reaches all continents with its news and programs in 32 languages, turns 90 today. The broadcasting entity of the Holy See, legally recognized by international courts, is an instrument of communication and of evangelization at the service of the Papacy.…
If there’s one question that has come up over the years of covering the crisis in the Church, again and again, it’s this: what do we do now? I’ve come to realize that we are, in many respects, through the looking glass when it comes to the state of Catholicism. The crisis is, for all…
There is a strange new vocabulary which dominates the evening news, night after night: “Variants; ‘compulsory jabs’; Moderna; Pfizer; mRNA vaccinations; Astra Zeneca; digital passports; ‘needles-in-arms’.” And as if that were not enough there is the ubiquitous Doctor Fauci. At some point you have to wonder if the fellow is bi-locating. He seems to be…
Catholic schools exist to teach the truth that sets us free, to spread this truth far and wide, to deepen our grasp and expression of it, and to link it with other areas of human research and endeavor. The Catholic school is defined by its unconditional and publicly manifest adherence, at every level—vision, policy, management,…
