Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Good Letters

Home
Catholic

family

Select a Category A. G. Harmon Alissa Wilkinson Allison Backous Art Authors Brad Fruhauff Bradford Winters Bryan Bliss Caroline Langston Chad Thomas Johnston Chris Hoke Christiana N. Peterson Culture D.G. Myers D.L. Mayfield Daniel Bowman Jr. David Griffith Elizabeth Duffy Faith Film Greg Wolfe Guest Contributor Interview Jan Vallone Jeffrey Overstreet Jessica Eddings-Roeser Jessica Mesman Griffith Kelly Foster Lindsey Crittenden Morgan Meis music Natalie Vestin Nick Olson Peggy Rosenthal Personal Reflection Poetry Friday Reflection Relationships Review Richard Chess Richard Cole Sara Zarr Shannon Huffman Polson Sonya Bilocerkowycz Tania Runyan Tony Woodlief Topical Categories Uncategorized Vic Sizemore Writing

Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2008

December 2016

December 07, 2016

The Patron Saint of Losers, Part 2

This post, which appears as the Editorial Statement in Image issue 90, is continued from...

December 06, 2016

The Patron Saint of Losers, Part 1

This post appears as the Editorial Statement in Image issue 90. One of the stranger conversations...

September 2016

September 28, 2016

The Crazy Sex Lady at the Solitary Banquet

"The crazy sex ladies are coming to school today," said my oldest. "We're missing it."...

September 23, 2016

Poetry Friday: “Visitation Rights” by Jeffrey Harrison

I sometimes talk to friends who have died. Especially to friends who acted as spiritual...

September 07, 2016

I Have No Idea Where I’m Going

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see...

August 2016

August 04, 2016

Blood Lines

Last September, I was in Philadelphia for the first time since my freshman year of...

June 2016

June 07, 2016

A Letter To My Sister

Eve, my sister The one who took the fall Eve, my sister Mother of us...

June 06, 2016

Who’s Your Daddy?

Adoptive parents develop radar for insensitive language and story lines pretty quickly. Wes Anderson’s simplistic...

May 2016

May 18, 2016

Passing the Possibility of Parenthood

Early one recent morning, I’m still half-asleep. The cat lies curled up between Craig and...

May 17, 2016

Grief and the Weight of Glory

The wind whips through the quilts and sheets on our clothesline, cracking now and then...

April 2016

April 18, 2016

Conference Envy: A Survival Guide

Yesterday I was running around the park in a T-shirt with a birthday party full...

April 15, 2016

Poetry Friday: “The Grackles” by Betsy Sholl

Here is a poem that silently enacts a conversion. The poem starts off with a...

April 11, 2016

A Strange Season for Inter-Christian Families

American culture, at this late and plural hour, seems to have pretty well normalized the...

March 2016

March 24, 2016

I Am a Digital Man

I couldn’t record it in my Flava journal app because the transformation happened slowly, like...

March 14, 2016

The Living Among the Dead

Thanksgiving Day after I turned four: high fever at dinner, a drive through a blizzard,...

March 08, 2016

Thawing at the Edges

When the spring teases me one day, outplaying the winter dullness for just an afternoon,...

March 03, 2016

My Sh’ma

By Judy Bolton-Fasman Sh’ma yisrael Adonai Elohanu Adonai echad—Hear O’ Israel the Lord is God,...

March 01, 2016

So Much for the American Dream

My six-year-old son caught me off guard. “I wish we had a backyard,” he said...

February 2016

February 17, 2016

Drive-By Memory

My first memory takes place in Lakewood, CA, a small suburb south of Los Angeles....

January 2016

January 06, 2016

Autistic Lives Matter

When I first met Daniel Bowman Jr. at the Festival of Faith and Writing, we...

December 2015

December 01, 2015

Going to the Manger as She Is

By Ann Hedreen I drape a towel over Nick’s head and strap it in place...

November 2015

November 04, 2015

Listening to a Stranger’s Story

I am boarding a plane to Detroit, and so is she, her thick coat falling...

October 2015

October 23, 2015

Hamster Hospice: Caring for God’s Tiny Creatures

For my son, Alex In the final months before our hamster died, I would lie...

September 2015

September 28, 2015

My Days of Awe, 5776

Impatience. Anger. Wastefulness. Restlessness. Desire. Haughtiness. Greed. Judgement. Pride. § I’ve been paying...

September 08, 2015

Blood and Silver

By Caroline Langston I stood in the security line at the Louis Armstrong International Airport...

August 2015

August 21, 2015

Gethsemane Companions

By Dyana Herron Over the past couple of months, facing two family crises that impact...

August 19, 2015

Downturned Face, Upturned Eyes

There is no writing more precious and self-indulgent than the essay about the difficulty of...

August 17, 2015

The Boy Who Lived Large

Friday we took the kids and hit the road for Aiken, South Carolina. We were...

June 2015

June 15, 2015

His Murderer and His Keeper

Some days I can’t remember: Am I Abel or Cain? Blackberry soda in the afternoon...

June 11, 2015

Prayers in the River

I stand hip-deep in a river, casting into the eddies. I am not the kind...