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

Home
Catholic

2014-12-26T17:15:12-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

You know you’ve done something right when . . .

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 5:15 pm By Jennifer Fitz

. . . We’re in the truck, and the middle-schooler makes some remark to me mentioning birth control — comment on the news, an advertisement, something a friend said, I can’t remember what. Eight-year-old eavesdropper in the back seat asks, “What’s birth control?” I avoid choking and give a low-key answer, along the lines of, “It’s a drug or device used to make it so your body can’t have babies, or has a hard time having babies.” End of discussion,... Read more

parents as primary educators

Sex-ed

young children

2014-12-27T10:22:46-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Catholic Website Advises Parents: Obsession with the Occult is No Big Deal

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 10:22 am By Jennifer Fitz

The recently launched online Catholic magazine Crux has an advice column up, in which a parent is told that her child’s obsession with the occult is probably no big deal: How would you feel if she were immersed in the Narnia books, written by the Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis, or in the dark and fantastical worlds imagined by J.R.R. Tolkein – a Catholic — in “The Lord of the Rings” novels? Many children in their pre-teen years find escape in fantasy.... Read more

2014-12-27T10:27:12-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Right Relationship with Sister Death

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 10:27 am By Jennifer Fitz

The media is gushing over another high-profile suicide, which is of course high-profile precisely because the media chooses to gush over it. What sane people do, when they learn that someone is contemplating killing themselves, is gently suggest a chat with the doctor about pain management. Or they come over and help with the laundry. Dear Reporters, You are allowed to use both your brain and your moral sense when choosing how to cover a story. When someone calls you... Read more

Culture of death; culture of life; assisted suicide; euthanasia; Hemlock Society; Sister Death; Canticle of the Sun

2014-12-27T10:28:43-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

ISIS and Just Warfare: Is Now the Time for Men of Good Will to Intervene?

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 10:28 am By Jennifer Fitz

To join the discussion about Rise of ISIS, a Threat We Cannot Ignore, or to order a copy, go here. This month at Patheos we’re discussing Jay Sekulow’s book Rise of ISIS. For a general review, check out Rebecca Hamilton’s comments here. She’s been documenting the state of affairs in Iraq all summer, so her perspective is well worth your consideration. What is this book? The Rise of ISIS is a call to arms, plain and simple. The authors document the heinous... Read more

2014-12-27T10:32:22-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Playground Evangelization: Making Parishes More Welcoming for Families

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 10:32 am By Jennifer Fitz

Two girls and I pulled into St. Mary’s Greenville Saturday evening with half an hour to go before the vigil Mass. Thirty minutes is too long for tired children to prayerfully admire the architecture, and too short to go anyplace else. So we went to the playground across the soccer field, by the school. It took about five minutes on that playground for my eight-year-old to start campaigning for us to move to St. Mary’s and enroll her in the... Read more

Church Craziness

It's All Catholic

Rant-o-Rama

2014-12-27T10:32:58-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Small Groups: The Best Most Dangerous Thing That Can Happen to Your Parish

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 10:32 am By Jennifer Fitz

Today at New Evangelizers, I write about “Small Groups.” By that what I mean is a handful of parishioners — say, less than 15 — getting together to do Christian stuff together. Learn about the faith, do a work of mercy, pray, whatever it is that particular group does. Your parish has to have small groups. If it doesn’t, everyone dies on the vine: But everybody – everybody – in your parish needs a small community. Human beings literally cannot socialize in large gatherings. You’ll notice... Read more

2014-12-27T10:18:07-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Why Being a Writer Isn’t as Obvious as All That

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 10:18 am By Jennifer Fitz

Karen Kelly Boyce has a good piece up at the Catholic Writers Guild on cementing your identity as a writer. Her two instructions are: 1. Tell people you are a writer. 2. Treat your writing seriously. Make an office, use it. For those of us transitioning from “I’d like to be a writer one day” to “I am a writer” there’s a vicious cycle of self-doubt: We don’t take ourselves seriously, so others don’t take us seriously, so we don’t take... Read more

Books

Writing Stuff

2014-12-27T10:34:34-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

#Synod14 – Prostitute Nation and a Jar of Perfume

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 10:34 am By Jennifer Fitz

If you want to understand the clerical food fight portion of this month’s Synod on the Family, what you need to know about is sexting. Not the Catholic kind, the other kind. Your must-read article for this month is The Atlantic’s feature Why Kids Sext. It’s long, and you should read the whole thing. Points to ponder as you do so: Louisa County is normal America. There’s nothing “different” that explains why there was suddenly a website full of students’... Read more

2014-12-27T10:20:08-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Ebola and Your Spiritual Life – Why Yes, You Are Going to Die

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 10:20 am By Jennifer Fitz

I’ve been following the Ebola news with interest. It takes a special kind of hubris to assume that Americans are somehow automatically protected from massive deadly epidemics, or any other disaster. I’m certainly hopeful, of course, that this will turn out to be a local tragedy and not a turning point in world history. As a general rule, turning points in world history make good reading but horrible living. *** I grew up in a family that didn’t freak... Read more

Catholic Q&A

It's All Catholic

2014-12-27T10:36:17-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Go-to Guide for New and Struggling Catechists Now Out in Kindle

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 10:36 am By Jennifer Fitz

Something fun: I was putting together my author bio for the 2015 CatholicMom.com Gospel Reflections e-book, and discovered my catechist book is now out in Kindle. Woohoo! Pretty cool, huh? That makes me high-tech and stuff, right? If you know a religious education teacher who’s floundering big time, this book is your answer. It’s short, readable, and gives you step-by-step methods that anyone can use to put together a passable Sunday school class. Yes! Even at your crazy parish, where... Read more

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How long were the Jews in Babylonian captivity?

Select your answer to see how you score.

50 years 60 years 70 years 80 years

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Catechesis Catholic Q&A Chastity Church Craziness Come See Me Talk Disability & Chronic Illness Economics Evangelization Facepalm Forgiveness Good Things History Homeschooling Human Rights It's All Catholic Listen to Me Survey Series Liturgical Living Marriage Modesty Not Satire. But almost. Rant-o-Rama Sacred Art & Music Satire South Carolina Spark Clutter Stick that Corner Suffering Thinking Topics Writing Stuff

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 July 2026 June 2026 January 2026 December 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 November 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 May 2019 April 2019 February 2019 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 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 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

TRENDING AT PATHEOS Catholic