The Ministry of Presence is a Radical Path
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The Ministry of Presence is a Radical Path

Somehow in my years of formation as a young adult Catholic preparing to “change the world,” I missed the part about the power of presence. As a student at a Catholic university, I was skilled at social analysis, advocacy and activism rooted in Catholic Social Teaching. I was busy. In an environment bent on creating…

Laura Kelly Fanucci: Finding Fruits of the Spirit
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Laura Kelly Fanucci: Finding Fruits of the Spirit

“This idea of finding grace within the mess, I think that is the call of the Christian life.” -Laura Kelly Fanucci Season 4, Episode 2 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. LISTEN HERE: IN THIS EPISODE: In this episode of Messy Jesus Business, Sister Julia Walsh talks with author and speaker…

Bread, art and a kindergarten heart
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Bread, art and a kindergarten heart

  “NO! I HATE this part of the bread! I won’t eat it!” My daughter had just realized that her peanut butter and honey toast was made with an “all-crust” heel piece. To a five-year-old who has never known true crisis, this realization is nothing short of devastating—on par with candy-less valentines and cake batter-scented (but NOT flavored)…

In God’s Image: Finding Jesus in the Mundane Mess of Motherhood
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In God’s Image: Finding Jesus in the Mundane Mess of Motherhood

“Your loving doesn’t know its majesty, until it knows its helplessness.”   – Rumi “Pretty bad day here – I think if parenting was something one was allowed to quit I would have by now …” This was the content of an e-mail I tapped out on the phone to my husband while he was at…

Praying with children crawling every which way

Praying with children crawling every which way

Recently—and a bit ironically, considering my vocation—my life has offered me an opportunity to learn all sorts of lessons about prayer and parenting. When I was in temporary vows a few years ago I agonized about my vocation a lot. I agonized about why it was that I was called to be a Sister, especially since…

Weaning the weight of wistful nostalgia
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Weaning the weight of wistful nostalgia

I am in the process of weaning my almost two-year-old daughter. Although I have enjoyed a wonderful nursing relationship with her since she was born, it’s time to break it off. Whereas breastfeeding used to be a tender, relaxing, sometimes-euphoric experience, it has recently become a burden of which I wish to free myself. I…

Jesus and the Mommy Wars

Jesus and the Mommy Wars

I am a conscientious objector to the Mommy Wars. If you’ve never heard of the Mommy Wars, then you (mercifully) missed last year’s media frenzy surrounding a Time magazine cover that featured a mom breastfeeding her four-year-old son. The accompanying article, provocatively titled “Are You Mom Enough?,” spawned a vitriolic nation-wide debate that was sadly emblematic…

Motherhood and Not-So-Simple Simplicity
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Motherhood and Not-So-Simple Simplicity

By guest blogger  Nicole Steele Wooldridge I always used to find it challenging to live out the value of simplicity in a contemporary Western context.  Now, as a mom, I find it nearly impossible. I am blessed to be the mother of a twenty-month-old daughter and another little girl due in two months.  I desperately…