An Unsuspected Proposal I was a Catholic kid in the public school system in the mid 1960s. This meant, of course, that I was destined for Sunday school. My parents remained true to the promise they made to God on the day they were married to bring their children up in the faith. So, off I went. I have no recollection of how I found my way to the classroom (I was only six or seven), but what I do remember, what I will never forget, is the feeling I got when I walked in. Hanging on the wall was... Read more
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Articles Under: Personal Witness Stories
How much worse off we would all be without physical pain! As counterintuitive as it sounds, pain is your friend. Pain is a mechanism to warn you that something is wrong. Imagine a scenario where there was no physical pain. When you get sick with a virus, you don’t feel bad, so you don’t take care of yourself. The virus spreads rapidly because there is no way to know that you have it until it is too late. Death or relentless monitoring become the only two ways to know that something is physically awry. Who would want to live like... Read more
I come here often. Sometimes I come in gratitude. Other times I come here to beg. I come alone. I come with my wife and our kids. Growing up, it took thirty minutes to get here. Back country roads. Flat. Everything level and straight. Fields speckled with the occasional woods, a barn, a farmhouse. It was practically in my backyard. But then I moved. Now, it takes about three hours. I drive up the long interstate to those familiar country roads that lead into the village. The sleepy, two-stoplight town is something of a time warp. Life just moves slower... Read more
When I close my eyes I can still see her. The woman who had just stepped to the front of the room preferred not to use the microphone, but her soft voice just didn’t carry in the small meeting area seating a posse of teenagers. We were on retreat, one of the few required prior to our confirmation. “Maria” had just arrived that morning. I had spent the evening prior surveying every catechist at the retreat with the ruthless clarity common to teenagers. You see, I’d had a deep conversion about two years prior to this retreat, and my newfound... Read more
Radically Available
Free
In prayer after receiving Holy Communion, I recognized in my heart the voice of God the Father. “I want you to be radically available.” As Director of Religious Education in a large parish, I had an idea of what it meant to be radically available while working full time. It meant being available to God by showing up for daily Mass and prayer. It meant being available to my family for quick phone calls or spontaneous lunch meetings and for celebrations and vacations. It meant planning ahead but holding my plans loosely so I was interruptible. It meant keeping my... Read more
During the summer after my senior year in college in 1990, I experienced a return and deepening of my faith through the intercession of our Blessed Mother. The following January, as a 23-year-old seminarian, I began attending Mass every day. Today—32 years later—I have since gone to Mass and received Holy Communion over 10,000 times. Little by little, bit by bit, these 10,000 Communions have transformed me. Only in retrospect can I appreciate how much I needed to be transformed. Today, I am still a work in progress, but the Eucharist is the center of my life, the daily event... Read more
How tempting it is to want the Lord to provide grace far in advance! Yet, in the Our Father we have the petition and the promise that our loving Father will give us our daily bread. While there are many layers of meaning, one implication in these words is that he will provide the grace we need in the specific circumstances of our day. In a world where self-sufficiency and independence are praised, we can easily forget this basic truth. It is a truth of which the Lord reminds me almost daily—sometimes even multiple times a day—to shift from my... Read more
Mark your calendar for the upcoming 2024 Steubenville Conferences for adults, held on our beautiful campus in Steubenville, OH. Registration will open in late January, 2024. NOTE: The St. John Bosco Conference for Evangelization & Catechesis is being postponed until summer of 2025 because of our involvement with the National Eucharistic Congress. Hope to see you there! Questions? Call 740-283-6315.Read more
After I graduated college and joined the military, I started volunteering for a parish youth group. I figured it would be a perfect way to dissociate myself from the hustle of work and diversify my friend group beyond my then-insulated circle of “sailor-mouths” and military-focused individuals. Having helped out with my college campus ministry for the past four years, I was certain that I had enough experience to help these kids fall in love with Jesus. Volunteering for a youth group would be a positive and easy way for me to pass the time. My pride and passivity had never... Read more
“If we can nurture in a [person] the emergence and the victory of spiritual liberty, we have accomplished our task. If not, all is lost and the Christian life will weaken into childishness; it will harden into formalism; and finally it will disappear.” —Jean Mouroux, From Baptism to the Act of Faith In 1986, everything changed in my Catholic life. I was 15 years old. I had grown up in a home where I was loved. We went to Mass every Sunday, and I had progressed through parish catechesis. This change didn’t come about because I was suddenly being catechized... Read more
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