Going “No-Contact”
Adult children are increasingly “going no-contact” with their parents, calling them “toxic.” But loving someone who is challenging isn’t abusive: it’s sanctifying.
I Earned It, I Don’t Owe You Anything
Earning something may give us a right to possess it, but not freedom from responsibility for its use. Has personal comfort replaced our Christian responsibility to future generations?
Wendell Berry and Not Me
Several months ago, I finished the final draft of my new book, Not Just for Kings: Cultivating a 500-Year Vision for Your Family, parts of which have a definite Wendell Berry feel. I write about place and a strong sense of place here in Northern Fairfax County, Virginia. In Berry’s Hannah Coulter, the residents of … Read more
The Secrets to Founding a Family
It has been said that the future belongs to those who show up, which is to say, that the future belongs to the marriages and families that are established today.
On Loving Those Who Ghost Us
While Christians across time have lost friends and family members over their faith, it seems to be a trend that is on the rise once again.
Elon Musk Rightly Sounds the Alarm on the Global Fertility Crisis
The world continues to reap the bitter consequences of being increasingly closed to family and children. A return to the Church’s teaching on openness to life is the only way forward.
Is Retiring to Florida Selfish?
One of the secrets of protecting your family and even projecting it through the ages is stability. Staying. Digging in. Building.
From the Habsburg Family to Your Family: How to Build a Wholesome Family (Guest: Eduard Habsburg)
The Habsburg Family is one of the most famous families in the world, and one of the most influential in history. But what can the example of this family teach average people about family life?
If Harris Wins, It’s Nuclear Winter for the Family
The Harris program has many worrisome points of a material nature, but these pale in comparison with the war against the family, the glue holding our society together.
It’s Time to Double Down on Casti Connubii
The Church would do well to revisit one of the most important and prophetic encyclicals of modern times.
Can Governments Increase Family Size?
Many Catholic commentators urge governments to economically incentivize childbearing. However, the early returns on such incentives disappoint.
Feminized Faith, Failed Families, and Fertile Fields
Hope-filled in its conclusion, a new book offers the Catholic community a fresh look at current issues, addressing them with scholarly and thoughtful argumentation, and peaceful and commonsense rhetoric.
Raising Children in an Anti-Child World
There is a growing childfree movement comprised of people who intentionally choose never to welcome children. Often people mistakenly see their own laziness and selfishness as very important aspects of their person that are worthy of protection and cultivation.
The Centrality of Womanhood
Woman is the hub of the family and, therefore, the hub of humanity. Destroying that hub grinds civilization to a halt—and along with it, all that is humane.
Unlike Moderns, Our Ancestors Understood Love
“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy.” The opening words to Homer’s Odyssey are among the most famous and recognizable in Western literature. That beginning stanza captures so much of the human condition and … Read more
My New Year’s Resolution: Kill More Stink Bugs
You have your New Year’s Resolutions, I have mine. If you do not have the blight of Stink Bugs in your home, count your blessings. These walking shield-shaped sons of guns may not be poisonous biters, nor home destroyers, but they swarm our Midwest homes, and fill me with hatred. Christianity tells us not to … Read more
Overcoming Family Divisions on Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving is rapidly becoming runner-up to Christmas as poster child in the “holiday wars.” Christmas remains the feast that dare not speak its name, re-(de)christened as “winter holiday.” (What do politically correct Aussies call it?) Thanksgiving has kept its name but been hollowed out. Do we have any communal answer to the question “to whom/what … Read more
A Family-Friendly Guide to Sex Education
“How do I answer my children’s questions about what they hear on the news?” “How do I parent in a post-Obergefell world?” “My childhood was far from innocent. How do I raise my children?” Parents want answers: I’m writing here to propose a few thoughts on human nature and to suggest some reading that puts … Read more
The Sacredness of Marriage: A Lesson from the Pagans
When the press falsely quoted Cardinal Raymond Burke last May as stating that the Irish were “worse” than the pagans for having passed a referendum recognizing same-sex “marriage,” they missed an opportunity to offer a valuable lesson in history. What His Eminence actually said—namely, that while the “pagans may have tolerated homosexual behaviors, they never … Read more
In Defense of Domesticity
The Norwegian secret to enjoying a long winter is to see the freezing months as something to be enjoyed, not something to be endured. According to a seeker of human happiness, this makes all the difference. They even have a word, koselig, which means a sense of coziness. People gather around the table for a … Read more
