Tag: Catholic

Chivalry Is for Women Too

Chivalry Is for Women Too

Hadley Adair
By Hadley Adair

Valentine’s Day was approaching, and I, being the haughty, single woman I was, had adopted a new motto. I began to tell everyone I encountered: “You know, guys cannot complain about being single on Valentine’s Day. That’s all on them.” This phrase led to my reasoning that if they want a girlfriend, then they have the freedom to ask a girl out, but us poor women are simply maidens in waiting. Poor us, striving for authentic, Christ-centered relationships, yet living in a time when chivalry is far gone. I had reduced my vocation to the mere passivity of waiting to receive, while at the same time demanding of men immediate and heroic action.

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You Are Worthy

You Are Worthy

Donna Columba
By Donna Columba

Can you remember your first day of high school? I can most accurately describe my experience by the distinct “school smell” and how I tried to avoid eye contact while power-walking to my next class. I remember coming home with a sore jaw, not from getting into a school fight but from not saying a single word all day! I avoided any and all social interaction possible and was undoubtedly shy.

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Vulnerability in Sisterhood

Vulnerability in Sisterhood

Gabriella Kolarsky
By Gabriella Kolarsky

Growing up, I had two wonderful sisters who were close to me in age and many girl friends. I thought I knew what sisterhood was because I had multiple women around me, right? Wrong.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a great relationship with both of my sisters, and we were always around each other, so it was easy to love them and to be around them. My friends were always fun, so I always found myself laughing when I was with them. I had incredible relationships with all these women, but I was rooting those relationships in the wrong places. I had this idea of sisterhood in my head that it was the people you had the most fun with… and that was it.

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Where Are All the Married Saints?: A Woman’s Perspective on Discernment

Where Are All the Married Saints?: A Woman’s Perspective on Discernment

Emily Capps
Originally published on Beloved Dreamer by Emily Capps

Growing up in a Catholic home-school family, I often read stories about the saints—stories of great men and women dedicating their lives to God in extraordinary ways. They would leave behind all their possessions to the poor, fast for long periods of time, practice acts of self-denial, and spend hours each day in meditation and prayer. They chose to consecrate themselves as perpetual virgins for the Lord, and truly answered the call to leave behind everything to follow Him.

I too wanted to be a saint. And I recognized that this extreme asceticism was not everyone’s calling, and that some of the saints were even advised by their superiors to stop certain extreme practices. I knew that there was more than one way to sainthood, that each of us is called to a different vocation. But at the same time, as I grew older and started discerning my own vocation, I started to wonder: Where were all the stories about married saints? Was marriage not an equally holy vocation?

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Dear Future Wife: A Man’s Perspective on Discernment

Dear Future Wife: A Man’s Perspective on Discernment

Chandler Donaldson
By Chandler Donaldson

Dear Future Wife,

The first time I wrote those words, I was 18 years old. Ironically, I was in seminary at the time. Regardless of the obvious contrast those words had to my current life situation, something about them felt right. Although I had a lot more discerning to do and many more letters to write, those words created something tangible in my heart.

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Strength in Vulnerability

Strength in Vulnerability

Kylie Mann
By Kylie Mann

Junior and senior year of high school were rough. I was in a dark place–alone–and my family was disconnected.

When you have depression, you just really don’t care. You don’t care much about yourself, let alone your family dynamic. Because if you don’t really care about yourself, why would you think others care about you?

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Ummm… Youth Group?

Ummm… Youth Group?

Erin Upp
By Erin Upp

I would be lying if I said I’ve always loved youth ministry; in fact, there was a period in my life when I didn’t even like youth ministry.  Read more →