Things go wrong. Disasters happen. We fail. We mess up. No matter our age or talent, we all face adversity from time to time. Learning to respond with optimism and self-mastery can be the difference between a productive, joy-filled life and one mired with hopelessness. A persistent pessimistic mind-set is also a risk factor
The fear of an unplanned pregnancy is one of the prevailing realities of modern coupledom. No matter how much we love babies, how much we trust in God’s providence, almost every couple will at some time have tasted the anxiety of possible pregnancy at the wrong time. For some couples, the anxiety may be persistent
If you could summarise Patrick in one word, it is joy. If you could bottle Patrick’s joy and sell it, we’d be multi-billionaires. You can get all these books and things on how to find happiness, but nope! All you need is a drop of Patrick! The older kids just adore him. When they come
At the breakfast table last week our four-year-old says to me, “Mum, I had a dream last night, that Jesus smashed into the earth and it shook and wobbled”. “Oh, that’s interesting,” I responded. Then I asked her, “So what happened to our house, darling?” “Our house was fine Mum, because Jesus can come in
When we think of education, we usually associate it with paid educators teaching from textbooks. Religious education, too, takes place at school or in catechism sessions at our local parish. In other words, we believe education is what someone else does for our children. But Scripture makes it clear that religious education is to take
The shift in our relationship to the natural world is startling, even in settings that one would assume are devoted to nature. Not that long ago, summer camp was a place where you camped, hiked in the woods, learned about plants and animals, or told firelight stories about ghosts or mountain lions. As likely as
Children can be taught to love things and use people or to love people and use things. Money is a most powerful created thing which can be used for good or ill. Parents are the number one influence on their children’s financial behaviours. It’s up to us to raise a generation of mindful consumers, investors,
Last year one of our daughters and her friend, nine and 10 years old at the time, ran a stall to raise money that they later divided up into church giving, saving, and spending. Try our idea for a cupcake stall the kids can set up themselves to practice raising funds while spreading some joy
Is there a Catholic approach to money? The short answer is yes, it’s a God-given tool for us to use at the service of true human freedom and friendship. Fr Tony Percy and Cathy Harris, take us through it from their different perspectives. Fr Tony is a priest of the Canberra-Goulburn archdiocese and author of
Surveys consistently show that having different approaches to the gaining and use of money is one of the top three challenging issues for couples. Why do so many couples find their money issues hard to resolve when budgeting is a simple skill that can be picked up by anyone? The answer is that our attitude
