FAITH AT HOME Did you know the family is a school of love? The Second Vatican Council declared this teaching, St. John Paul II deepened it and Pope Francis affirmed it. Our Catechism of the Catholic Church spells it out clearly: The family is “a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: Food for the journey
FAITH AT HOME “Bring double the snacks. Leave half the clothes.” When I was a brand-new mother, preparing to bring our first baby on his first plane ride, a wise friend with older kids shared her advice for packing for family vacations. I stared down at the tower of onesies I’d folded, next to one […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: Ten pockets of prayer
FAITH AT HOME January dawns, fresh and clean. The beginning of a new year. Although Advent is technically our new year in the church, January offers another jump-start — a chance to change and a renewed resolve to eat better, exercise more or waste less time online. Making time for prayer is a common resolution. […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: Good news for crowded churches
FAITH AT HOME Quick reminder for those of us who attend Mass regularly. Many people who don’t normally come to church joined us on Dec. 24 and 25. They took our parking spots and our usual pews. What fantastic news! More people crowding in the doors? Not enough chairs to drag up from the basement? […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: A month to pray, respect, remember
FAITH AT HOME What surprised me most was not that she had carried her grief quietly for half a century. Not that she could tell me exactly how old her babies would be today. Not that her bright eyes brimmed with tears as she shared her story with a stranger. What shocked me was […]
Sex abuse crisis: Laura Kelly Fanucci | When hard conversations have to happen
FAITH AT HOME “I wish we didn’t have to talk about this.” What parent hasn’t thought or uttered these words, taking a deep breath before jumping into a hard conversation with their child? Whether a crisis at home, a conflict at school or an atrocity in the news, tough subjects are unavoidable in families. The […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: How to honor fathers with love
FAITH AT HOME Beer. Golf. TV. Mowing. Burping. Fishing. According to greeting cards in the store aisles, this is all that modern fathers care about. Father’s Day is clogged with lowbrow stereotypes. Dad just wants to hog the remote control, crack a few crass jokes and drink a cold one. He’s not nurturing, caring or […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: The sacred act of dishwashing
FAITH AT HOME I hate dishwashing. Laundry, I love: transforming jumbled heaps of tumbled clothes into neat, folded piles. Sweeping is satisfying. Wiping counters, even scrubbing sinks, brings simple pleasure. But I cringe at crusty pots and pans. Any night of the week, I’d trade for any other chore. Yet life in a household requires […]