Come with me to Italy and feed your body and soul

Come with me to Italy and feed your body and soul

Dear Fellow Adventurer,

For most of my adult life, I dreamed of going to Italy. I wanted to pray in St. Peter’s Basilica. I wanted to know the country of my grandfather’s birth. I wanted to eat the delicious food that had inspired so many family meals when I was growing up. Three years ago, when I stepped onto the streets of Rome for the first time, I cried from the sheer joy of being there, and I knew right then that I’d have to return some day soon. Italy had captured my heart! (more…)

Some say the anti-Catholicism in S&H wasn’t so bad. My response.

Some say the anti-Catholicism in S&H wasn’t so bad. My response.

Yesterday, when I posted my Letter to the Editor canceling my subscription to Spirituality & Health magazine over its anti-Catholic agenda, a few folks on Facebook declared one particular piece I mentioned “not that bad.” Another said how it was “stereotypical” and what did I expect from a spiritual-but-not-religious publication. Well, I expect not to have my faith insulted via lies and some of the most bizarre stories I’ve ever heard. And the fact that any Catholic could read all of those stories — taken as a whole, not dissected piece by piece — and shrug his or her shoulders and say it’s not that bad, or it’s what we should expect, is exactly the point of my outrage and disappointment. (more…)

Why I’m canceling my subscription to Spirituality & Health magazine. I hope you will too.

Why I’m canceling my subscription to Spirituality & Health magazine. I hope you will too.

Here’s the Letter to the Editor I fired off to Spirituality & Health this morning. I think it pretty much says it all. (A special thank you to my friend Jeanne G. for inspiring me to speak up on this.) 

To the editors,

I recently subscribed to Spirituality & Health. I was so excited to get my first issue (May/June 2013) — until I opened it up to the Rabbi Shapiro piece and was stunned to see wildly inaccurate and incredibly offensive statements regarding my Catholic Christian faith. I was so upset I almost called immediately to cancel my subscription, but I tried to let it go, assuming (hoping) it was an isolated incident. I have to admit, however, that I could not read the rest of the issue because I was so turned off by what I’d seen up to that point. (more…)

Getting past the Church’s gatekeepers. Who’s minding the store?

Getting past the Church’s gatekeepers. Who’s minding the store?

My June Life Lines column. It must have struck a chord because I am receiving tons of private emails from total strangers who all have experienced this in one way or another. A rare time when I wish people couldn’t relate to my column. Here you go:

Almost 25 years ago, a woman in my family—lifelong Catholic, former folk group singer, fixture at her home parish—walked into a new church in her new town with her boyfriend. They wanted to get married and, although he wasn’t Catholic, her boyfriend had been married before. So they were interested in seeking information about annulment. Simple enough, right? At least at that early stage. (more…)

Foodie Friday: Warm farro salad is a hit at our house

Foodie Friday: Warm farro salad is a hit at our house

It’s always a banner day when I make a new dish and five out of five family members give it a double thumbs up. This is one of those dishes. Who’d have thought farro would make the cut? But it did. The first time I made it, everyone whined because I didn’t make enough, so the next time I doubled the recipe and we still finished it. Here you go. This is the doubled version of the recipe from Bob Greene’s Best Life DietSuper easy and super delicious. (more…)

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