It’s always nice to come across good news for a change, so I was excited to see this article on MSNBC about how more families are adopting HIV-positive children (don’t miss the great video at the bottom). Up until recently, I didn’t know that anyone could or did adopt children who were HIV positive. I assumed that it was too difficult, too risky, too expensive and maybe even illegal; and, sadly, I was also ignorant of the sheer number of HIV-positive children out there who need homes.

Then I met a local couple who, after a long and careful discernment, felt called to welcome two HIV-positive children into their home (they shared their story with me here). Ever since then I’ve followed the...READ MORE

I love the pro-life movement and hate leaving my house, so I am all ears when someone tells me about ways to offer my support from the comfort of my couch. This leaves me very excited to help promote the Unite for Life webcast next Tuesday (May 17). The event, which will be broadcast at 8pm in each time zone in the U.S., will feature an interview with Abby Johnson in which she sheds new light on how her desire to help women led her first to Planned Parenthood, and eventually to the pro-life movement. I’m also interested to hear from the special guests, since they’re all people who are truly on the front lines of the battle for life, including:

• Dr. Peggy Hartshorn, President of Heartbeat...READ MORE

Last week I had the pleasure of chatting with Father Frank Hoffman (a.k.a. “Father Rocky”) on the Relevant Radio network. We were talking about Church teaching on human sexuality, and he brought up a perspective I’d never considered before: how these teachings impact Catholic children. I’d done a lot of thinking and writing about how these ideas impact married couples, but I had never considered how it all extends to the children conceived in those marriages. The implications are fascinating.

Father Rocky shared the charming story of how his mother always said that “it takes three” to make a baby: a mother, a father, and God. In his child’s mind, he said, God was always part of the answer...READ MORE

As it has for many people, the news of Osama bin Laden’s death has stirred up a lot of old memories for me: Sitting in front of my television, wiping sleep out of my eyes, seeing a tower with smoke billowing out the side. Seeing the horror-stricken look on a woman’s face as she looked up from a New York street and cried, “Oh no, no! They’re jumping!” Looking at the block of windows where my husband used to work in the South Tower, watching them crumple when it fell, wondering if his old coworkers were okay.

At the time I was an atheist, so the terrible event, as sickening as it was, didn’t trigger a moral conundrum for me. Bad things happen, there’s not much you can do about it, and that’s...READ MORE

This week is Infertility Awareness Week. According to the CDC, over 2 million married women in America are currently experiencing infertility. This is a deeply painful experience for any couple, but faithful Catholics face unique challenges in this department—yet in all the discussions about Natural Family Planning and how and when to avoid pregnancy, the struggles of our brothers and sisters in Christ who are not able to achieve pregnancy often get overlooked. So this week I spent some time chatting with friends who are facing infertility, including a woman whom I’ll call “A.,” who chronicles her journey online at This Cross I Embrace. They shared some of the challenges unique to being...READ MORE