Melanie Rigney's Blog, page 65

Returning Catholics FAQs: Less Than Welcoming Priests

O n Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. How do I know this stuff? I was away for more than 30 years myself, and am the co-author of When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics , a book for pastors and parish leaders interested in this ministry.

I made an appointment with a priest. I got a big lecture about being divorced and remarried and about how I should live with my spouse as brother and sister until the whole thing...

Wednesday’s Woman: St. Teresa de Los Andes

Note: For the next several weeks, I’m featuring women with a connection to the Americas.

The Basics:Born July 13, 1900, in Chile; died April 12, 1920, in Chile; canonized March 21, 1993, by John Paul II; feast day, July 13; woman religious, mystic.

The Story:Chile’s first saint, born into a wealthy family, was regarded as somewhat of a willful child. That said, it appears the farmers she met on her grandfather’s estate near Santiago and the 1906 Santiago earthquake that left nearly 4,000 peop...

Of Fire, Sulfur… and Apathy

Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me atYour Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

Genesis 19 tells us that the Lord “rained down sulfur” on Sodom after all the townspeople threatened God’s angels with rape, and that the next morning Abraham saw “smoke over the land rising like the smoke from a kiln.” This is the Old Testament God we all know, the one who provides quick punishment for those who break His commandments, who desir...

Returning Catholics FAQs: Community

O n Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. How do I know this stuff? I was away for more than 30 years myself, and am the co-author of When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics , a book for pastors and parish leaders interested in this ministry.

I came back to the Church for Holy Communion, not to meet a bunch of new people. Why do your answers so often talk about volunteering and joining groups?

It’s true. I’m a joiner,...

Wednesday’s Woman: Blessed Emilie Tavernier Gamelin

Note: For the next several weeks, I’m featuring women with a connection to the Americas.

The Basics:Born February 19, 1800, in Canada; died September 23, 1851, in Canada; beatified October 7, 2001, by John Paul II; feast day, September 24; wife, mother, and nurse.

The Story:It was a busy life, a very busy life, spent in service. Emilie’s mother died when the child was just four years old, and her father passed away just ten years later. She spent much of her childhood with relatives, except f...

The Harvest and Idols

Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me atYour Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

At some level, we all need something more than the day-to-day joys and aggravations life on earth offers us. We know it. But even when we know precisely what it is we need, we have a tendency to be a little restless.

And so, we set up idols. They’re not always bad or dangerous on the surface the way narcotics or overeating are. Sometimes they’re...

Returning Catholics FAQs: Bread, Wine, or Both?

O n Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. How do I know this stuff? I was away for more than 30 years myself, and am the co-author of When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics , a book for pastors and parish leaders interested in this ministry.

I’ve been to confession and am back in the Church’s good graces. I get that the host at communion is Jesus’ body. But the parish I’ve been going to also offers wine at communion,...

On the Nightstand: July 2016

So this is kind of fun. I’m not 100 percent sure what I’m reading this month. I AM sure it will be a book by Debby Giusti, and I’m excited about that!

Debby is an award-winning author of inspirational romantic suspense (or, as she puts it on her web site, “Faith with an edge… crossmy heart!”). She was kind enough to agree to write one of the reflections for my book Blessed Are You: Finding Inspiration From Our Sisters in Faith in the Women in the New Evangelization’s summer book club. Debby a...

Friends in Faith: Katie Ryan

Katie Ryan has a high-powered job on Capitol Hill. People notice her for a lot of reasons, including her intelligence and her physical beauty.

What resonates for me is Katie’s deep faith. She made a Cursillo Weekend a few years ago, and thereafter rededicated herself to prayer time and daily Mass attendance as often as possible. Katie’s not shy about talking about her faith… it comes to her as naturally as breathing these days.

Katie reminds me that evangelization doesn’t end when we enter th...

Wednesday’s Woman: Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich

Note: For the next several weeks, I’m featuring women with a connection to the Americas.

The Basics:Born March 26, 1901, in the United States; died May 8, 1927, in the United States; beatified October 4, 2014, by Pope Francis; feast day, May 8; writer, teacher, and woman religious.

The Story:She was a Jersey girl, start to finish. This saint began life in Bayonne as Teresa Demjanovich, the youngest of seven children born to Slovakian immigrants and raised in the Ruthenian-Byzantine rite of th...