Melanie Rigney's Blog, page 80

Returning Catholics FAQs: Time Commitment

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’ll be honest. My life is crazy. I work sixty hours a week/care for my aging parents/try to be a good parent to my children. It’s just not possible for me to spare the time to g...

Wednesday’s Woman: Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher

The Basics:Born October 6, 1811, in Canada; died October 6, 1849, in Canada; beatified May 23, 1982, by John Paul II; feast day, October 6. Woman religious, educator.

The Story: Born into a large, prosperous farming family in Quebec, Marie-Rose felt from an early age she had a vocation as a sister. However, poor health initially prevented her from joining a community of women religious. She went to work as the housekeeper and secretary for one of her brothers, who had become a parish pastor,...

Asking for Help

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.

She was busy, burdened in fact, perhaps even overburdened. Luke 10:40 tells us that. And yet, Martha doesn’t ask her sister directly, in humility and love, for assistance. No, she engages Jesus, the guest in their home, who quite rightly rebukes her. The hospitality I desire is your company and conversation, which Mary has provided; the food and...

Returning Catholics FAQs: Adultery

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 had an affair. Does the Church still want me?

Of course. God can forgive anything. However, adultery is a serious offense against God, your spouse, the person with whom you had...

Then He Embraced Them

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.

Oh, that Francis. How we love him; how we are challenged by him. For some, the meeting with Kim Davis was validation and confirmation of the Church’s view of same-gender marriage; for others, it was a slap in the face. For some, the meeting with prisoners was a comforting sign of mercy and the potential for redemption; for others, it was way too...

On the Nightstand: October 2015

As some of you know, I’m part of a looseknit spiritual group of wonderful women in my area called Churchwomen of a Certain Age. (Most of us are 50 or older, though we’ve allowed a young’un or two in as well.) I didn’t know any of these women when they were in their twenties or thirties, but I don’t think they could have been any more lovely then.

That’s why I’m so excited to be reading this month Lisa Mladinich’sTrue Radiance: Finding Grace in the Second Half of Life. The text on the back say...

Being Christ in Our Lives: Nora Lawson

For the past ten years, Nora Lawson has been the go-to person for funerals at aparish near my home. She helped grieving families plan the readings and music and arranged for priests and post-Mass or service gatherings. Nora has a gift for listening to the stories about the loved one, and sharing those stories with the celebrant. She also spent countless hours helping the homebound, whether through her own service or by organizing others. Now, she’s moving on to another parish where I am sure...

Wednesday’s Woman: St. Theodore Guerin

The Basics:Born October 2, 1798, in France; died May 14, 1856, in the United States; canonized October 15, 2006, by Benedict XVI; feast day, October 3. Woman religious, missionary, teacher.

The Story: Theodore’s world was rocked when she was just fifteen and her father was murdered. Her mother fell into a deep depression, and Theodore spent the next several years as in essence the head of the family, caring for both her mother and a younger sister. When she was twenty-five, she became a woman...

Defend Us in Battle

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.

And then, it was … done. Or was it?

Pope Francis boarded Shepherd One Sunday night and headed back to the Vatican with thousands of miles under his belt after his visit to Cuba and the United States. Thousands were blessed by small-group meetings with him at prisons, at shelters, and elsewhere. Millions attended large events or stood and cheered...

Returning Catholics FAQs: About Women Religious

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 saw a lot of nuns on TV and in social media while Pope Francis was in the United States. Is being a nun a sort of “priest lite”?

No, not at all. Women religious belong to an or...