One of the most beautiful aspects of community life is the way it becomes another family that includes one's family of origin. A sister's mom was here over the past three weeks, baking every sort of yummy deliciousness that any granny would provide for her children--although on a rather large scale, there being 70+ eager hands reaching for the brownies. When there is a family crisis, we're on it for prayers. Everybody in community followed my sister's 30-year search for a husband and rejoiced wh...

To understand God’s call for us, we need to also understand how God sees us; we have to understand our “backstory” (to put it in storytelling terms) or where we come from.How does God see us? Most simply put, we have been loved into being:There is one truth for believers that, no matter how much our wounded nature might try, cannot be twisted. This truth is that God chose to create each of us. There is something so unique and wonderful about us that God wants to share his life with us. God wa...

Come Celebrate with Us!Sunday, May 17, 2:00 pm at the Boston Motherhouse Chapel of the Daughters of St. Paul You’ve heard of the Red Mass for lawyers, right? And the Blue Mass for police officers? These are usually celebrated annually by a diocese for all Catholics in that profession. We Daughters of St. Paul think there should be an equivalent for media professionals, but since most U.S. dioceses don’t have one (as far as we know), we decided to take matters into our own hands. We can pick a ...

I'm from Louisiana—born, bred and raised Cajun.  Since I joined the convent in 1977, I've ventured far from the bayous and seen quite a bit of the world.  And even though I speak "y'all", which doesn't always translate perfectly, there are other things that do, most powerfully Take, for instance, blessings.  I remember working with Sr. Irene for two days straight in the bowels of a New York skyscraper taking apart and extracting about 60 units of metal shelving that were donated to the convent....

Blessed James Alberione is definitely someone whose story you want to know. Why?Because he's the first priest to so clearly see how the media are tremendous gifts for bringing the world to Christ and Christ to the world that he actually did something about it: he founded two religious congregations dedicated exclusively to communicating Christ.Because his spirituality is not abstract or esoteric, but for real people living real lives today.And because this is how three recent Popes have talked a...

Pauline Books & Media is honored to announce that I Forgive You: Love We Can Hear, Ask For, and Give, written by Nicole Lataif and illustrated by Katy Betz, is a 2015 Christopher Award recipient as announced by The Christophers today. I Forgive You: Love We Can Hear, Ask For, and Give teaches children ages 4–7 a balanced, Christian view of forgiveness. Simply structured sentences and scenarios paired with whimsical illustrations show children the power of three simple words: I forgive you. ...

Pauline Books & Media is honored to announce that I Forgive You: Love We Can Hear, Ask For, and Give, written by Nicole Lataif and illustrated by Katy Betz, is a 2015 Christopher Award recipient as announced by The Christophers today.I Forgive You: Love We Can Hear, Ask For, and Give teaches children ages 4–7 a balanced, Christian view of forgiveness. Simply structured sentences and scenarios paired with whimsical illustrations show children the power of three simple words: I forgive you.Th...

There are three things uppermost in my mind as I write to you and all of these are precious gifts, not to be taken for granted: God’s mercy, the sun, and books. You might think that a strange combination, but they are all very much worth celebrating and all quite connected. Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday. That naturally has me thinking of the reality of God’s mercy, especially since the liturgy from Holy Thursday through Divine Mercy Sunday has us contemplating the great love and mercy of Jesus...

Holy Week is an extraordinary week in the life of the Church, and it’s meant to be an extraordinary week in our personal and spiritual lives, too. But from waving our palms on Palm Sunday, to being splashed with holy water on Easter Sunday, sometimes it’s hard to get into the rich liturgies of Holy Week. We may get restless during the longer services or find it hard just to get to church an extra time during the week. Sometimes, we may find it uncomfortable or depressing to focus on Jesus’ su...

So, I’m a Novice, and the Sister who is our formator is notorious for assigning us “special missions.” I’ve learned in the last two years that anything that’s not on our regular schedule is considered a “special mission,” and these “special missions” range anywhere from putting books away, to picking up a Sister from the airport, to cleaning something out of the ordinary. (Actually, that’s USUALLY what it means.) But last week, Sister told us that we had an “extra-special mission.”As...