For four delightful years, I worked in our Pauline Books & Media bookcenter in Alexandria, Virginia. My favorite part of being in the bookcenter was helping people on the floor. I realized that by listening to people and asking them questions, I could find just the right book, resource, or gift item that they needed for themselves or for a family member, student, or friend. The longer I worked in the bookcenter, the more familiar I became with all the great Catholic material that’s ava...

Our world values what is slick and sleek, racing past the present to try out whatever is the next great thing. It is at polar opposites from the thoughtful, reverent listening that Pope Francis counsels us to develop in order to connect with our loved ones, our grandparents, and all those men and women who have lived and loved and have so much to share with us. But how do we go about getting them to share with us? First, on our part, we need to reflect that taking the time and sharing ...

So, a lot of you have gotten to know me over the years through articles of spirituality and inspiration, and thoughtful advice for living with faith in today’s world.This short article is a bit different.I want to pull back the curtain a little and share something more personal. Here goes.These past few years I’ve been struggling through some midlife self-doubt and life reflection. It has been painful, as it is I’m sure in some way for everyone. The challenges that usher us int...

April is usually a beautiful time of year here in New England, the snow starts to melt and the crocuses show their tiny faces. I received the sacarment of Confirmation in the month of April, so it's also a time of special gratitude for the Spirit and of remembering the event that jump-started a new space for God to work inside me.I'll never forget the first of our Confirmation classes. Our teacher, a very nice woman probably in her 40s, laid down the law: "If you miss even one class...

Growing up, I loved the idea of love, thanks to a steady diet of Disney magic and, later, romantic comedies. Fast-forward to college, and I realized my younger self’s concept of romance was little more than infatuation when compared to what it could really be.St. Pope John Paul II introduced me to another view, and I fell in love with love for real.My college boyfriend and I decided to attend a summer retreat in Allenspark, Colorado, where the pope stayed when he came to Denver for World Y...

Isn’t it an amazing feeling when you read a book or an article and feel that the author has really captured your own thoughts about something? When you find yourself nodding along as you read? When you read words written before you were born and feel that the writer really “got it”?Many authors of the early 20th century were enmired in their specific time, and at a distance their writings appear old-fashioned at best—and irrelevant at worst. Others seem to have been presc...

Beginning Thursday, March 3, Sr. Rose Pacatte, the founding Director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Culver City, CA, will be providing introductions and commentary on a series of films for Turner Classic Movies (TCM) entitled “Condemned.” While the title is provocative, the subject consists of films that were condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency between the years 1933 – 1965.TCM reached out to Sr. Rose to host the series. Taking a cue from Pope Francis to mov...

Dear St. Gianna,I wanted to write to you today on St. Valentine’s Day and thank you for your friendship and what you have taught me about real, true, and lasting love.I smile when I think of the day we met in the hallway of the publishing house. It was two-and-a-half years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. There you were, so visibly pregnant, dressed in your white lab coat, surrounded by your beloved husband Pietro and three of your children—right there on the cover of th...

We’re almost through January, and perhaps the shiny promise of the New Year has begun to dull. Maybe we’ve already broken our most important resolution, or we’re wavering about sticking with it. Maybe we put off making any resolutions, and now we feel it’s too late for a fresh start, for making our lives happier, healthier, holier. For me, late January and early February have often been about giving up. February has always been a particularly hard month to get through: I’m as tired of m...

In these first days of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, I have found myself remembering our dear Sister Mary Caroline. For the longest time it was she who managed the book bindery where the machines were run by postulants and novices. Sister Caroline, who was anything but mechanical in her inclinations (that was Sister Mary Guadalupe's specialty), had a way of introducing calm into the situation whenever a machine started making a strange “clink” or (worse yet) had begun spitting out damage...