Author of The Perfect Blindside and Extreme Blindside, Leslea Wahl kindly took some time away from writing this week to chat with Pauline Books & Media.First, let’s talk a little about your life.I live in Colorado. In fact, I’m a Colorado native, even though my husband and I moved away for eight years… our families were here, though, and we were happy to be able to come back and live near them. I have three children, the youngest is in college now!  I’m a writer...

In the musical production of Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye asks his wife, “Do you love me?” She struggles to answer him: “For twenty-five years I’ve washed your clothes, cooked your meals, cleaned your house…” Tevye is not satisfied. “But do you love me?” he asks repeatedly.The expression of true love in the nitty-gritty of daily living is many-faceted. Certainly the things we do for others are demonstrations of our love, but there must be somet...

by Sr Nancy Usselmann, Director of the Pauline Center for Media StudiesThere is so much buzz in Los Angeles about the Oscars, even after the event. Last week I brought one of our Sisters who has never been to Hollywood to Grauman’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard and to see the Walk of Fame. The entire street was closed off as they were setting up the red carpet and canopy leading into the Dolby Theater for Hollywood’s biggest night. Sister was fascinated by everything: the na...

If you only knew how good the Blessed Virgin is! If people only knew! (Saint Bernadette)High in the Pyrenees, the ice-cold water of the river Gave rushed along on the morning of February 11, 1858. Fourteen-year-old Bernadette had stopped to take off her stockings before wading across. Her younger sister, nine-year-old Toinette, and their friend Marie Abadie had already waded across the river. The three girls were collecting branches for firewood.Bernadette suddenly heard a strong wind whistling ...

Tommy and Karen Tighe are the authors of Catholic Funny Fill-Ins and the new Catholic Funny Fill-Ins: Saints Spectacular, both of which are published by Pauline Books & Media. We caught up with them to ask about how families can share laughter and fun while learning about the Church and the faith. How did you ever come up with the idea for Catholic Funny Fill-ins?We were on a road trip to Yosemite National Park. Karen had an app on her phone and we were playing it with the kids as ...

I have a friend who calls me a workaholic. “You’re addicted to it,” Patricia said once, accusingly, and I was instantly taken aback. That’s not at all the way I experience my life, and I tried for some time to figure out the disparity between what she was seeing and what I feel.What I finally realized was this: what I do for work gives me joy. I am a writer, and everything that goes into writing—research, reading, thinking, the act of writing itself—is pleasur...

from the interview with Patricia Marie Barnette, RGS, author of the new book: God's Mercy Awaits You: Find Healing After AbortionSister Patricia Marie Barnette was already a Sister of the Good Shepherd when she heard a call within her call. “As Sisters of the Good Shepherd, we take a fourth vow,” she explains. “We vow to labor with zeal for the salvation of souls. And zeal is from the heart of Jesus, the spiritual energy that keeps all our sisters praying and work...

I live in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where 400 years ago the Mayflower first dropped anchor in the New World. The Pilgrims tried to make a home here before finding Cape Cod too inhospitable and pushing off for Plymouth; the Mayflower Compact was written and signed in Provincetown Harbor. So I have a particular interest in the presence of the Pilgrims here, and their motivations for risking everything to make such a perilous ocean voyage.Why did they do it? Very simply—to worship God in t...

When was the moment John knew? As he reached out his arms to baptize this young man before him, what tipped him off that this man was different from all the others who stood on the bank of the River Jordan, come to confess their sins and be baptized, “to flee from the coming wrath” (Matthew 3:7).Was it when he looked into Jesus’ eyes? The eyes betray the depth of one’s soul. Or was it when his arms guided Jesus, submerging him in the waters of baptism and repentance?How d...

Sometimes I wonder how Mary and Joseph reacted when the Magi showed up.I can imagine them, finally settled, still processing all that's happened with angels and shepherds and this baby in their arms, when there is a knock at the door. Joseph signals to Mary that he will get it, quiet so as not to wake the baby she finally got to sleep, assuming it to be a relative or neighbor. But opening the door, he is met with the startling sight of a dusty, strangely dressed group of foreign, rich, Genti...