Coming back shouldnt be harder than leaving in the first place.

An open letter to women who have left the Catholic Church:

We want to invite you to come talk with us, and we are excited to meet you! Just like you, we are daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers; students, professionals, and stay-at-home moms. We are teenagers, 20-somethings, 30-somethings, and beyond. We are from many walks of life and from diverse backgrounds, but we share a common faith - one we want to invite you to revisit.

Some of us have been away from the Church, and by one way or another we've come back. Some of us never left - but that doesn't mean we’ve never questioned nor been confused. Some of us were raised outside of the Church, and made the decision to join as adults. In one way or another, each one of us has come to know and love Christ in the Catholic Church - and in keeping with Pope Francis’ request we want to share that love and joy with you.

Being Catholic isn’t easy, and we’ll be the first to tell you that we aren’t perfect; we have many planks in our own eyes to worry about. Our faith embraces paradoxes, challenges our culture's values, and makes us feel uncomfortable when we are called to examine our actions and our motivations. But - as you already know - just because something is challenging does not mean it is not worthwhile.

We know that you are intelligent and capable. We believe that you deserve answers to your questions, and explanations for the teachings with which you're struggling. We’ve all struggled with various aspects of our faith, but we aren’t here to judge or condemn you. We simply want to listen to what you’re feeling. We want to understand what is making you uncertain about being part of our Catholic faith. We want to help you find the answers and explanations that helped bring us home. We want to meet you, we want to hear about your experience, and most importantly, we want to invite you back.

Feel free to email any of us with questions or concerns you may have about the Church, her teachings, or what reversion means. If you’re not ready to bare your soul to complete strangers, we’d love to direct you to sites that helped us (and still help us) as we discerned our calling in life.

Wherever you are, whatever you believe, know that we are praying for you. You are our sister - another woman navigating a challenging world. We look forward to talking with you!

In The Peace and Love of Christ,

The members of #cathsorority

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Give a Little Gift

I was born 8 weeks early. I have spent my entire pregnancy praying my baby would not be premature. I have a friend, Janet, and her husband, Mike, who weren't as lucky as I have been.  They don't know I'm writing this post, and I really hope they don't mind. I'll show it to them when we're done here...

Janet and Mike are a sweet couple, smart, and funny. I enjoy their company.  I met them through a friend a few years ago.  

Janet and Mike got pregnant with twins after being married over a decade.  They delivered their babies early, 16 weeks early.  Which means their twins Jaina and Cade were born at 24 weeks. Sweet baby Jaina fought hard for a few days, but is now waiting in heaven for her family.  Cade spent about 4 months in the NICU surrounded by nurses and doctors who cared for him expertly.

I cannot imagine travelling back and forth every day like Janet and Mike.
I cannot imagine the pain of bringing Cade home without his sister.

Cade 4mo old and home!

Why am I telling you this story and showing you an adorable baby photo?  Janet is participating in the March Of Dimes walk and is raising money in honor of her beautiful son Cade, and in memory of her precious daughter Jaina. I'm hoping that by being a friend of TheCatholicLovebirds and all that we love, you might consider donating to this fight.  There are so many babies born early, March of Dimes is doing everything they can to prevent this. When it can't be prevented March of Dimes does what they can to support these babies and their families.  Think of all your friends, how many have been affected by miscarriage, early births, premature or preterm births, birth defects?  Then click the link below and donate.  Donate in honor of the babies that fight to become adults.   Could you give a dollar? One dollar isn't much of a sacrifice really when you think of it... You've probably got that much between the couch cushions.

I've committed to donate a dollar amount equivalent to the weeks at which Lucy is born. What will you commit to?  Pickel Family MOD page

MOD mission statement

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Maria, pregare per loro

 Excuse my Google Translator version of Italian.  I found this photo in a slideshow here, and was compelled to share it. I cannot imagine the terror and fear that the passengers and crew of the Costa Concordia felt that first night, or what they are going through now.  This photo reminds us we can always seek a mother's comfort. Mary is here to pray for us, even in a tragedy she can be found to put her arms around those who need her. 

Mary, pray for them.

Divers recover a statue of the Madonna from inside the chapel of the Costa Concordia cruise ship.

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Crazy Dreams

So apparently at this stage of my pregnancy (17/18weeks along) having odd dreams is normal. Just so we are clear the dreams are hormonal, and in no way a reflection on my mental status. Seriously, I was so happy to get an email from WhatToExpect.com with my little timeline reminding me that I am not a wack job, it is just the hormones. Thank you baby Jesus. I was really concerned for the sake of my parents cat, who has had purple hair in one dream; my living room which didn't really have bean bag furniture on Thursday; and my baby who was born while a cannon shooting blue goo and confetti exploded in the same room. This too shall pass!

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Yes, they make lingerie for children

This news story should discredit any snobby European who thinks Americans are classless.

On Greg and Jennifer Willits show this afternoon, they mentioned that there was French lingerie company that is selling lingerie! You know, the sexy kind that when you see your wife wearing it, you get all warm and tingly cause she's so beautiful?

Actually no. This lingerie is marketed toward girls ages 4-12.

Lingerie for girls ages 4-12. Lets let that sink in for a moment or two. Lingerie. For girls. Age 4. To 12.

I'm not even going to post a picture. Toddlers and Tiaras makes me feel creepy all over, but this raises that ugly bar ten times more. There is a photo of a kid modeling this stuff with a bare stomach, in nothing but panties and a top.

What's the goal of a photo like that? I shudder to think of the men and women who probably have that as a desktop photo.

The goal of the "loungerie" made by Jours Apres Lunes (headed up by lingerie designer Sophie Morin) is to sell products similar to her adult line of clothing. And while there's certainly nothing wrong with lingerie, it takes on nine shades of ugliness when a child wears something so sexually provocative.

Perhaps the idea of expecting a child in a few months has made me more sensitive to these issues than I was a year or two ago. But this story comes on the heels of Corey Feldman's interview on Nightline where he says that the number one problem in Hollywood is pedophilia.

When you combine the two stories, I think it's long overdue to ask why people feel the need to sexualize minors.  I am scared enough as it is to become a Father. After reading all of this, only the depths of Hell scares me more.

God have mercy on those children whose parents signed them up to model "loungerie."

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Normal Anxiety, right?

So I had a horrible night of sleep last evening. I should start by saying I have been exhausted for the past few days and my darling fiance convinced me a nap was in order (not a hard fight of course) ...so I took to my nap around 6pm. Darling fiance called me during my nap to tell me Lino Rulli was discussing something important on The Catholic Guy Show XM117-Sirius159 (I was half asleep and can only remember Lino was talking about Man-gagement rings.)

Instead of getting up at 8 and doing some work around the house I just fell back asleep for the rest of the night. I will now tell you all about the ridiculously odd dreams I had about our upcoming wedding.

1. Father Jim Chern (our beloved priest and friend) who we are praying and praying and praying can perform our wedding mass called to tell dustin he is unable to do the wedding in May or June. Fr. Jim was telling dustin(in my dream) that he could ONLY do the wedding in February. Fine, no biggie...except I was terrified we wouldn't have enough time to complete the pre-cana work generally required by the church in order to be allowed to marry. I was so worried we would have everything set up and not be approved to get married. I just couldn't imagine Fr. Jim doing this to us. I know Fr. Jim would prefer we take longer to get married and get to know each other more before the wedding -so moving the date up to February made no sense at all.

2. dustin's mom offered to pay for the whole wedding... not too scary, except she also REFUSED to go to the reception! I was crying and begging her to come. The whole family on his side was not going to come. I was so distraught I told his sister she could come in a tank-top as long as she would be there. I was telling them that our family wasn't perfect, we are sarcastic and have water balloon fights.

3. We were taking photos and had to use a movie poster being projected as the backdrop. Also, there was a drumset and my dad started playing while we were supposed to be taking these photos. My dad doesn't play the drums... Another set appeared and dustin's family started playing too. The photos got canned so the families could have a jam session.

I have a sneaky suspicion this will not be the last time I have dreams about the wedding and reception going awry. I am confident though that dustin and I will get married and it will be wonderful saying "I do" no matter what the rest of the day holds.

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