"Prayer, the heart of a vocation"

Fr. Kyle Schnippel shares his latest piece for the Catholic Telegraph on his blog today. Just to get you started:

I was raised in a very small town, roughly 1,000 people all together, even including the surrounding countryside. To say everyone knew everyone would be an understatement! Despite the small size, and the fact that only 50% of the town is Catholic (Lutherans and Methodists make up the rest), my home parish has sent five sons to the seminary in the last 20 years. Two of us have been ordained, two were in the seminary and left, one is currently in the college seminary. A remarkable feat, which continues to stun me, even seven years after my own ordination.

Want to know why? Read it all here.

Beautiful stories from JPII's Methodist pilot

This is so worth reading! John Paul II's pilot during his trip to America in 1979 recently shared stories from his interactions with the Holy Father. The pilot, a Methodist, still considers his piloting of Shepherd I the peak experience of his life. It's really a beautiful story, and I can't recommend reading it enough. You can do so here.

What does malaria have to do with funding Planned Parenthood?

The best picture of John Paul II?

Divorced and vacationing

Apparently it's a trend for divorced families to vacation together -- "ex"-spouses, "new" spouses, step-children. Yahoo! News reported on the topic. I found myself scratching my head throughout the piece. If these couples are able to spend an amicable week together on vacation, then what was stopping them from working on their marriage? But then the most heart-dropping line was dropped:

"When I want to be short or get irritated or whatever I can't because Ace is standing right there," she [Meredith Morton] said. "It's not like it's a huge sacrifice," she added. "Honestly, the gift that I give Ace by having us both in the same place" is worth it.

Ms. Morton, if it's worth giving your son the gift of being with your "ex"-husband for a week or two, then how inestimable of a gift to give the witness of your marriage for a lifetime?

What is your commitment to life?

An unemployed electrician in Minnesota is making headlines for turning down a job because of his pro-life convictions. He was offered an opportunity to work on a new Planned Parenthood building but weighed his moral responsibility as higher than his economic one. Read his story here. We need more people who courageously defend life by their actions and words.

Quote book

"All beauty comes from God, and should point our hearts back toward Him. As a woman, your task is to use this gift to draw the hearts of men toward God, while avoiding the temptation to distract them from Him. Your modesty is a 'ministry of beauty.' Or, in the words of one teenager, 'A woman should be so hidden in Christ that a man has to see Christ just to see her.'" -- Jason and Crystalina Evert in How to Find Your Soulmate Without Losing Your Soul