Hopeful News for Divorced Catholics

Read my remarks and insights in CNN's extensive coverage of Pope Francis's Exhortation "On Love in the Family"

I assumed that Friday, April 8, 2016, would start out like every other day that week. It was Spring Break and I had spent the week sharing some major quality time with my 6-year-old son while my wife was in Florida relaxing with some of our other kids. I was wrong. The pope had published his post-synodal apostolic […]

One-Two Punch

Are you having a hard time forgiving yourself? Take it to confession and know that Our Lord gave everything to forgive your sins, no matter how great. His mercy is always greater than your sin. Accept it. Next, ask yourself what you can do to repair the damage left by your sin, and do it. […]

Love Never Fails

“My daughter wants nothing to do with me.” John said with a quiver in his voice and tears welling up in his eyes. John proceeded to tell me how his kids had become alienated from him because of his divorce. His phone calls went unanswered, and his texts were never returned. He was hurting, and […]

You Want The Truth?

“You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!” Those were the famous words that Jack Nicholson delivered so passionately in the movie A Few Good Men. And he was right. Many people can’t handle the truth, especially when it sheds light on poor choices or brings on consequences. This is often the case when a […]

By Design

My son enjoys making bracelets out of brightly colored rubber bands. Creating them requires a special contraption with rows of pegs. He uses a specially designed hook to grab the rubber bands and connect them from one peg to another. It requires a fair amount of dexterity. He is always so proud of his creations, […]

Got Your Back

With St. John Paul II’s canonization on Divine Mercy Sunday 2014, it is good to be reminded of what this amazing pope and saint said about divorced Catholics. He has our back! I earnestly call upon pastors and the whole community of the faithful to help the divorced and with solicitous care to make sure that they […]

Loving Hard

The house I bought after my divorce was a real fixer-upper. One of the many projects I tackled was to redo the landscaping in the front yard. It was a mess. One part of the project was to literally scrape the sod off the lawn and transplant it to where I had removed a tree…in […]

Car Wreck

I often equate recovering from divorce to recovering from a near-fatal car accident. You emerge from divorce with your emotional well being on life support. Every day can bring an avalanche of pain. Relief can be nowhere in sight. Just as physical therapy is used to help mend a broken body, your faith can help […]