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Question: “I expect so much of myself each New Year. How do I make my resolutions last?”
Response:William McKenna, M.S., Clinical Extern at the IPS Center for Psychological Services
Category: Guest column
How to cope with the seasonal blues
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QUESTION: While everyone else seems joyful, I often feel depressed around the holidays. Could you suggest some ways to cope with the holiday blues?
RESPONSE: By William McKenna, M.S., clinical extern at the IPS Center for Psychological Services
We so often hear Christmas songs with lines such as, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” and “Christmas time is here. Happiness and cheer!”
It’s time for a new Holy League
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Man crisis
According to Matthew Christoff, “There is a serious ‘man-crisis’ in the Catholic Church. It is widespread and serious. Unless the Church, including its bishops, priests, and lay men begin to take notice and make the evangelization of Catholic men a priority, the Catholic Church in the West will decay, as more and more men abandon the Church. Unchecked, the exodus of Catholic men from the faith is likely to continue as men become increasingly casual about Catholicism.”
Recognizing this crisis, Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “In vast areas of the earth the faith risks being extinguished, like a flame without fuel. We are facing a profound crisis of faith, a loss of a religious sense which represents one of the greatest challenges for the Church today . . . The renewal of faith must, then, be a priority for the entire Church in our time.”
New column links the spiritual with the psychological
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QUESTION: What does mental health have to do with our faith?
RESPONSE: By William McKenna, M.S., clinical extern at the IPS Center for Psychological Services
For years, psychology and theology were like two squabbling siblings. Always ready to fight, but actually always seeking the same end.
Cultivating ‘spirituality of encounter’ this Advent
In September, Pope Francis celebrated “the blessing of long life” with thousands of senior citizens and their families.
In his homily that day, he spoke about the Visitation of the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, calling it “a Gospel of encounter.”
The pope encouraged those present — and through them, all of us — to follow Mary’s example and re-establish a covenant between the young and the old.
Be prepared for medical decisions
As we wind down the year, we seem to hear of more and more people who are dealing with illness and hospitalization.
Steps to take in discerning your call
What is my […]
A ‘miracle baby’ is born
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On March 3, 2013, I received a telephone call from a pretty distraught gentleman who was waiting in his car in the Planned Parenthood parking lot while his girlfriend had her abortion consult appointment.
Curtis kept referring to abortion as “intrinsic evil,” yet he felt that abortion was the only option to hide the fact that he had premarital sex.
Curtis had recently come to the Catholic faith and held a position on a board and was involved in prison ministry. He couldn’t imagine his peers knowing of his choice to engage in premarital sex.
Fr. Joseph Kentenich: Founder of Schoenstatt Movement the Church’s next saint?
Consider a newly ordained Pallottine priest whom skeptics thought would never make it to the priesthood. This same man, a kindly looking person with a flowing white beard, within a century established a Marian renewal movement in the Church that touches all continents.
Finding life in infertility
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We were one of those crazy couples. We wanted six or seven children (and still do!) when we were married.
Even though we didn’t have any money, we said “God will provide!” and did not use contraception or Natural Family Planning.
In fact, when we were dating, I remember having a conversation about children. Chris asked me, “How many children do you want? I was thinking six.”
“As many as God will give us!” I responded joyfully.
But, it has been almost 10 years, and we still do not have any children. I certainly did not think that when I said “as many as God will give us,” that that might be none.