Finding A Man Who Loves Jesus.

       "Our first date went well, but he's not that strong in His faith, and…" She paused, almost apologetically. I completed her sentence. "And you desire to date a man who loves Jesus like you do."

       "Well, yeah…Yes. Yes, I do." Her apology turned to confidence in speaking the desire of her heart. I experience this scenario often. 

       At the age of eighteen, attending Daily Mass became an integral part of my life. I found fulfillment and deep personal peace through the beauty of adoration. I was sold out for big worship and looking for big ways to build the Kingdom. Following Jesus Christ was the single most important aspect of my existence.

       During this time and into my twenties, I knew one thing I wanted above all if I was going to be dating. If I was going to date, I wanted to be with a man who really, really loved Jesus…even more than I did, and even more than he loved me. 

       I knew my own heart, and knew that I needed to date a man who could lead me. There was no question about it, I did not want to be spiritually leading a relationship. 

       I desired a Christ-centered relationship and I wanted to date a man who shared in my love for all these things that were so deeply integrated into my daily life. It was extremely important to me that if I was going to be in a relationship, I wanted it to be one with a man who had a profound sense of Catholic spirituality. I wanted to date a man who loved Jesus more than I did because I wanted to learn and be challenged to grow. 

       I held no judgment against men who did not share in my faith or my love for Jesus, I just knew that they were not the man for me. And sisters, there will never be anything wrong with knowing what you want and what you need. 

       I speak with too many women who feel judged for upholding their standards…frustrated by having to explain it to friends or family…many of them share about the questions and the pressure from other people…Well, you could be missing out. No one will ever meet your standards. Why don't you just give him a chance? You're being too picky. 

       Women, there is no place for apologizing for what you desire in a relationship. There is no place for having to explain it to anyone, either. 

       We each get the individual responsibility of creating our own standards (and by standards, I am talking about realistic ones here - standards like a man who is virtuous, honest, selfless, unafraid to roll up his sleeves and serve, etc. - not height, hair color, or his ability to sing and play the guitar). It is the responsibility of every woman to be in tune with God and with what is most important to her in a man. There is no need for anyone to understand the standards you have set out except for you. Nobody else can make that call. Some women know that they yearn for a boyfriend or husband to be their spiritual leader. Some women are completely open to dating a man who has no faith and inviting him to be a part of her faith. There is no "better" scenario; we each get to choose. If a man of great faith is what you know you desire, do not apologize for it. Whatever you decide is the bar he must reach, do not go on dating men who sit below it. Do set the bar high - remember, you deserve the best. Be patient until you find the man who shares in what you know you need, and do not settle for less when he seems hard to find. It can be a challenging lesson in patience and trust in God's providence…but it is a beautifully worthwhile endeavor. 

       I did find that man who could lead me. I had to travel half a world away, but God did bring us together in His own timing. And as we walked together in our dating relationship, one night I whispered to Him, "I love Jesus. And I love Him more than I love you." He whispered back, "I know. I wouldn't want it any other way." 

       Take heart, sisters. Have patience. Keep that bar up there because though they may seem few and far between, there are incredible men in this world. And as for the apologizing...This is a journey that will always be between you and our God who provides according to His perfect time and His perfect will. 

The Generosity of People.

Dear friends, 

        It is challenging to figure out where to pick back up. 

        I disappeared a little while ago in December, as we began to pick up speed leading up to our wedding day. There are many things to process about the past year, and the first thing I am attempting to process is the generosity of the people around me. In the past few months, the love poured out upon us has been breathtaking, the support has been overwhelming, and the grace has been surreal. 

        It is truly unbelievable to think of all the love that I have felt throughout all of 2015 - I have been left without words, utterly speechless. 

        There will never be enough words to thank so many people for all that they did to support Daniël and I in 2015. My parents walked with me every step of the way and gave selflessly and supportively at every turn. I will never have the proper words to express my love and gratitude for them. My sisters, brother, and brother-in-law keep me laughing and dancing the whole way through this life. In the months leading up to the wedding, I received messages of love from dozens and dozens of people - offers from selfless souls wanting to help poured in constantly and I was humbled - the amount of people who wrote or texted saying they were praying for us was beyond compare. 

        About a week before the wedding, I received a package from a parish in Florida. The youth minister and many of the girls had written me little letters of love, and they sent them along with a beautiful medal of the Holy Family. When I opened this package in the midst of a last-minute odds-and-ends frenzy, my gratitude overflowed into many tears. This was the pinnacle of all the love I felt - I have never been so aware that I was breathing, living, and walking in the love and prayers of others. There are no words to describe how humbling it is. I tied the medal these young women gave me into my bouquet and carried it down the aisle as a prayer for young women everywhere. Thank you to this youth minister and the young women who wrote to me. What a gift. 

        In 2015, I was blessed by the support of many priests as we walked through engagement - and we were blessed by one priest in particular. Daniël and I were prepared for our marriage by Fr. Dan Beeman, a priest from Norfolk, Virginia. Fr. Dan flew across America to celebrate our wedding - a huge gift in and of itself. Not only did he celebrate our wedding he valiantly led our 2-day extravaganza to be something very holy and very sacred. The day before our wedding, he celebrated a private Mass for Daniël and I - our last Mass as single people. He guided everyone through the rehearsal, and celebrated our wedding Mass, which was an absolute explosion of joy. The love and generosity Fr. Dan showed us over the past few months - in the midst of an extremely busy schedule running a parish - has left us in absolute awe. 

        The amount of people who attended our wedding Mass was beyond my wildest dreams. When we opened our Mass to all, I did not know who would come. I saw people from all walks of my life - many teens from my years as a campus minister, former colleagues, friends in ministry, my elementary school teacher. We had friends drive across the country to be a part of our day - truly, truly humbling. Thank you to all who came to worship with us, and for praising your hearts out with us. We are grateful to have spent the most important Mass of our lives with you. 

        Daniël and I are embarking on our new normal, and I have quite a bit to say about all that has transpired in the past few months. I look forward to sharing my heart with you, and I am thrilled about all that 2016 will hold and sharing in even more of God's love and grace in this one wild and precious life. 

Love, 

Emily

When You've Been Hurt by Followers of Jesus.

            It is a difficult thing to speak of hurt. It is a challenging thing to witness to brokenness. In my own life I have found the importance of putting our hurt into words - speaking of pain is what builds the bridge from one person to another to say-  you are not alone.

            And so I open my heart today because I see more and more the pain people have experienced in following Christ and being hurt by His followers. I know that pain well and sometimes I think it gets swept away - under the rug, far away, deep into the recesses our hearts.

            Have you been hurt in ministry? In church? By people who declare out loud that they love Jesus Christ?

            If yes, then you and I, we have rowed in the same boat, oars moving right along together. You are not at all alone. We have been hurt by people sitting in our congregations, by people in leadership positions, by clergy, by religious, by people well-known and liked by entire communities of people. It is highly likely that if you have ever belonged to a church community, it is something you have experienced.

            I was once in a worship band that held an entire meeting to discuss their opinions about me. I was not invited to defend myself. I carried a high school campus ministry program by myself, while teaching classes, while running retreats and loving endlessly on 450 teenage girls while one of my greatest friends battled cancer - and was called unworthy to address my students at their final Mass because some disagreed with the way I did ministry. I witnessed nuns treat a dying woman with such little care for her heart I still cannot speak of it out loud to this day. This is the short list. There can be some unimaginable pain in ministry.

            Sometimes people have motivation to hurt and sometimes they do it without such intention...but a wise person once shared one line that has stuck with me forever...Unintentional pain is still pain. Unintentional hurt still hurts.

            It steals the joy right out from under you and takes the wind clear out of your sails. It can bring you to a screeching halt... why do I work in ministry or volunteer my time if this is really what it can be? How can I follow this Jesus who has followers who approach me with disrespect, who can say terrible things about me, who can be incredibly critical of the attempts I make at building the Kingdom here on earth? Why do I stay in the Church if it has people like this?

            It is a challenging thing to approach - a painful thing to speak about, because it is often hard to describe what it is like. It is difficult for people to share their wounds for fear of sounding uncharitable or whiny, but this hurt is real and if left untreated, can impact one's life and faith for far too long. In my own life, at times it has felt like a small sting - other times in has felt like burns - not burns on the skin but burns on the heart. You know, the old scene when someone leaves the iron on a shirt too long, and it leaves that distinct black burn mark? It's like that. And sometimes it feels like it takes an eternity to carefully scrape off. These hurts can only be healed when they are given to God - to allow God to place His perfect healing power over all these places of discouragement and ache.

            I have met some who wonder that last question...why do I stay in the Church if it can be so painful?  

            It can feel like a valid question in the midst of deep sorrow, but there is one truth that will remain a constant in my life. I refuse to leave the Church even when Christ's followers treat me horribly. Why? Because I refuse to let human folly drive me away from the Eucharist.

            There is an important distinction that I have had to continue to make - I hear many people say that they were hurt by the Church - when it is not the Church that inflicts pain. It is not the Catholic Church who hurts us but the imperfect people in it - the ones sitting on the altar, in the pews, in the administration building at the school, in the parish center. We are all imperfect in many ways, and in the same way that I do not blame the mother with the screaming child at the grocery store for her child's behavior - I will not blame my God for the behavior of His children. I refuse to let humans derail my love for the King, my passion for young people and the Church, and His plan for the entirety of my life. People can say mean things about me, call me incapable, unintentionally or intentionally hurt me - I will not walk away from the Bread of Life.

            If you are currently navigating this kind of hurt - I want to apologize to you today. I am sorry. I want you to know that God wants only to pour out love into your aching heart. I am always comforted when I take one step back and look above all the followers and look at the One we follow. He has never been and never will be a hypocrite. He is accepting, kind, forgiving, merciful, and loving - He is the one this faith is about and He is the one who knows His Church is made up of messy, imperfect people and He is the one who says to all of us who have been hurt,

            I love you. Keep. serving. anyway.

            It takes a conscious choosing to refuse to become bitter - to hold up a stiff arm to cynicism as it tries to wrestle you down - to remember...there are a thousand more dedicated, selfless, holy people for every one person who has ever hurt me. But it is a worthwhile and life-giving choosing, and I choose it while I say out loud...All of my life, in every season, You are still God. I have a reason to sing, I have a reason to worship.

            There are millions of absolutely exquisite humans working to build the Kingdom - let us live and remember them. Let us live to love the ones who hurt us, to pray for those we find it difficult to pray for, and to love one another as Christ has loved us.

Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. Ephesians 4:32

Beating the Enemy at Thanksgiving.

            It is the week to give thanks.

            This week we celebrate gratitude and love and happiness and our countless blessings. We give glory to God for all good things and rejoice over good food, shared memories, songs, and time with family. This week is a sacred time in our country - spirits are high and everyone has already been wishing one another a Happy Thanksgiving - the lady on the phone from the electric company wished one for me and I wished one to the COX man who set up our Internet. Americans love this beautiful week.

            If we are not careful, however, this sacred time can be slowly infiltrated by that little voice that starts to sneak in to our lives...

            That voice that tries to make you look at the things you don't have rather than what you do have.

            Nobody has a perfect family but that voice could try to convince you that yours is the worst and you would be happier in a different one in the thick of family drama that seems to come to a boil this week. You do not need a relationship or a spouse to be happy, but that voice is going to try to remind you that you are alone and that loneliness is equal to misery. You do not have as many fun weekend events to attend as your friends you see on social media, and that voice will try to convince you that you are unwanted and excluded. Material things do not fulfill us but that voice is going to tell you - you do not have close to enough. You need more.

            Why else would people trample each other to the point of death on Black Friday to buy things?

            This is the week where we each get to take control in shutting that voice up in our hearts and minds - we get the decision to beat the enemy and let gratitude rule our thoughts, feelings, and actions. It is the week to look at our imperfect families and be grateful to have a family - parents, cousins, crazy uncles, and all. It is the week to focus on the big blessings we take for granted - running water, food on the table, cars to drive, friends to go around. It is the week to truly believe that - relationship during the Christmas season or not - life is still good, full, promising, and beautiful - and that no matter what events you are or are not invited to - that you are still loved by many.

            It is the week to truly remember - I have enough things - how can I give more love?

            We get the choice...the choice to change our perspective to say not, "I don't have..." but to say, think, and believe...

            I have more than enough. Thanks be to God.

The Family Dinner Table.

            Everyone says it is important to have family dinners for your children and for the well-being of your family.

            It makes children happier, they say. It makes children smarter, they say.

            It gives them better self-esteem and confidence, it keeps them out of trouble, it makes for an overall healthier family.

            There are a myriad of reasons and I subscribe to them all.

            Sharing dinner at an 8-foot long handcrafted oak table every night made me all of those things. But I have watched and seen the way dozens of families operate and I have come to know that a family dinner table is gravity.

            Gravity is the force pulling together all matter, and this shared table does that and so much more. It creates the balance of a home. It keeps all within a home grounded. It pulls everyone together to the exact same center.

            My mother ordered this handcrafted table many years ago. This old table has seen many plates of food and heard lots of laughter. It has surely seen hundreds of different guests by now...aunts, uncles, priests, old friends, new friends, elementary school friends, college friends, and anyone and everyone who ever needed a loving home for Thanksgiving. It has endured drumming and singing and crying but most importantly has offered each of us a moment every single day of our childhood to answer the question in front of the other five people God gave us to love life with...

            "My precious jewel, how was your day?"

            When children feel heard, they remain centered. When they feel loved, they remain grounded. The love within a home sustains children. Love felt at a dinner table gives children and families life.

            It is at this oak table where I have felt heard and loved for my entire life. It remains the central place of sharing and loving for our family to this day. As a 26-year-old woman my heart overflows at sitting at this table, noticing that long after dinner has passed, and plated have been cleaned...

            We still sit and laugh, talk, and share in life together.

            Gravity.

My Women of the Year.

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. Proverbs 31

            I recently heard about Glamour Magazine including Cecile Richards and Bruce Caitlyn Jenner in their selection for "Woman of the Year."

            I am not surprised, disappointed, or even dismayed. 

            I know the kinds of women our culture puts on pedestals. I know well what our culture thinks is "brave" and "honorable." I am well-versed in the fact that our culture thinks a woman who has proven to be a liar and fraud with no care for the unborn is worthy of the title woman of the year. I am not surprised that our culture is telling women that a man who decided to medically become a woman is more deserving of such a title than any other woman living in 2015.

            I also understand that titles are unimportant, and that what Glamour magazine says does not matter. But what does matter is being inspired by the kinds of women who are truly living honor and bravery in their lives, the women who deserve all the laud and awards, but who would never wish for it or look for it a day in their lives.

            They are my women of the year.

            My woman of the year was born without a 4th chamber in her heart. She has been through countless surgeries and unimaginable physical suffering, and endures it all with the utmost grace and radiance in her heart. You will never see her out in public without a smile on her face, a laugh on her lips, and genuine questions about how your life is going. She is thoughtful, loving, and joyful. She was excelling greatly in her career path but is currently unable to work because of her health, which would be tremendously frustrating for anyone. I have never once heard her complain or look for sympathy for this incredible struggle. She continually lives the life and circumstances she has been given with dignity and beauty. She is my woman of the year.

            My woman of the year just heroically defeated uterine cancer. She works extremely hard at her job and has selflessly cared for her mother in her own home for many years. She is an extremely loving, faithful, patient, and kind friend to all. She is a great listener, a generous giver, always putting the needs of others before her own. I have never once heard her grumble about her trials, about all that others expect of her, or how deeply unfair life can be sometimes. She accepts all that God wills with a heart of prayer, open to all that God wants and does not want, all that God gives and does not give, and in doing so teaches others to do the same. She is my woman of the year.

            My woman of the year is a mother to 3 girls who saw a great longing and need for spiritual connection among women, so she prayerfully and proactively created a community that is thriving and growing by the day. She truly lives out the words of St. Joan of Arc, "Act, and God will act." She has selflessly built an infrastructure that has cultivated incredible vulnerability, friendships, and sisterhood for women all across the world. She quietly carries heavy crosses in her life and through it all serves her family humbly and generously while running her beautiful community and working a demanding job. She is one of the brightest spirits you could ever meet. She is my woman of the year.

            My woman of the year runs a youth ministry program at a parish in Texas. She gives more than anyone sees to make incredible youth ministry happen for young people. Much of her work goes unrecognized, and her humility is stunningly magnificent. She does not ever show a need to receive accolades or recognition. She spends her summers bringing teens to nearly every event imaginable, spending long nights on buses, late nights in hotels, and early exhausted mornings taking care of God's young people and making sure they encounter Him in a powerful way during their teenage years. She longs for God to bring her a spouse but I have never once heard her complain about her state in life as she accepts all as grace. She works and lives with a beautiful peace and generosity in her heart, and is a beautiful example of holiness and virtue. She is my woman of the year.

            My women of the year know how to glorify rather than to look for glory.  

            These women who inspire us in our lives know how to dig in deep when the going gets rough, they know how to serve until it hurts and then keep serving. These are the women who get grit, who understand grace, and who do not cease opening their generous hands and hearts to put complaints aside and others before themselves.

            Today and every day I thank God for the women around us who radiate love and who live beautifully inspiring lives of quiet suffering and sacrifice.

Who is your woman of the year?

"We are the women who want the thing God wants more than we are afraid of it, the women who know when the love of Christ motivates, the more fearless of everything we become, the women who know real joy is not found in having the best of everything but in trusting that God’s making the best of everything.

We are the women who make our lives about the cause of Christ, not the applause of men, live to express the Gospel, not to impress the Jones’, live not to make our absence felt, but to make Christ’s presence known."

-Ann Voskamp

On Geese and Friendship.

            Have you heard them yet? The geese are flying South for the winter.  

            I hear them when I am walking the dog, or sitting at the table eating dinner, and when I am lying in bed with the windows open.

            I hear them honking - their form of communication - a communication which keeps them engaged in incredible teamwork.

            Every time I hear them I remember how much they teach us about what it means to live in community and choose our friends wisely.

            Geese choose friends who are going in the same direction. They would not get to their winter destination otherwise. As you have likely seen, they fly in a V formation...when flying in this formation, each goose flaps its wings and creates an uplift for the goose behind it. They fly as a team, taking turns as the leader, trading positions and helping geese who may be tired or sick. Collectively, the geese are able to travel 70% farther than if they were to travel the distance alone.

            Traveling through life as a geese does is imperative in the life of a Christian.

            We all get tired at different points in our life journey and in our faith journey. Living a life of faith at every age can be very challenging...we will all lose sight of our destination at some point, give into weariness in some way, and have feelings of hopelessness at different stages. If we are with people who get the journey, who understand where we are going, who care for our well-being, and who share our core values...we will find the road much more bearable and much easier to navigate. When we are immersed in community and we stumble, grow exhausted, or face immense struggles, those people sharing in our voyage step in to fly in front of us. They step in to ease our tiredness, our pain, or our sickness by their love, their thoughtfulness, and their prayers. They create an uplift for us because they know the journey of life is challenging but it is community that keeps us going. I will not soon forget the way my family was uplifted by the wings of others in our community when my mother became sick with cancer - the love, the prayers, the cards - there was a smiling face at the door every single night with a meal for our family. Community can create light in the most difficult of life's seasons and is essential to walking through life.

            Many young people share with me that they feel trapped in a group of friends who do not share their same values or common goals, or stuck with friends who are unwilling to help them to be the best person they can be. I always remind them...a group of friends is not some tattoo you cannot remove. You can change the friends you choose to travel with when you realize they do not share your values, your goals, or your direction. The geese teach us this simple equation...spend your time and energy with people who do not share your vision of who you want to be and it will surely take you much longer to get there.

            So I ask you today...what does your community look like? If you find yourself with friends who do not share a common goal, who are not going the same direction as you...it will be worthwhile to spend the energy to find friends who will get you the 70% extra distance that comes with this kind of community. You can find yourself uplifted by others in your life, and you can be that person who gives uplift to someone struggling along the journey.

            May we all channel the brilliant and innate sense a goose has - to choose friends who will help us reach the goal of Heaven and to be a friend ready to uplift those who we are together with in community - for the rest of our lives.

A Flash of Light.

        I get a flash of a second with young women.

        Thirty to forty-five minutes seems like a trivial moment in the grand scheme of their entire lives, especially when I know well what I am up against. 

       I get a fleeting minute to tell the ones who do not believe it that they are valuable, worthy, loved, and beautiful. 

        I get a split second to share truths with them that some have never heard in their lives...

        You are important. You matter. There is a great purpose for your life. Your DNA was painted by the hand of the God of the universe. You are forgivable, lovable, beautiful, and worthy. Your body is a sacred place. 

        And my heart continues to give into heaviness because I watch this world which surrounds young women closely and I know I get a flash of a second and Miley Cyrus gets hours and hours with them. Interview after topless interview, Instagram photo after inappropriate song.

        I get this fleeting moment and Demi Lovato gets weeks. They hear from these women day after day - women who post photos of their naked bodies as objects on Instagram to be liked, praised, or ridiculed. The young women I speak to are taught on a daily basis that nothing is sacred - sex is a game - our bodies are objects for all to see.

        The half hour God allows anyone to share a message of true identity and hope with them can feel like nothing. 

        It challenges every bone in my body and feels like just a fraction of what could make a difference until I get that one message, that one email that reminds me of what I know well...the reality of what one half hour can do for the life of anyone who walks the earth...

       She tells me, this young woman, that in the 30 minutes that God's truth of her identity fell upon her ears...her life was changed profoundly. She vulnerably opens her heart to tell me this half hour was the first time she has ever heard that she matters. It was the first day in a very long time she did not go home and harm herself because of this profound revelation that resonated in her heart. She tells me that this 30 minutes saved her life. 

        And God whispers it to me again and again...

        Do not ever underestimate that flash of a second. 

        Because that flash of a second is a flash of light, and in the darkness of the world, the light is different. The light is attractive. The light holds all power. 

        They will remember that moment of light.

        My gratitude overflows at the gift it is to walk alongside many others who see the value of that 30 minutes of sharing God with one teen - how amidst the deafening clamor of the world, opening the door to God for them to see this flash of light can change the entire course of their days. 

        We get many of these short moments with many people who walk through our lives. One second of showing God's love to someone can do monumental things...are you seizing that moment or letting it pass by? May every person we have an encounter with go away believing that there is still great love, peace, and charity still left in this world. 

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness." - Blessed Mother Teresa 

Pondering When Blogging Feels Trivial.

           Things still feel trivial these days in light of the heartbreak happening in our world. 

            I struggle to put words on paper about anything inspiring because there are people fleeing for their lives at this. very. second. I cannot ignore the kind of suffering happening on Earth and the impact it has on my heart. We comfortably post all weekend about college football, about laying in the pool on Labor Day, taking pictures of our coffees and other picturesque scenes…and these souls a world over are fighting to stay alive, to protect their children, to get to any place of safety, while we struggle to get out of bed on a Tuesday after a long holiday weekend. I try to make sense of it all - but none of it seems to make any sense. 

            We watch these refugees on video, on the news, desperately fleeing to safety, and so many of the comfortable hearts in our country are unmoved. And I sit here, wondering…are we unmoved because it looks like another scene in a movie? We watch them both on screens. What is the difference in our minds between a script and reality? Is there one? Have we eliminated the difference between a movie and reality for people? Do people see so much horrifying violence that kills people in movies, that when it happens in real life it matters just as much as it does in a made-up story? Is the desensitization of our society that far-reaching? 

            Two journalists get killed on live television and our society has already forgotten. We hashtag about it for a day then move on with our lives. People are shot to death at a peaceful Bible study and it is now old news. We just continue on with our lives, because what is there for us to do? Last week, there was a shooting at Sacramento City College. One person was killed and a few injured while they were attending school. I would venture to say that few people know about this incident because it was not widely reported. Are shootings so common at schools, at workplaces, at churches, that they do not make the news anymore? How can that be?

            Obama gave one million dollars in grants to Planned Parenthood last week, and I am even more speechless than I was the time Congress did not defund Planned Parenthood. If it came to light that people were killing thousands of puppies every day, the outrage would be monstrous beyond measure. Nighttime TV hosts would be crying at the plight of the puppies, and it would be headline news. Where am I supposed to place the anger I feel in my heart over millions' of people's unabashed desire defend abortion, to defend their "right" to make decisions that do not have any consequences? To add to this, the outrage in light of the Center for Medical Progress videos has quickly subsided. People are not sharing the horrifying videos like they did by the 4th and 5th one. There are errands to get to, friends to meet up with, bills to pay. What can we do anyway? I cannot sit Obama and Congress down and force them to see babies killed by an organization that got a one million dollar grant last week. My heart continues to break and I continue to pray and help in my small way, but is it enough?

            In all my confusion, heartbreak, and anger, I know that we must look at the light that is within all of this...the light that is the people helping the refugees, the light that is people joining in community to mourn with one another, the light that is the pro-life workers, politicians, women working at pregnancy centers, and so many more who are dedicating time, energy, and effort to make a change in the midst of this brokenness. There are people doing good in the mess - people who look at the darkness and walk right toward it with their light to help, to heal, and to give. There is hope in it all, hope that is not as often reported as the tragedy is, but there is hope and mercy in the center of suffering...that hope and mercy walked 2000 years ago to help us make sense of it all.

            Keep your hearts up, friends, and remember that death lost its power long ago. May we consciously rejoice in the reality of the Resurrection, knowing as the days go on that this place is not our Home.

Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.

You're Going to Feel Like Alice.

            There is a woman I notice every time I go to Zumba class. You can't miss her. 

            Everyone is nearly in perfect harmony with their dance moves...they move left at the same time, and right at the same time. They turn around altogether on each count of the music. And then there is this lady in the middle of the room, just doing her own thing. I don't know her name, so we will call her Alice. She is listening to the very same music as everyone else, but she is twisting and turning all different ways and completely out of sync with the rest of us. It is not that she cannot dance...she just has her own song and dance happening within her. We move left, she bops up and down. We move right, she spins in a circle.

            I love to glance over at her throughout the class. I love it because I love people who are not at all afraid to do their own thing. I met up for coffee with two former teens this week who took up the challenge to spend their freshman year of college living lives of faith and virtue. While it was challenging for them, they shared with me how much their decision positively impacted their entire first year of college. While reflecting on our conversations, the other night it occurred to me how much Alice looks like a young person who has decided to live a life contrary to our culture's norms. She is not doing what everyone else is doing. She is marching to the beat of her own drum, doing what she has decided to do. The thing about living a life of faith as a young person is this...

            You are going to feel like Alice. 

           This may be some of the time, or a lot of the time. You are going to know you are doing something different than most everyone else who surrounds you. You will know that while people are moving left and right, you are spinning around. You will feel out of sync with the way people your age are moving. It is inevitable, yet it is worthwhile.

            And as I think further about Alice, my respect for her grows because it is very apparent - she does not care what anyone else is doing or thinking.

            Alice wants to do what makes her the happiest woman she can be. She is not concerned with going with the flow, or following the lead of someone else, or with what everyone else thinks about her dance moves. She dances the ways she wants to because that is who she is.

            We are moving into this new school year, and for many it is the first weekend in high school or college or back in college. I just wanted to write to you to encourage you today...if you have decided to be like Alice...stand strong and march to the beat of your own drum. Have the courage to do what you know is best for you, not what everyone else seems to be doing.

            Never be afraid to stand for your convictions and do your own dance and let people be amazed by you. 

A Letter to My Girls Leaving for College.

To my girls,

            How I wish I could sit and talk with every one of you before you go.

            All I want is a few moments with you before you jet off to arrive in your new life - heart aflutter, knees shaking, walking into a whole new world. That is not possible, so I wanted to write you a letter and share with you a few things in a letter that I would share with you over coffee.

            I am so thrilled for you to start this new chapter and head out on this new journey. I am excited for you to make new friends and go on fun adventures and learn a million new things about life. This is an incredible time - savor that excitement and the smell of all your fun new things and the awesomeness of all the unknown about to unfold. I know you are looking forward to the newness of it all and meeting people and nights spent staying up late with nobody except yourself to enforce rules. This new beginning is a great celebration. I know you are thrilled to celebrate!

            And I know that you are nervous, too. I know you are nervous about finding friends and fitting in, about classes and doing well in your studies, about what it will be like to be away from home. The thing about being nervous is -- it is perfectly normal. I have never heard of an 18-year-old who left home and wasn't a little nervous. You are in good company -- everyone moving into your dorm has spent a little time wondering or worrying about these things. Know that you are not alone in this, and that all will be well.

            Please also know that college is not the time in your life for "fitting in." College is a time for you to be you. Perhaps you don't know who "you" is...in that case, now is a beautiful and fantastic opportunity to find out more about yourself and who you are - what you like and don't like, what drives you, what you are passionate about, and more. In this search and all your growth, there will be plenty of people who may try to shape you into the person they think you should be. Perhaps that could be your roommate, friends, or boyfriend. Do not listen to that noise. Don't ever listen to that noise. Don't let anyone talk you into doing something you don't want to do or being someone you do not wish to be. I know too many people who wish they had chosen different friends or different relationships because they felt pressured to be someone they were not or be involved in things they didn't want to be involved in. Girls, be who you are. If people don't accept that? Move on and search for people who do. Don't ever feel like you are stuck with the friends you have. Cultivate friendships based in real and true values - not surface junk that makes up so many "friendships" these days. In college, there are plenty of people for you to introduce yourself to and plenty of wonderful friends to be made.

            As for dating in college, this is not high school any more. You deserve to be pursued! You should be taken on dates (however simple they may be on a college budget), and boys should act like men. If you keep the bar set low, they will certainly meet your standards and expectations. But if you keep your standards high, you will give the males around you the opportunity to rise to the occasion of dating an amazing girl like you. Many will not - some will. Don't be overly concerned with getting any certain boy to like you or getting in a relationship. If that happens, wonderful. If it doesn't, just have fun and enjoy this time you have to yourself! Don't spend your time in a relationship you know is bad for you, either, for any reason. I did that for far too long and it is a great regret of both my college experience and my life.

            And you know all those people at the "parties"? Plenty of them are there with the false notion that they must go and get drunk or do drugs to fit in or have fun. And really, that is just pathetic and very sad. So much of the so-called "college experience" centers around this and it can foster so much more bad than good in your heart and in your life. There are thousands of fun things to do in college other than go to parties or get high. I can promise you that.

            As for me, I will not soon forget my college experience - the sights, the sounds, the late nights spent putting news stories together, the incredible amount of Golden Grahams I consumed. I will never forget how crazy it was that no one was making me go to class; I got to choose to go! I will always remember skating around campus at night and studying in the underground library. I will not soon forget how much I loved going to women's studies class and learning about the history of women in America, along with so many of my fun journalism classes. I will never forget the passion the people around me had for journalism and for telling stories. I loved how welcome I felt at the Newman Center, and peace flooded my life when I started going to the daily Mass they offered at noon in the campus chapel for students (I highly recommend you find the one they offer on your campus!). On the other side of things, I will also never forget when 3 months into freshman year a girl in my math class had to tell us she got pregnant at a party and had decided to leave college. Nor will I ever forget the pretty blonde girl who was unconscious on the walkway at night being tended to by paramedics because she drank too much. I saw a number of people fail out of school and I also saw many people excel in their major. I met people who were so kind and inclusive to others and I met people who never had a nice thing to say about anyone. I saw so much good and so much bad during my time in college - and when it comes down to it the most magnificent thing I learned is that I always got to choose. You get to choose, too.

            And with a full heart I hope and pray that you choose to remember your worth. Do not for a moment forget how valuable, loved, beautiful, and smart you are. And if you ever fail to remember these things, don't be hard on yourself. Life is a learning experience and no one gets it all right all the time. Love God, love others, and love yourself. I am so excited for you on your new adventure, and I am still here for each and every one of you if you ever need me.

Lots of love,

Emily

When My Heart Is Broken.

               I was going to write a post speaking to all the young people I have spent time with this summer - I was going to talk to them about how important it is to build a relationship with Christ that does not just depend on a conference "high," but is a lasting, strong relationship.

                I was going to do that, but it can wait for the moment because my heart is broken. My relationship with Christ has compelled me to take a stand against the greatest evil of our time. It seems almost trivial to write about anything with such a broken heart in the midst of the horrifying videos that have been released showing the inner-workings of Planned Parenthood.

                I taught at an all-girls high school for two years. It was a place where I could not talk about abortion because so many of the young women believed that it is our right as women to abort a child we do not want - and they were not afraid to vehemently proclaim it. A discussion always turned into a heated and angry debate, with the pro-life students being belittled and forced into silence. It happens in our Catholic schools and Catholic churches all the time...people being silent about abortion because it is too much of a "hot-button" topic. Don't stir the pot, they say. Some people in the pews and desks are pro-choice, let's keep the peace and not mention it, they say.

                I am done not mentioning it.

                Many  young women I have worked with (and millions of other Americans, for that matter) have been duped by our society into believing that the unborn are clumps of tissue- that if they are not wanted they can be killed - that if I am a woman I get to choose what to do with my body. Many of them believe these things because they have never seen the reality of abortion. My young students raised their voices from their desks about how pro-choice they are, then got angry when people held pro-life signs outside of our school, signs with pictures of aborted babies. How dare they, they would say. "Don't you see?" I wanted to ask them lovingly. When you say you are pro-choice, this is what you are saying you support. If you truly believe what you say you believe, these signs should not bother you in the least.

                I have a continual deep sadness when I think about the confusion of these girls, sadness over conversations with people who have looked me in the face and told me that a fetus is "no less than a parasite on a woman's body," unthinkable sadness at the way our country lets this go on, turning a blind eye to this modern-day holocaust. My heart is broken over it all.

                And today, I saw something I will never be able to unsee. A tiny little arm picked up by tweezers in the lab at Planned Parenthood. It is captured in the 5th video released by the Center for Medical Progress. It is something I never would have seen in real time if not for the valiant steps of the undercover investigators to go as far into Planned Parenthood as they did. Their bravery leaves me in awe. This investigator, posing as someone looking into purchasing aborted baby parts, stands around casually talking about the babies with the ladies working there. He asks if he can see any of the "specimens" (aborted babies), and the woman laughs and smiles.

                "We had a really long day, and they're all mixed up together in a bag."

                All these young souls, the unborn, precious children. Mixed up together in a bag like trash, then dumped into a Pyrex dish so the man can see all the pieces of them.

                This is what I want to show all the confused people, young and old, who have told me that abortion is our right as women and forever should remain our right. This is what I want to show all the people who have told me that they are personally against abortion but that they feel they have no say in what other people do. We have a say in what other people do when the unborn are dismembered and thrown into trash bags, when they are sold for their lungs and their bones, when they are treated as money.

                I want to show them these videos and talk to them. Face to face. Not over Twitter, or Facebook, and not in anger, contempt, or condemnation...but with love. I want to have loving conversations with anyone who is still pro-choice, who supports Planned Parenthood, who is on the fence about abortion, who was happy that the bill did not pass yesterday. I want to help their heart come to understand the reality of what is going on.

                Not only do I want to talk with those who still support abortion, I desperately want to talk to the women right now considering abortion. I want to sit with them and love them and listen to them. I want to show them pictures of my friends who cannot conceive, who are doing everything they can to sacrifice and fund raise to be able to adopt any unwanted child. I want to help direct them to the countless pregnancy counseling centers all over America, where selfless people I know dedicate so much of their time and effort to doing everything they can for women who feel they cannot raise the child in their womb. I want to point them to the love and mercy of God. I want to help and but most days feel helpless in this fight to help these women come to know Christ and come to know the possibilities of incredible life and love apart from abortion.

                And though I often feel helpless, I will continue to pray. I will continue to do my part in the fight against abortion. I will continue to speak up on the issue. I will not be belittled into silence. I will continue to teach young people that they were given a soul at the moment of their conception, that each individual life God painted into existence begins at that very moment. I will continue to teach young women of their dignity and self-worth, in hopes that when they do become pregnant, it is in the context of a loving and sacramental marriage - and if not, that they know the child within them has the same endless worth and dignity that they do.

                What part can you play in helping raise awareness, in helping end the tragedy of abortion?

                My prayer today is that God may bring all the souls involved in this great tragedy to deep conversion, and that He may help us act with great love and with steadfast conviction in this very important turning point for our country and in our world.

The Men We Need.

            At the Life Teen Leadership Conference, a young man stood up and shared a short testimony about learning to share his faith with his male friends. This sparked a conversation  about what one young man standing up to declare his faith can do for other young men - how when one young man in high school or college or the workplace is public about his faith, it gives the young men around him the courage to do the same. 

            The truth of what it means to be a good man is collapsing in the modern world. I am blessed to partake in teaching young men and to watch my friends work with young men and strive to reverse the ways our culture is shaping them. Together, we are helping them believe in what they are called to, the truth what they were made for...

            Real men stand for virtue and real men declare their faith.

            I went to a wedding recently, and arrived early to rehearse music. I entered the church and there were two rows of young men sitting, and I heard the groom's voice loudly and clearly. 

            He was leading his groomsmen in the rosary before his wedding Mass. 

            And it was, in one moment, very symbolic of the picture of what every man could be - a man who knows who his life belongs to...a man who stands for something and leads his friends and the woman God placed in his life to good things...a man who does not cave to the ways of the world but triumphantly lives for something more than the flimsy "manhood" the world wants him to settle for...a man who is not afraid to be vocal about what he knows is truth - loudly and clearly enough that everyone in proximity can hear it.

            It takes one young man to decide to be a leader, to live a life that is different and a life that stands out to make a difference in those around him. I have seen young men decide to take up this challenge with my very own eyes, and I have watched the ripple effect they create by their bravery. Perhaps one man's example does not encourage one of his friends to share his faith; maybe his example gives another young man the open door to ask about the mere existence of God, questions that he has always desired to ask someone. It is a simple formula...courage in one sparks courage in others.

            I know that it is immeasurably challenging to be a man who strives for holiness, who is committed to something or someone or anything at all. Those are the very men our world greatly needs. We need holy men. We need steadfast men. We need courageous men. I am grateful to know so many unbelievable men like Stephen, willing to lead by their example and say...

            I am not afraid to be a leader. I will not cower at the idea of commitment. I am not fearful of standing for truth. I have the courage to do what Christ calls me to do, and I will do it without hesitation.  

            May God continue to raise up good men, and may we, as women, support and encourage them every step of the way in their journey.   

The Blooms Will Come.

            You may be sitting here reading this, and you just want to give up.

            You may be at the end of your rope with that friend, that child, that teen in your ministry, that project, that dream. You have had enough, you are discouraged, you have given them so many chances, you see no progress, no matter how much working or praying you do - nothing seems to make a difference.

            So let me tell you the story of my jacaranda tree.

            When my family moved into our home in 1998, we planted a number of trees on Arbor Day. We made it a family event and many of our friends came to help plant with us. We planted a young jacaranda tree in the front yard - if you have never seen one, jacaranda trees are known for their magnificent lavender-colored blooms.

            Our trees were growing beautifully, but the jacaranda did not seem to want to grow.

            After a good, long time, my mom told me...there is something wrong with the jacaranda, and we have to remove it and plant a tree that will be healthy and grow.

            "We can't give up on the tree, mom. Let's give it a chance."

            So we gave the tree a chance. I watered it and put a piece of garden art by it, hoping perhaps to make it happy, but nothing changed. After a good long time of waiting for some sign of progress, my mom rightfully said again...we have to get rid of it. It had not grown an inch and we needed a good tree for the yard.

            For some reason deep down in my child-like faith, I knew this tree would grow. I said no again, that we would not give up on the tree. So I kept watering it, watching it, waiting patiently, and praying that this tree would show us some sign that it wanted to live.

            And, indeed, after what seemed like an eternity, it began to grow. It slowly but surely grew into a spectacular jacaranda, with the most beautiful lavender-colored flowers that bloom every spring.

            I remember when we realized the tree was alive and growing. It was such a proud moment for me as a young girl...I knew we had to give this tree a good, long, fighting chance to become the thing it was made to be. And we did. And it worked.

            And so I say to you today...do not give up. On that friend, that child, that teen, that project, that dream.

            Continue to water it, continue to fight for it. Give that person the time they need to decide to grow and just love them and pray for them all the while; give that project or dream or calling the time it needs to be watered and taken care of to see any beautiful blooms. Many of the best things in life take time, patience, and perseverance.

            Trust in the Lord with all your heart and pray without ceasing. He is the great gardener. The blooms will come.

Dear Doctor.

Dear Doctor, 

            It happens every time we see one another. You suggest that I take a pill to artificially control my body and I resist. You recommend it again and I resist again. On this most recent visit, you pushed it more firmly because I told you I am getting married this year. You told me that certainly, if I am now going to be sexually active, I should get on birth control. 

            No. Not today, doctor. Not today or ever. 

            We joke about it and it is great that after much prodding you let it go and then quickly send me on my way, but I want to explain better to you why you will not convince me to go on birth control as I approach my wedding day. 

            I look forward to standing next to Daniël on the altar and committing my life to him in this sacrament in front of our friends and family. I am overjoyed at the thought. During the Mass, within the exchange of vows, the priest will look at us both and ask, "Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and His Church?"

            To accept means to consent to receive. We will both answer yes and agree to receive what God wishes to bestow upon us in our life together. This will not be a half-yes, it will not be a maybe yes...it will be a resounding and wholehearted yes. When I say yes to this question, I am making a covenant with my Savior, and a covenant is not something I take lightly. 

            If I say yes and tell God that we will accept children lovingly and openly from His hand and then decide to use birth control in my marriage, I would be lying to God. I would be telling God, who I trust is all good and all loving, that I do not trust His plan for my life. I would be telling God that when it comes to how many children I can handle or afford, I know better than He does. Doctor, I do not believe God will give me eight children if I am supposed to have four, and I do not think he will give me four if He wills me to have eight. If I were to say yes on my part and then use birth control within my marriage, I would be declaring to Him that we want our marriage to be life-giving...but only when we want it to be life-giving. I do not know better than God, and in all of my days I never will.

            Indeed, I am Catholic, and indeed I do have friends with seven and eight children. And I can tell you that the joy in their homes overflows. Indeed, I see only a fraction of the challenges and the frustration they experience, but I witness much more joy, much more grace, and much more love than challenge and frustration. I witness to God's provision for them...when they worry about how to provide for all these children, all these gifts...God has always come through. Their families are reflective of God's love and grace and the abundant gift that children are.  

            Aside from the possibility of controlling the number of children I have, I do not want to control my body artificially, nor do I want to risk the odds of experiencing the debilitating side effects that can come along with doing so. Women have had strokes, become permanently injured, and some have died because of birth control. You always fail to mention this to me. Women dying because of this pill is a deep and serious problem too many are sweeping under the rug. I will not choose to take something that can be so dangerous simply to keep my body from bearing children.

            Doctor, you joke and you tell me that couples like Daniël and I are the reason you buy a new car every year. I am glad that people like us are the reason you can buy cars. If God deems me worthy of being a mother and you get a car because of the paycheck you make from delivering our children, all the better for both of us. I have heard from many that motherhood is beautiful, challenging, stunning, sacrificial, and most importantly the most wonderful gift. I believe it. And I am not afraid because I believe that the grace that God gives us is far beyond what we can fathom. 

            I will never deny God the ability to grant me such a gift. I will never tell God what my limitations are - He knows them as well as He knows every hair on my head.  

            So as I stand and say yes to marriage, yes to a covenant, to a sacrament in December, I will mean yes. I will be handing myself over, surrendering my life once again to the will of our good God, who has never failed me. I trust God with every aspect of my life, every one of my days. He sees the scope of it and I know deep in my soul...whether I have zero children or seven, in all the hardship and all the joy...it will be magnificently beautiful and exactly as He designed it to be.

Magic Mike XXL.

           Magic Mike. It is a movie about male exotic strippers who shake, strip, dance, and gyrate for their female audiences. The first one made 160 million dollars worldwide. 

            People (I would venture to say mostly women) paid 160 million dollars to watch pornography that is passed off as a big, comedic, popular blockbuster movie. Pornography, by definition, is sexually explicit material intended to sexually arouse. Magic Mike fits well into that description.

            And not only that, it seems as though we as women paid so much to watch the first movie that they are gladly giving us a second serving in Magic Mike XXL. Read the reviews of the first movie and you will read about heavy sexual dancing, nudity, rampant casual sex, drinking, drug use, and excessive profanity. By their attendance in droves, the women of our world declared it...please, give us more. And not only are they giving us a sequel, dozens of media outlets speak of how eagerly we as women are awaiting the release of this film.

            I'm sorry, did they say film, or filth?  

            In a clip from the Ellen Degeneres Show with the world-renowned So You Think You Can Dance star "Twitch", Ellen talks Magic Mike XXL with him, jokingly stating, "[In this film] you make a dramatic change in character from a man who wears clothes to a man who does not wear clothes..." and all the women in the audience proceed to hoot and holler like he is a piece of meat. She asks if they want to see a clip of him "making his presence known in a room full of lustful ladies (Vibe.com)" and the women shriek and cheer. Ellen vigorously fans herself after a clip is shown of Twitch gyrating as the women in the dimly-lit room scream and throw money at him. 

            Ellen also had a sit-down conversation with Channing Tatum about the film, in which he discussed what it was like to dance around in a thong and proceeded to say, "There's nothing -- there is very little left to the imagination."

            I take offense to the popularity of Magic Mike's success for many reasons, two of which I want you to consider if you have already planned your date with your girlfriends to see Magic Mike XXL.

            As a Christian, I believe that every person born to this Earth is made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27). In 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul states, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body." I teach young women across America about modesty and how we can glorify God with our bodies. Many people teach young women about modesty based on the premise that it helps our brothers in Christ in their struggle for chastity. Indeed this is true, but I take the approach that women are to dress their bodies with dignity firstly because God dwells in their bodies. God dwells in the body of each and every person created, and if I respect my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit -- I am to treat the bodies of others as temples of the Holy Spirit.

            Treating someone's body like a piece of meat strips (excuse the pun) that person of the God-given dignity they hold inherently within. Watching extremely muscular, oiled-up men prance around in thongs shows an utter absence of respect for a man's inherent dignity and worth. It is watching pornography that objectifies men rather than women, and for some reason it is declared okay in 2015. It is declared entertainment. It is declared a comedy.

            There is nothing comedic about the objectification of a body, whether that body belongs to a male or female. The objectification of the human person by way of pornography is a two-way street. I want no part of it. And neither should you. 

            My second question I present to you is this...since when are we, as women, okay with supporting something that passes us as women off as shrieking animals with no control over our sexual desires? This movie hired 900 extras - nearly one thousand women paid to stand in strip clubs and throw money on stages where women are objectified day in and day out - paid to stand and scream and cheer as though lust has overtaken their entire being - paid to act like animals. Why are we okay with this? We are more than our sexual desire, we are more than our passions, and we are better than treating men like objects. Paying to watch women act like lustful strip-club-goers states the complete opposite of all these truths. I am not sure a movie with the genders reversed would be allowed on the big screen. But then again, our society is crossing new lines of decency by the day.

            Not only that, as women we are called to be intellectual, sophisticated people capable of thinking deep and beautiful thoughts. We are called to class. We are called to beauty. These movies do not promote depth or substance in any way - it is quite the opposite - they promote everything shallow and patronizing. By paying to see this movie, you are declaring that yes, you are okay with women being presented as shameless, voracious slaves to lust. You are stating that yes, this is the kind of entertainment we as women love, that you can expect us in large crowds because very few of us are still interested in showing up in droves to anything with depth.

            In conclusion, I am asking you to refrain from supporting Magic Mike XXL. Maybe that means backing out on the ladies night, or changing your months-anticipated plans to see it, or perhaps that means sharing this article with a friend who planned to see it. Sure, one woman staying home from this movie will not make a huge difference in the box office numbers. However, choosing not to see this movie saves your mind, your heart, and your soul from watching filth, saves you from being continually desensitized to pornography in our porn-saturated culture, and keeps you from contributing to the objectification of the human person. Choose good for yourself and declare yourself too classy for this waste of time and money. Give a friend a call, go get coffee, and spend your evening talking about deep and beautiful things instead...I assure you it will be much more enjoyable, fulfilling, and meaningful. 

(Thanks to my friend Matt Fradd over at ThePornEffect.com for lending his expertise to this article.)

Thank You.

            About a month ago I wrote a post about my saintly friend Moses in Uganda. I asked for your help in funding his youth conference that means so much to him and the young people of Uganda.

            Yesterday we met the fundraising goal. And we didn't just meet it, we raised 102% of the funds.

            I am overwhelmed by God's providence in answering my prayers for the right people to come along to make this happen. I am so incredibly grateful to so many of my friends and family who donated, as well as all the people I do not know who contributed. Your generosity has brought me great joy.

            I am bursting with gratitude, and so is Moses. Here is the full letter that he wrote to all who contributed financially or through prayer to his mission in his country.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your gift donations. My heart is full of joy, my face is beamed with hope and my soul rejoices greatly in the Lord that you have renewed your concern for the Church in Africa particularly in Uganda! Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.

It is very good of you to share in this mission. As you may know, Life Teen Uganda is operating in communities where there a lot of poor families, elderly and teen-headed families. These people are economically helpless and hopeless to the extent that they do not have money and or material resources that they could use to support their households and the ministry activities.

Our goal is to organize such powerful experiences where young people and their families can encounter Christ in deeper ways regardless of financial constraints. Your gift will help in many ways. It will help cover feeding expenses for more than 1000 teenagers who will come for the three days conference, Your gift will also help us inspire, train and empower catholic youth leaders who will go out and make disciples of all nations. Our desire is to see that this mission expands and reach to other parishes in Uganda! With your donation, we shall do a training workshop for the priests, youth ministers and potential core members who feel called to take this mission forward. Thank you for your very kind donation! Your generosity will make an immediate difference in the lives of the youth in Uganda! You are making a difference!

You are personally invited today to become a Champion of the Catholic Youth Ministry in Uganda by partnering with this ministry. Your continued prayers and financial partnership will make it possible for us to share God’s unconditional love and unending hope with young people and their families through our weekly Life nights, worship events, training conference, missions outreaches and more. Without YOU, this would not be possible. Your gifts are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And our God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Your loving brother in Christ, Moses

            With God, all things are possible. Thank you.