Sneak peek a chapter in my new book: “Feeding Your Family’s Soul”!

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You can have a look at one of the chapters in my new book Feeding Your Family’s Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality by clicking here.

You can order the book here.

Additionally, I have some exciting news that I will share soon…Stay tuned! 🙂

Sunday Night Prime: “Feeding Your Family’s Soul”


[Hit the pause button above if you are not ready to view the show. This will allow you to read the blog post first. 🙂 ]

I believe that we need a strong backbone to parent our children and grandchildren properly. We can’t allow the culture to dictate to us about how we should parent our children or how our home life should be. As the first and foremost educator of the faith to our children and grandchildren, we absolutely need to know our faith and to in turn teach it to the children. God is counting on us!

IMG_5336The video above is the recent discussion I had with Fr. Andrew Apostoli about my newest book “Feeding Your Family’s Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality” on his very popular EWTN Sunday Night Prime TV show. During our time together, I show how we can seize the opportunity to teach the faith right at the dinner table. Fr. Andrew and I even talked about (in the words of Fulton Sheen), “dead bodies floating down the stream”! As well, how we do not want to be one of them! We need to go against the flow of our world today to parent our children properly.

Recently, a weary homeschooling Mom of many children came to me for a little “shot in the arm.” She was worn out from demands pulling at her, sleepless nights, and active children. A new school year was about to begin and being in her third trimester of a pregnancy, she felt quite exhausted. I think you get the picture. Things were getting to be a bit overwhelming. We chatted through emails and then it was time for this show to air. Afterwards, the gracious Mom emailed me again to share her thoughts. With her permission, I will share some of her note to me:

“Before I head to bed, I just wanted to tell you that the Sunday Night Prime show was tremendously excellent! It was a huge blessing that came at the perfect time for me! I feel completely renewed in my goal and purpose as a homeschooling mom!

I love the quotes and the reinforcement that being countercultural, having a backbone, swimming up stream (not floating downstream with the other dead bodies) is absolutely God’s call on my life. Through your interview, I am convinced now, more than ever, that He is with me and for me in this sometimes very intense homeschooling adventure.  No other path allows me to so vehemently protect my children from evil influences.  This show was a God-send at the beginning of a new homeschooling year for me (and at the end of the pregnancy).  My resolve is strengthened!  Thank you!”

By the way, in addition to the above opportunity to view the show, you can also see the show here on the EWTN website. I hope that you will enjoy the show! May God bless families everywhere!

Feeding Your Family_cover_FINALBooks can be pre-ordered here at Amazon or autographed copies here at my website and at Paraclete Press!

God bless!

Donna-Marie

“Feeding Your Family’s Soul” on EWTN’s Sunday Night Prime

IMG_5340Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R. recently interviewed me on his very popular Sunday Night Prime TV show about my upcoming book Feeding Your Family’s Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality.I love doing shows with Fr. Andrew. He is a wonderful Host!  I just found out that it will air this Sunday, August 7th, as well as August 8th. You can see more here on the EWTN website.

Here are the times and dates:
Sun. Aug. 07 at 8:00 PM ET
Mon. Aug. 08 at 1:30 AM ET
Mon. Aug. 08 at 9:00 AM ET

Fr. Andrew and I discuss the family and the need and responsibility to teach the faith to the family and I give many tips during our show. In addition, we stress the importance of family dinners. I hope that you can tune in and that you will enjoy our show.

My book will be ready very soon. In fact, I think I will have copies as early as the end of August. I will ship out pre-orders as soon as I receive the books. They will be autographed and be sent with a blessed Miraculous Medal.

If you would like to pre-order my new book you can do so here on my book page of this website.

Here is a description of the book: This book is uniquely suited to come to their rescue. Feeding Your Family’s Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality is a vital tool to enable parents to transform a regular dinner time into a prayerful faith lesson for their elementary school to high school aged children. It will indeed help to fulfill the Catholic Church’s vision for evangelization in the family and beyond.

Through 52 fun and creative faith lessons (one for each week of the year plus actually one extra as Extra Credit!), this one-of-a-kind book will encourage parents and caregivers to seize the opportunity in teaching the Catholic faith to the children (the captive audience waiting to eat!) while gathered at the dinner table, and while reminding them of the value of coming together as a family to break bread and share hearts.

This book bears a foreword by Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers and wonderful endorsements.

Donna-Marie’s book is a real treasure. The family has been called the “domestic church” and it is there that we first learn about God, our prayers, and how to live our Christian life. Donna-Marie certainly offers a valuable tool, because when the family gets together for a meal, it is an appropriate time to share and teach the faith. We are reminded at a meal that we not only feed our body, but we need to feed our soul with God’s word and message.

~ Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R., Founding member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and Host of EWTN’s Sunday Night Prime

There is no shortage of studies showing the importance of family meal time. Add in the spiritual component of prayer and teaching the faith and you have, as Donna Marie so eloquently illustrates, a recipe for success. Follow Donna Marie’s plan and you’ll be fortifying your loved ones in their faith now and in the future.

~Teresa Tomeo, Syndicated Catholic talk show Host and best selling Catholic author

This is a very important book for the Church and the culture today, and will no doubt help shape the hearts and minds of parents and children to be more like the Holy Family. Fr. Patrick Peyton said it best: “The family that prays together, stays together.” When families truly begin to pray together, the culture will experience the love and mercy of Jesus.

~Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers

An altar is also a table. It is the scene both of self-sacrificial love and of a meal signifying and embodying communion with God and one another. In Feeding Your Family’s Soul, Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle shows us how to help make our dinner table into an altar of worship and love centered around family meal times. Read this wise and practical book and find a way to help your family become happier and holier. Taste and see that the Lord is good!

~Mark P. Shea, Author, This is My Body: An Evangelical Discovers the Real Presence

With gentle affection for her readers and an invigorating passion for the Catholic faith, Donna-Marie’s new book is a gift of great value to Catholic parents and grandparents, everywhere. Feeding Your Family’s Soul is a wise and delectable fusion of insights, stories, recipes, and prayers that will inspire and empower you to evangelize your family in the most natural of environments: the sacred space around your kitchen table.

~Lisa Mladinich, Founder of AmazingCatechists.com Author of Heads Bowed: Prayers for Catholic School Days

PRE-ORDER NOW for $15.99!

Enjoy the show this Sunday Night or go ahead and record it for when you have time. I pray that the show and my upcoming book which will be available in a few short weeks will bless families all around the world!

God bless you and keep you!

Donna-Marie

 

“The Domestic Church” will inspire, energize, and change your perspective on the mundanity of domestic tasks.

The Domestic Church: Room By Room: A Mother's Study Guide

Study your Faith-Room By Room! Designed for group study $18.95

For all of the Moms in the trenches out there…this just found on Amazon:

Exhausted? Discouraged? Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle’s book, The Domestic Church, will inspire, energize, and change your perspective on the mundanity of domestic tasks.

It’s so easy for stay-at-home mothers of young children to get disheartened. Day after day, we have an endless stream of wearisome tasks. Our work is seemingly invisible and goes largely unnoticed. However, Donna-Marie helps us to see that it is precisely these quiet, unnoticed tasks that put us on the path to Heaven. True, it would be easier to sweep the aisles of your church or volunteer for a charity than it would be to sweep your own dirty kitchen floor or serve your own children. But, God’s call to holiness for mothers is in the home, as Blessed Mother Teresa said, “Charity begins in the home.”

It is my prayer that mothers everywhere will be uplifted and find solace in Donna-Marie’s works. Let the truths explicated by her writings seep into your spirit and serve as the hug, the reward, and the recognition that every mother deserves but might not receive this side of Heaven. Let her words motivate you to transform your home from an ordinary house to a domestic church, a place of prayer where the virtues necessary for holiness are practiced. Sweeping floors and scrubbing toilets never became so holy! God bless you, Donna-Marie! 5 stars!!!

Are you facing a “domestic church dilemma”? Do you need a good shot in the arm with regard to your mothering? Could you benefit by gathering together either cyberly or in the flesh with like-minded Catholic mothers to nurture and share your faith? I suspect you can. 🙂

You can purchase your autographed copy here. You can inquire about study group discounts by emailing me: DMCOBoyle@aol.com. I hope to hear from you!

God bless you!

Donna-Marie

Don’t let your prayer life go on vacation!

3189girlpraying_00000002441Just the thought of summer fast approaching might bring thoughts of rest and relaxation to mind. We may recall the lazy days of summer during our youth. Summer may also mean anticipated excitement and adventure—exploring new places or trying new things.

Some families plan escapes to beaches and paradise vacations, while others may stay home and plan day trips to fun spots, the local library, or parks and recreation centers. Anything out of the ordinary can be a very welcome change.

The realization that summer is just around the corner can cause Moms to feel a bit (or a lot!) nervous too. They might not want to let go of their semi-structured schedule for the more relaxed bedlam, craziness, and insane structure of summertime.

One thing we can count on—the schedule will usually change quite dramatically. But there’s no need to fear. Let’s take the stress out of summer right now by pausing to plan a strategy.

Summertime can certainly be a time of well-deserved rest and also a welcome change of scenery. While making plans for our families this summer, let’s not forget about prayer because a change in schedule once we hit summertime and an eagerness to “get away from it all” could cause us to lose touch with our spiritual needs. We don’t want to inadvertently let our prayer life go on vacation!

I am passing along this article I wrote for the Catholic World Report about keeping our prayer lives active in the summer time. It is right here. I hope that you enjoy it.

How can we show mercy to others?

Unexpected_Discovery2I recently briefly discussed the Works of Mercy on my continuing series “Mother Teresa and Mercy” on the Son Rise Morning Show. Sometimes, I think that parents and grandparents believe they must carry out huge endeavors to accomplish a Work of Mercy. But I think not.

I do wholeheartedly admit that many times while the Work of Mercy we want to do might not be so “ginormous,” we often must put a lot (or maybe a HUGE amount) of effort into our Work of Mercy. That is because in a family we are dealing with delicate or very personal matters of the heart that can sometimes involve pain or heart ache. On a lesser level, the situations can involve the butting of heads, of egos, and even stubborn grudges.

Showing mercy, offering forgiveness, and bearing wrongs patiently can be really tough to do in the family, but they are essential to our true happiness and our growth in holiness.

Take a listen here when you have about 10 minutes. Slide the marker to the “17:50” mark to hear just my segment (at the end of the show) or listen to the whole thing. I hope that you will enjoy my discussion with the lovely Anna Mitchell!

 

Book Award

Press Release:

Family, the Church, and the Real World, a book co-authored by Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle took first place in the “Popular Presentation of the Catholic Faith” category at the Catholic Press Association’s awards presentation June 3 in St. Louis. It also won third place in the Family Life category. Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle contributed an essay to the book, published by Liguori Publications (2015).

Judges for the Best Popular Presentation category called the book, “An inspiring, practical, and insightful multi-author guide for family life, rooted in a God-love that binds, builds, and refreshes while moving outward to bolster Church and society.”

In the Family Life category, judged cited the book as “Easy and comfortable reading, nicely poetic, and scripture-based.”

“This would be a wonderful book for a group discussion of young married couples with children,” said the judges.

I’m very excited to announce my upcoming book: “Feeding Your Family’s Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality”!

It’s time to announce my upcoming book, Feeding Your Family’s Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality which will be released at the time of dear Mother Teresa’s canonization.

Are you ready for the cover?

That’s always an exciting part of the book writing process for me. It kind of puts a “face” on the book.

Well, here it is!

Feeding Your Family_cover_FINAL

What do you think?

This book is comprised of 52 faith lessons for the family. It encourages parents and grandparents to step up to the plate as first and foremost educator and to seize the moment to teach the faith right at the dinner table.

Here’s the book description:

This book is uniquely suited to come to their rescue. Feeding Your Family’s Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality is a vital tool to enable parents to transform a regular dinner time into a prayerful faith lesson for their elementary school to high school aged children. It will indeed help to fulfill the Catholic Church’s vision for evangelization in the family and beyond.

Through 52 fun and creative faith lessons (one for each week of the year), this one-of-a-kind book will encourage parents and caregivers to seize the opportunity in teaching the Catholic faith to the children (the captive audience waiting to eat!) while gathered at the dinner table, and while reminding them of the value of coming together as a family to break bread and share hearts.

Here’s a special endorsement:

Review

Donna-Marie’s book is a real treasure. The family has been called the “domestic church” and it is there that we first learn about God, our prayers, and how to live our Christian life. Donna-Marie certainly offers a valuable tool, because when the family gets together for a meal, it is an appropriate time to share and teach the faith. We are reminded at a meal that we not only feed our body, but we need to feed our soul with God’s word and message.

—Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R., Founding member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and Host of EWTN’s Sunday Night Prime

This book bears a foreword by Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers and has received wonderful endorsements.

I’ll fill you in some more very soon.

Are you excited? I am!

 

Do you need “bite-sized gems” in your mothering?

I think we can all need “bite-sized gems” in our daily lives. But this is true, especially for busy mothers whose lives are really not their own. They are on call 24/7 to care for their family. They can use a nourishing morsel of inspiration to kick-start their day!

5

A kind reader recently posted a review on Amazon about my book Catholic Mom’s Cafe: 5-Minute Retreats For Every Day of the Year.

She said:

Short and Sweet…and Life-Changing! Absolutely genius way of maximizing the little time that moms have into a daily ritual of quality time with the Lord that is power-packed. Thank you, Donna-Marie, for helping to make prayer time easier for mothers everywhere!
As a busy homeschooling mother of five (and expecting again), I have often lamented not having a structure to my prayer time. Structure equals efficiency, and efficiency equals doable. Prayer is absolutely necessary to feed my soul, but I have to fit it in before the next baby’s cry or cup of milk is spilled.

Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle’s Catholic Mom’s Café: 5-Minute Retreats For Every Day Of The Year offered me the perfect solution. A short five minute structure to my prayer time which inspired and charged me for the day. She neatly organizes each day’s retreat into ponder, offer, pray and savor. Bite-sized gems that I can actually remember and use as I go about my hectic day. My daily “go-to” along with coffee 🙂
God bless you! 5 stars!!!

Here is the link to see my book on Amazon.

Speaking of mothering, I was recently looking over my book A Catholic Woman’s Book of Prayers because a publishing company just requested permission to translate my book into Portuguese. This book is actually for women of every walk of life, not only for mothers.

I’ll share one of the reflections that popped out at me when looking through my book:

My Distinct Mission
Within all of the innumerable things I do as a woman,
right down at the core of it all
lies the call to my distinct mission from God.
I pray that I may fulfill it lovingly throughout each day
while praying actively, through my hands, in service,
and contemplatively, on my knees,
to please God
and help my neighbor find his way to heaven.
***
A Catholic Woman's Book of Prayers

Speaks to ALL Catholic women: single, married, mothers, and consecrated Religious, $7.95

What “bite-sized morsel” are you hanging onto today? Please feel free to share in the comment box!

Stay tuned for exciting news! I’ll be sharing soon about upcoming projects which includes a new book for families!

May God bless you and keep you!

 

Prayerfully Hoping & Expecting

I am sharing some wonderful news. First of all, I have bundled my book Prayerfully Expecting: A Nine Month Novena for Mothers To Be with the very new Prayerfully Hoping & Expecting Novena Bracelets. You can see that in this link on my website. The two bundled together make a lovely gift for the expectant Mom or for one who hopes to be expecting someday. But, the novena bracelet is for any woman. Please read on to see why.

Prayerfully_Expecting_Bracelet

Here’s a little about my book which, by the way,  dear Blessed Mother Teresa wrote the foreword to.

This beautifully crafted book is a reflection guide, keepsake, and prayer journal that offers inspiration for each month of pregnancy in the tradition of the popular nine-day prayer, the Novena.
     Your feet are swollen, your hormones are a mess, and you still crave too much ice cream. For every mother-to-be, the nine months of pregnancy can be demanding. Competing with the joy of anticipation is the frustration of bodily pain and limitation. In this intimate book, Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle invites pregnant women everywhere to see their pregnancy not as a burden but as a living prayer to God. Connecting the nine months of pregnancy with the nine-part novena prayer tradition known to Catholics everywhere, Donna Marie shows how each month of pregnancy connects the mother to the great Catholic saints and teachers. Alongside the devotional and the catechetical helps are pointed references to the development of the child in the womb as the months of pregnancy progress. Includes a foreword by Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta and an Apostolic Blessing from Pope John Paul II.
Here is an endorsement:
A different kind of pregnancy journal. Imbued as it is with Scripture, exhortations from John Paul the Great, wisdom from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, and both traditional and original prayers, it steeps expectant mothers in an atmosphere of holiness, reminding them that what they are experiencing is sacred.~Karen Edmisten
Here is a little background about writing this book:

I wrote this book Prayerfully Expecting: A Nine Month Novena for Mothers To Be during my own precarious pregnancy in which I was placed on complete bed rest. Very soon into my pregnancy I became deeply inspired to envision a pregnancy as a beautiful nine month novena of prayer as I awaited the birth of my unborn baby.

I wanted to share that inspiration and offer a kind of a prayer journal to other expectant mothers that could help them reflect upon their holy time of waiting, all the while as they pray and grow in holiness.

So, I put pen to paper (literally, since I did not own a typewriter or computer at the time) and I continued to write down all of the inspiration that was stirring in my heart. In God’s Divine plan, Blessed Mother Teresa would write the Foreword to this book. She had also encouraged me to continue to write for mothers and expectant mothers.

Women all around the world are using Prayerfully Expecting to create a living novena of prayer throughout their pregnancies.

 

Here is a little explanation about my inspiration this past Advent in which I created Prayerfully Hoping & Expecting Novena Prayer bracelets:

During the season of Advent 2015, I felt very inspired to create these novena bracelets to celebrate the sanctity of human life as well as to have a tangible means to pray for it.

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one of the styles

As I mentioned above, these novena prayer bracelets serve many purposes. I have made each bracelet with nine beads to symbolize nine months of pregnancy. The number nine is also very significant in praying a novena of prayer. The bracelet will be a visual reminder to pray a novena for your own pregnancy, for your daughter, granddaughter, godchild, daughter-in-law, or niece’s pregnancy, and so on. It can be used to pray to conceive a child, to pray to adopt a child, to pray for your own children and grandchildren, and to pray for every pregnancy to result in a live birth and for the end to abortion.

IMG_2362

Another style

I pray as I create each novena bracelet. Each bracelet will be constructed with an attached crucifix, Miraculous Medal, and most of them will also contain a pregnancy saint’s medal. It will be shipped to you in an attractive box with prayer cards inside. I encourage you to get your bracelet blessed so that it may serve as a blessed sacramental.

IMG_2339

Another style

***

You can see much more about the book and the newly created and handmade (by Yours Truly!) novena bracelets (including more styles) here. Hopefully, the information on the page will answer all of your questions.

In addition, I have more great news! The EWTN Religious Catalogue is carrying my bracelets. I have designed a special one that is exclusive to EWTN. You can see the information for ordering right here at the EWTN Religious Catalogue.

Here is an image of the special EWTN bracelet:

Bracelet_EWTN

Special EWTN novena bracelet

 

A FUN yet serious Lenten chat with John Harper this morning

cross

In case you didn’t get a chance to tune in to our wonderful chat this morning on Morning Air. Here is a link of my chat with John Harper. I had a great time chatting with him about Lent, families, and even the fact that we both have Polish grandmothers!

You can purchase all four of my Lenten books here for only $11.00!

What are your Lenten plans?

Mother Teresa and Mercy

Pope+FrancisPope Francis declared an Extraordinary Year of Mercy which officially started on December 8th, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. It will end on Nov. 20, 2016, on the feast of Christ the King.

The biblical theme Pope Francis has chosen is “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Traditionally, every 25 years the Pope proclaims a holy year, which features special celebrations and pilgrimages, calls for repentance and conversion, as well as providing special opportunities to experience God’s grace through the sacraments, especially confession. Extraordinary holy years, like the Holy Year of Mercy, are less frequent, but offer the same opportunities for spiritual growth.

Pope Francis said, “Let us not forget that God forgives and God forgives always. Let us never tire of asking for forgiveness.”

Pope Francis continued, “I am convinced that the whole Church — which has much need to receive mercy, because we are sinners — will find in this jubilee the joy to rediscover and render fruitful the mercy of God, with which we are all called to give consolation to every man and woman of our time.”

There’s so much that we can say about this great opportunity for grace and there are countless things we can do during this Year of Mercy. Therefore,  I decided to do a regular radio show called “Mother Teresa and Mercy.” I’ll discuss practical ways in which we can be merciful and to grow in holiness, basing it on the wisdom of Blessed Mother Teresa with whom I was very blessed to know as my spiritual mother for about ten years. She still mothers me from heaven!

You can hear the first short segment of “Mother Teresa and Mercy” right here at your leisure.

Join me in a TWITTER Chat!

Join me for #FamilyFaithChat on Wednesday, Sept. 9!

16127-FB #FamilyFaithChat #1 
Next week, I’ll be a guest on Liguori Publications’ Twitter chat #FamilyFaithChat! I would love for you to follow along and join the conversation about what it means to be a Catholic family in today’s messy real world.
See the details on how to join and follow the conversation below! We’ll be chatting about building up your domestic church, a topic I wrote about in the newly released Family, the Church, and the Real World.
“Building Up Your Domestic Church” #FamilyFaithChat
with Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle,  @DonnaMarieCOB
WHEN: Wednesday, September 9, 11 a.m. to noon CT
FOLLOW:  #FamilyFaithChat  and  @Liguori_Pub  on Twitter
UP NEXT: Lisa Hendey at Wednesday, September 16, 11 a.m. CT
Three Ways to Follow the Twitter Chat
1. Follow Liguori Publications on Twitter: @Liguori_Pub. Liguori Publications will be tweeting chat questions, retweeting my answers, and retweeting discussion highlights. If you’d like to see a simplified overview of the discussion rather than every single #FamilyFaithChat tweet, then follow @Liguori_Pub.
2. Follow the #FamilyFaithChat hashtag on Twitter. Search for the hashtag on Twitter and see who’s tweeting with it! The “Top” view will only show the most popular tweets, so you’ll want to click the “Live” view for real-time updates. Refresh your page regularly to see the latest tweets. If you want to see every tweet in the discussion, follow the hashtag or do #3 below.
3. Use TweetChat.com. TweetChat.com is an easy tool you can use to follow and participate in Twitter chats. Just go to TweetChat.com and enter the hashtag #FamilyFaithChat, or go straight to this link:  http://tweetchat.com/room/familyfaithchat It will open the conversation in a live chat setting and automatically add #FamilyFaithChat to the end of your tweets. This is an easy way to follow the Twitter chat without constantly refreshing.
TWO Ways to Participate in the Twitter Chat
 
1. Tweet a question you’d like to ask me! Ask me any question you want about Catholic family life and building up your domestic church. When you tweet your question, make sure to tag Liguori Publications (@Liguori_Pub) and use the hashtag #FamilyFaithChat. Liguori Publications will tweet questions from the audience for me to answer during the Twitter chat. If you have a question, tweet it to Liguori anytime in the next week or during the Twitter chat, and they’ll add it to the list! The sooner you send in your question, the more likely it’ll be featured in the discussion.
 
2. Share your thoughts in the conversation. During the Twitter chat, Liguori Publications will tweet numbered questions (Q1, Q2, etc.) and I’ll respond. Jump into the conversation and share your own thoughts on each topic! Make sure to use the hashtag #FamilyFaithChat.
One more thing! You can click here to have easy-peasy copy to put into your Tweet!
I hope that you will join us at our party, I mean Twitter Chat!

Catholic Mom’s Cafe to Re-air!

CatholicMomsCafe_Donna_Marie_Logo

I’m happy to report that my Catholic Mom’s Cafe television series will re-air on EWTN television this month! Watch a promo here.

Here’s one woman’s comment from face book: “Absolutely enjoyed the show tonight. Please keep this show and more coming! Programming like this is exactly what Mom’s of today need!”

Set your DVR’s! Here are the dates and times (ALL EASTERN TIMES):

8/24/15
CATHOLIC MOM’S CAFÉ: PT. 1
3:00 AM
6:30 PM
“The Skinny on Catholic Fashion”
Lisa Mladinich is my guest.

8/25/15
CATHOLIC MOM’S CAFÉ: PT. 2
3:00 AM
6:30 PM
“Kids and the Culture”
Marge Fenelon is my guest.

8/26/15
CATHOLIC MOM’S CAFÉ: PT. 3
3:00 AM
6:30 PM
“Going it Alone” (single Moms and Moms who feel single)
Woodeene Koenig-Bricker is my guest.

8/27/15
CATHOLIC MOM’S CAFÉ: PT. 4
3:00 AM 6:30 PM
“Upholding Dignity Through Contradiction”
Lisa Hendey is my guest.

08/28/15
CATHOLIC MOM’S CAFÉ: PT. 5
3:00 AM
6:30 PM
“Dealing with Loss through Miscarriage”
Karen Edmisten is my guest.

HERE IS THE SCHEDULE ON THE EWTN WEBSITE: http://www.ewtn.com/multimedia/weekly-schedules.asp#

Here is a visit on EWTN’s LIVE show with Fr. Mitch talking about the series as well as my book Catholic Mom’s Cafe. I hope you enjoy it!

The Incredible Blessing of Grand-motherhood!

I recently became a Grandmother for the very first time. It is such an awesome blessing! I recently took a few moments to attempt to express my joy.

clothesline

I share a glimpse into my heart in which I pondered my brand new vocation amid clothespins and diapers.

Grandma

Donna-Marie with her Grandmother

You can read my thoughts here at Catholic Mom.

The Sacredness and Hidden Blessings in Christian Marriage

weddingJune is a time of bountiful “I do’s.” I was a June bride, therefore I will be celebrating my wedding anniversary in the coming days with my husband Dave. When asked to write a piece for Magnificat magazine under the category of “She Pondered These Things In Her Heart” and knowing it would be about marriage and family, I decided to convey something very real–not just a warm and fuzzy kind of love story.

I wanted to be honest in my article, brutally honest. Real love doesn’t translate to bliss or “warm and fuzzy.” Sure we enjoy those moments, but indeed marriage overall requires our work. And, love hurts sometimes. Mother Teresa often professed that real love requires sacrifice and often hurts. As well,  we can’t rely on our feelings to forge ahead in our marriages. We choose to love–to give–to surrender our hearts.

Unexpected_Discovery2

I titled my piece, “Unexpected Discovery” because I think that is what discovery often is–unexpected. We can discover something we never realized about ourselves or about our spouse as we go through the daily grind–the nitty gritty details of life where we are supposed to be working out our salvation. We can also decide to work on getting rid of a vice as well as work towards cultivating a particular virtue once we open our hearts to discovery and God’s amazing grace.

In my piece for Magnificat which is in the June 2015 issue, I recalled a sort of funny, but what started out as a bit of a frustrating experience with my dear husband. The challenge that was presented in writing it (especially for me because I love to tell stories–long stories!) was to say it in a very limited number of words (and spaces!) because an exact amount of space is calculated and permitted in which to express the message so that it will fit on to the small Magnificat page. But, no more than that–not even one additional word or space.

Unexpected_Discovery1

 

Hopefully my message about sacrificial and sacramental love in marriage and family comes through. Hopefully I have expressed it in the little story I have shared. One woman who read the piece told me that she is going to put the page in a pretty photo frame and gift it to her daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law who are about to be married.

I think that is a beautiful and creative gift!

 

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May God bless all marriages everywhere in which spouses bound in their sacramental covenant are actually actively helping one another to get to heaven through thick and thin, in good times and bad, and throughout every single detail they share every ordinary day!

May I ask? Have you discovered something very unexpected while navigating the vocation of marriage with your spouse? Will you seek to discover a hidden blessing waiting to be unearthed? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

 

My participation in this upcoming book: “Family, the Church, and the Real World”

Family life is both messy and holy. I’m sure you’ll agree. I am happy to report that I have written a portion of a new book for families titled, Family, the Church, and the Real World due to be released on August 1st in time for the World Meeting of Families.

My contribution is about the “Domestic Church.”

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A description from Liguori:

If you embrace only the holiness, or if you just get lost in the messiness, then you miss the fullness of the experience that is living as a family – both in the domestic church and the Institutional Church. Here you’ll find inspiration from Scripture and modern advice that does more than just tell you how family life is “supposed” to be. This book gives you real, practical wisdom on how to navigate the holy messiness of family life.

Insights have been gathered from experts in every area of family life, including: Dr. Sean Reynolds, Dr. Greg and Lisa Popcak, Lisa Hendey, Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, Dr. Don Paglia, Christopher West, Fr. Andrew Wisdom, Dr. Tom Neal, and Greg and Jennifer Willits. You’ll discover that Catholic Church teaching on marriage and family is rooted in our ultimate calling – to love with all we can muster, even through those messy moments.

Here’s a link to the book’s description and other details at the publisher.

You can pre-order the book (which sells for $15.00) at my website here.

May God bless families everywhere!

Coming this Fall: Bringing Lent Home With Pope Francis!

We have just completed our Lenten journey and are now celebrating our Easter JOY!

It might seem odd that I am already speaking about our next Lenten journey. But, I want you to know that I’ve got you covered! I have a brand new family Lenten book (fourth in my series) for you! Here is the book cover image.

I hope you like it. It will be available in early October! As always, for a ridiculously low price of under $3.00.

Relish in your Easter JOY!

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