Do you know the most common fear kids have about going back to school? A group of parents was asked this at a conference recently and although we all had good guesses, no one in the audience answered correctly. The answer is that kids fear lunchtime more than anything else because they are afraid that they may have to sit alone. Adults know that because Christ is with us, we are never alone. This back-to-school issue of Parish Life! focuses on helping kids learn that vital lesson, too.

Blessings, Heidi Busse

In addition to the cardinal virtues - prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance - the Church has another grouping of virtues called the theological virtues - faith, hope and love. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that these virtues are not achieved by practice but are a grace and gift from God. Also, “they inform all the moral virtue and give life to them” (No. 141).

Discuss at dinner: Why is love the most important of these virtues? How do people behave differently when they have faith? In what ways does hope comfort you?

5 steps to Becoming an Intentional Disciple
By Mark Shea

Sherry Weddell's book "Forming Intentional Disciples" (OSV, $16.95) is, I think, one of the most important Catholic books of this decade.
In it, she addresses the core issue facing the Church in our time: How to foster a culture in which all Catholics consciously see themselves as disciples of Jesus Christ living according to his will and as apostles sent into the world to proclaim him to others.
Weddell also outlines five stages of spiritual growth that typify the experience of conversion.

Conversion is, in the Church's thinking, not simply for "converts" - i.e., non-Catholics joining the Catholic communion - but for everybody. In the Church's thinking, not just Scott Hahn, G.K. Chesterton or Saul of Tarsus experienced conversion. "Cradle Catholics" like Ignatius of Loyola, Francis of Assisi, Blaise Pascal and Teresa of Avila also had profound conversion experiences that transformed them. So must we.

Read the rest of this article from the August 17, 2014, issue of OSV Newsweekly

Teen voices
By Michelle Martin

Teenagers from across the country share the joys and challenges of being faithful to Christ and his Church. Do you have hope for the future of the Catholic Church in the United States? Judging by these young Catholic leaders, you should.

Read on to meet teens from across the country, from urban and rural dioceses and parishes. Learn how their faith inspires, challenges and supports them. And then say a prayer of thanksgiving for their presence in — and witness to ­­— their faith, and ask God to continue to support them.

Read the rest of this article from the August 31, 2014, issue of OSV Newsweekly