So by my faith I know that the purpose and power of women in marriages, families and communities, as mothers, daughters, sisters and wives, is to pray for our men so as to fully communicate the love of God expressed in Romans 8:38-39, and by faith equip their hearts and minds with abundant grace, as fathers, husbands, sons and brothers. This can only be accomplished when I ask for divine guidance in responding to the …

By my faith I know that something is only true if I allow it be so in my own mind. For I know that the only free society on the planet emanated from acting on one mustard seed of faith that God grants every human being intelligent life and free will. This is power that can never be taken, but is easily surrendered. This is the hope for all generations. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Psalm …

What do tech-savvy teens need from parents? They need parents to provide a safe place where they can talk about the real pressures and insecurities they face.

Do you remember the first time you experienced shame as a child? I do. When I was about seven years old, a neighbor’s child brought out a Polaroid photo of his mother, taken by his father, and showed it to all of the children gathered on the sidewalk. He had found it in her underwear drawer.

The William Glasser Institute offers insights about human nature that has practical application for raising tech-savvy kids. Glasser’s Choice Theory describes how every individual has command and control over thoughts and actions, while feelings and the physiological responses (the senses and emotions) to life’s events and experiences individuals do not control -they just happen. This means that we can easily be deceived by the feelings inspired by experiences on and off line.

Lincoln resident and Life Coach, Barbara Stahl, is an 80-year-old grandmother, with “an interest in how we become who we are”. She has been studying genes and the human brain for a number of years, and offers a “fast forward” according to how current technology, cultural and biology trends are shaping the condition of our world. Based upon the insights she has gained from personal experience and brain science Stahl offers a very compelling epiphany for the future: “adolescents will be running the world.”

A recent article by Naomi Schaefer Riley in the New York Post features the lack of parental confidence in a child’s ability to be responsible for their own security as a type of schizophrenia that looks something like this: little girls are wearing sexy Halloween costumes while college students are calling parents daily to make basic decisions about class courses and campus life. The article points to an “amorphous fear” of a culture that is not geared toward protecting children.

Christmas time introduces cyber safety concerns for parents whose children are receiving various internet-enabled devices as gifts. And we know that internet connectivity exposes children to adult issues including bullying and exploitation (sexual as well as commercial), so our children must be educated about their own capacity to recognize a lie or a manipulation when they encounter it and respond with confidence. For the most part, cyber safety is a matter of learning how not to engage with or agree with something that disturbs your peace. Accordingly, a post on WebMD featured the top four internet risks for kids. The risks include:

The concerns of this study are rooted in a simple truth: “When you stand for nothing, you fall for anything” (Alexander Hamilton).

According to a recent report from Aleteia, at the fall annual assembly of U.S. Catholic Bishops in Baltimore, scheduled for November 16-19, there will be a vote to issue a general statement about pornography as a “pastoral crisis”. The purpose of this general statement is to educate clergy, parents and young people about this crisis for families and society.