Understanding Our Church
A Treasury of Arkansas Writers Discussing the Catholic Faith
Official Website of the
Catholic Diocese of Little Rock
Understanding Our Church
Explore this treasury of Arkansas writers discussing the Catholic faith on a wide variety of topics. Find what you're looking for by browsing the whole list or search by keyword or author. All articles have been reviewed for theological accuracy. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
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Popular ‘Serenity Prayer’ calls us not to work, but to wait, yield control Judy Hoelzeman When I was young, a prayer card rested on the window ledge in our kitchen. From the looks of it, the card had fallen into the sink more than once. For years it stayed in the same place, dirty and dogeared. |
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Out of the mouth of babes: Faith questions from children can teach us Kelli Nugent The questions that children ask can be quite intriguing and insightful. They have deep questions that need substantive answers to help them understand the truths of the faith, as well as their other inquisitive queries. |
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Recognizing God in our everyday stuff of life and being grateful Betsy Wiederkehr Huss The Church celebrates St. Ignatius of Loyola’s 500th canonization anniversary this month. Inspired by this and his life, I investigated his prayer, the Examen. St. |
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Telling ourselves ‘no’ helps detach from world, embrace discomfort Katie Karp Every year as Lent draws closer, Catholics around the world are faced with the same question: “What am I going to give up for Lent?” Due to our fallen nature, many of us likely have the shared feeling of dread when we are asked to sacrifice with consistency. |
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Church working toward more ways to love, grow relationships Deacon Mike Cumnock When our daughter was in elementary school, she spent a lot of time in the agency where I was the CEO. A young, tall, Black man worked for us as an educator. He and my daughter became quite close. He often called her his “little sis” as she tagged behind him. |
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Who is God? He is not just a loving being, but the source of love itself Edward C. Dodge One of my favorite texts to revisit each year with my students is the medieval morality play “Everyman,” and each year, it seems I learn something new from it. |
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Who is God? He is not just a loving being, but the source of love itself Father Erik Pohlmeier If we want to understand our faith, one question that deserves regular attention is the most basic of all questions — who is God? We should come back to this question regularly for two reasons. First is that we can never answer it completely, but we can discover more every time we ponder it. |
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Shocking news makes headlines, but good things happen each day Father Jerome Kodell, OSB News reporting wants to capture attention, so we are constantly alerted to “breaking news” and warned to stay tuned lest we miss something. Unfortunately, the news that gets our attention, shocking or surprising news, is often bad news: a tragedy, a betrayal, a scandal. |
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Be an example of God’s love this Advent Lou Ann Gieringer My favorite time for morning prayer is on my way to work. |
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Spiritual waiting important in Advent to prepare for Jesus’ coming Father Jason Tyler Can you believe it’s already December? What happened to fall? It seems like just yesterday, leaves started changing colors, and now we can look around and see almost no leaves on most of our trees. Hunters have enjoyed deer season for a while and now prepare for modern gun season to wrap up. |
