When I give Media Literacy workshops to folks, I often ask: What’s the first thing you think of when you think of “the media”? The overwhelming majority think: the news.

I was recently interviewed by a secular news outlet about a new fictional film featuring nuns. I almost didn’t do the interview. Why not? Because I know better.

The Christmas season has so many wonderful feast days along the way, not least of which is Epiphany, the commemoration of the Magi’s visit to the Christ Child.

Since screening Christmas movies together with family and friends has become as ubiquitous as Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties, maybe it’s time to be more than just holly jolly couch potatoes. Perhaps we can find ways to integrate Christmas activities (emphasis on “active”) with the spectating.

Advent, like Lent, is a prayerful time of joyful expectation of a major feast of the Christian year.

With all that today’s parents have to do, how is it possible to go about the mammoth task of parenting the media?

Some people like to think of life as a journey, an adventure, a pilgrimage, a blank slate, a beach, a work of art … a box of chocolates. But life isn’t always that neutral, is it? Sometimes we are dealt a rough hand from the earliest moments of our existence. Sometimes life is filled with pain and obstacles. We are free to look at life however we want, but one thing is for sure: Life is a battle, and no one gets to sit on the sidelines.

Are you “hopelessly devoted”? No, not to your crush, your boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse, but to the Most High God?

Are you struggling with the rosary? Struggling with praying the rosary? You are not alone. Many Catholics feel super guilty for not praying the rosary very much or at all.

“Feelings. Nothing more than feelings.” Thus went the 1970s ballad. As often happens, pop songs contain profound lessons if you take them out of context and give them meanings the songwriter never intended: “Yes, they’re just feelings, and nothing more. Don’t sweat it.”