This is another installment in the series called Parish Spotlight, which is dedicated to featuring the different parishes in the Austin Diocese. Today we will be featuring St. Peter Catholic Student Center at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. St. Peter’s Catholic Student Center is where I found myself during the four and-a-half years I studied… [Read More]
About Elizabeth
Finishing the Race, Completing the Task
There are cliches and overused quotes for every occasion in life. In high school, our English teachers would caution us against using cliches in our writing. For starters, they’re sometimes hard to understand for someone who has never heard them before. How do you explain to someone that while an apple a day may help… [Read More]
Using SMART Goals to Accomplish Big Things
Let’s talk about goals. This post comes partially from the realization that just two weeks after New Year’s (time sure does fly) some of my New Year’s resolutions have already fallen by the way side (or never really got off the ground in the first place). In my cubical, I have this clipping from a… [Read More]
Win A Trip For TWO To Rome For the Canonization of Blessed John Paul II!
In September, Pope Francis announced that he would declare his two predecessors, Blessed John XXIII and John Paul II, saints in a single ceremony on April 27, 2014. The ceremony will take place on Divine Mercy Sunday, a celebration instituted by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 2000. Thanks to the John Paul II Life… [Read More]
A Tradition-less Christmas
When I was younger, the lack of any sort of stable Advent traditions was a point of pride. I’ve spent many a Christmas eve camping out on the floor of the Miami airport during a 5-hour layover playing cards with my siblings, waiting to spend Christmas with family in the Caribbean. But, on the risk… [Read More]
Beginning Advent With A Challenge
This year, the number of days in this holiday season are the shortest it possibly can be. 27 days. Just 27 days separate Thanksgiving and Christmas. Perhaps, As a result this begins to explain how and why retailers have combated the unusually short shopping window by putting out Christmas merchandise even earlier than normal. Completely… [Read More]
The Year of Faith: What’s Next?
Growing up in a family whose roots are deep in the small Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago I’ve always heard December 31st referred to as “Old Year’s Night” instead of “New Year’s Eve.” I’ve always kind of liked calling it “Old Year’s Night.” Calling it that, in a way, gives us an opportunity to… [Read More]
An American Moment: Remembering Our Fellow Brothers and Sisters in Service
“Freedom always comes at a high price. It requires a generous heart, ready for sacrifice. We cannot excuse ourselves from our own personal responsibility for freedom. There is no such thing as freedom without sacrifice.” – Blessed Pope John Paul II Veteran’s Day, November 11th, commemorates two very significant events. On November 11, 1918 the… [Read More]
On Homecomings
There’s something captivating about the season of Fall. And before you think it’s because of the cooler temperatures, pumpkin spiced lattes and a football season in full swing – it’s not. There’s this one aspect of fall is exciting every time I see it approaching on my calendar – Homecoming. The occasion is just as… [Read More]
ICYMI: Good Samaritan, Catholic Bands, Respect Life & Wisdom From the Pope
Did you have a good weekend? I hope your Monday (and week) are off to a great start! The following is a collection of cool news, resources and even some wisdom from the Pope you may or may not have heard about – hence the title – In Case You Missed It. Is there anything… [Read More]
Join Austin’s 40 Days For Life Efforts
I’ve told the story before of my first experience standing outside of Planned Parenthood during prayer vigil. It was the summer before I graduated and was completing an assignment for a photojournalism class. I’d supported pro-life organizations and prayed at prayer vigils, but never directly on the sidewalk outside a Planned Parenthood or other abortion… [Read More]
An Accidental Pilgrimage
This weekend I happened to stumbled upon two pilgrimage sites for the Year of Faith in Denver, CO in less than 48 hours. It was quite the blessed surprise (and not so much an accident!). I was in Denver last week for work and decided to stay the weekend to spend some time sightseeing with… [Read More]
Some Monday Morning Inspiration To Get You Going
Oh, Monday, here we are again. Maybe your weekend was packed with activities or maybe it was used for a Netflix-surfing-couch-time. Yet, here we are again, on a Monday with a full week ahead of us until the next well deserved weekend. While channel flipping over the weekend, I caught a few minutes of the… [Read More]
Z. Randall Stroope’s The Conversion of Saul
David Casper asked this question a few weeks ago in his post: Why does music hold such power over the human heart? In middle and high school, my sanctuary was the choir room. Forget sports (although I did play soccer in high school) and the library, I’d much rather spend before school, after school and… [Read More]
5 Blogs I’m Currently Reading (Besides ACNM, of course!)
There is no shortage of great content (Catholic or not) out there on the Internet. According to a 2012 survey, there are an estimated 42,000,000 blogs in the US. 329 million people view a blog monthly totaling well over 25 billion page views. Each day there are more than 500,000 daily posts and 400,000 daily… [Read More]
Things I Learned From This Past Week
First, this week has been physically, emotionally and spiritual exhausting, and not just in the context of pro-life legislation. I am thankful that our courage, strength and perseverance all comes from the Lord. Secondly, we cannot underestimate the power of our presence online, in person and in witness to Faith and Truth. During the pro-life… [Read More]
Defend us in Battle
I sometimes wonder if those who are fought for human rights and those who are considered great examples of leaders for social justice knew they would be forever knitted into mankind’s history. I’m going to be bold and presume that for those who dedicated their lives to ensuring our fellow brothers and sisters were treated… [Read More]
A Single Gal’s Girl Code
[girl·code] n. the unwritten understanding between girls (If you haven’t already figured out, this one is for the ladies. Sorry gentlemen.) My friend and I’s “Girl Code” from the third grade probably contained the following nuggets of wisdom: Boys have cooties. Stay away from them unless you’ve got your cootie shot. Don’t reveal who-likes-who when sworn… [Read More]
Cracks in the Sidewalk
I should really let it go, in the grand scheme of things it’s not that big of a deal. For me, there are an estimated three inches that have the possibility to ruin a perfectly good three mile workout. It’s one tiny bit of an uneven sidewalk. And as silly as it sounds, those three… [Read More]
Fighting for LIFE on Facebook
We’re touted as the pro-life generation. I have no doubt of that, but how are we still losing to a popular culture of death? Let me give you some background information. I attended a Christian university in Texas with deep roots to Baptist traditions. Last week, I was on Facebook and looked at a page… [Read More]
Brandon Vogt’s Strange Notions Launches Today!
Strange Notions, a site designed to be a central place of dialogue online between Catholics and atheists, will go live TODAY at 8 a.m. CST. The site include intelligent articles, compelling video and rich discussion through its comment box. Brandon Vogt, a Catholic speaker, blogger and writer, is behind project and has a group of… [Read More]
Finding Solace in Silence
I’ve never been able to appreciate silence as much as I wished I could. Last week, I spent way too much of my time reading news, refreshing my twitter feed, listening to NPR and the talking heads on the news networks. I blame the overwhelming curiosity on journalism classes and my career choice. With those… [Read More]
South Cross South West: Catching Up With Gina Chavez and Paul Finley
In addition to catching some official SXSW events this past month, I was able to go participate in some un-official SXSW events. The first was ACNM’s un-official SXSW interactive event. If you missed the event but want to check out the audio, it’s all here. The other un-official event I caught was South Cross South… [Read More]
A South Cross Southwest Event!
For those who live in Austin (and even those who don’t) SXSW means one thing: celebrities, film screenings, music concerts and the latest nerdy gadgets. But this Saturday at an event downtown, SXSW means something much different. David Morton, co-founder of Six17 Creative, created an event to bring Catholic musicians to the University Student Center… [Read More]
Conclave? There’s an app for that! (and Twitter, Email, etc)
The eight general congregation of the College of Cardinals announced last week that the conclave to select the next Pope will begin on tomorrow on Tuesday, March 12, 2013. The cardinals will celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in the morning and then enter into the conclave that afternoon. If you’re not planning on waiting… [Read More]
The Dedication of Our Lady of Wisdom University Parish
Here in the Diocese of Austin we are blessed to have so many prospering and fruitful college campus ministries serving our the Catholic college students in our diocese stretching from Waco to College Station to San Marcos. It is the Catholic campus ministry in San Marcos that recently celebrated a big milestone in their history!… [Read More]
Is Facebook Making You Depressed?
Two-thirds of American adults are on Facebook. 69% of adults in this country find themselves updating their statuses, changing their profile pictures and adding photos and videos to share with family and friends. And according to the PEW Research Center, between Feb. 2005 and August 2006 the use of social networking sites among adult internet… [Read More]
My Saturday and Sunday (In Pictures)
When I finally got some time to relax on Sunday evening, I realized that the weekend went by in a flash. Friday, I spent some time helping at a dinner for seminarians who were in town for the Texas Rally For Life. On Saturday, I was at the Texas Rally for Life and this Sunday I… [Read More]
ICYMI: Suggestions for the Water Cooler
For those a little confused about the random letters strung together in the title, fear not. It’s not some new coded texting language, shorthand developed for a quick Skype or Google+ chat with friends or fancy way of writing a number in roman numerals. It stands for: In Case You Missed It. There’s been some… [Read More]
Connecting 2012’s Dots
I have this favorite quote from Steve Jobs. Now, before you accuse me of fangirling, just know that I try not to be one of those Apple users (you know, the ones that just won’t stop talking about the newest i-whatever) but this particular quote from his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford seems fitting for… [Read More]
A Morning Opposing the Abortion Giant – Reflections From the Sidewalk
It was only 9:37 a.m. on a muggy summer morning in June 2011 and I’d already had one of those mornings that forces you to stop and think about who you are and the world around you. It started off as a photojournalism project. Just a simple photostory. Snap a couple of pictures, record an… [Read More]
What Should We Call It? Catholic GIFS and Advent Challenges
I believe that sometimes you just have to be a little bit silly. There are a ton of these things on the Internet called gifs, so here I present to you a fun little set of Catholic themed gifs. My friends and I when it comes time to exchange the sign of peace… [Read More]
Pro-Hope: The John Paul II Life Center’s Call
In order to graduate, I was required to take a class where an internship was required. I remember getting the list a week before the semester started and instantly looking for the “Catholic friendly” internships. On the list I found the Catholic Charities of Central Texas (they already had an intern for the semester) and… [Read More]
On the Eve of the Election
This week you are going to be inundated with all things election, if it’s not pre-election news it will be an analysis of the results as they return, and then a series of reports as to who was elected and what they’ll do in the next four years. And if that wasn’t enough we still… [Read More]
What Was Supposed To Be A Movie Review…
Just as the title suggests, this was supposed to be a movie review. Yesterday I was given tickets for a screening of Restless Heart: The Confessions of St. Augustine,the first full length movie about the conversion and life of St. Augustine of Hippo. It seemed to be the perfect solution. I had been out of… [Read More]
The (Small & Much Needed) Signs That God Is Always There
I don’t like guess work. I like to see where I’ve come from and where I’m going with a single glance. I like to have a plan. Even though I’m not mathematically brilliant, in fact, in college I took one math class – Ideas of Mathematics – not even real math, just thinking about math,… [Read More]
Jesus in Disguise
“Each of them is Jesus in disguise” Mother Teresa’s explanation of her ministry serving the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India is nothing short than extraordinary. Her life’s work saw humankind, no matter how poor and destitute, for who they really are – blessed children of God. Brandon Heath, a Christian artist known for… [Read More]
Taking Care of All God’s Children: The Sacred Heart Community Clinic
Talk to any volunteer, any nurse or any doctor and you’ll find out just how important the Sacred Heart Community Clinic is. Located on the Saint William Catholic Church campus, this free ‘walk in’ clinic serves the uninsured and underinsured living in Round Rock, Texas. But, in order for the Sacred Heart Clinic to continue… [Read More]
God’s Calling to the Underemployed 63%
An article published in Market Watch states that “while 63% of “Generation Y” workers – those age 18-29 – have a bachelor’s degree, the majority of the jobs taken by graduates don’t require one.” In another survey by Rutgers University, “half of graduates in the past five years say their jobs didn’t require a four-year… [Read More]
Catholic Headlines at the 2012 Olympics
Welcome back to a normal work week. Sadly, there’s no more Olympic coverage, 24/7 online streaming or reasons to avoid social media avoiding spoilers coming out of London. Don’t worry, we’re all feeling it. There’s no more diving, gymnasts in their sparkling leotards or insanely fast track athletes to occupy our primetime television viewing. Well,… [Read More]
