Laura Kelly Fanucci
Recent Posts
What does it mean to live justly in the world today? How does our faith invite us to work for peace and justice wherever we are – even at home? My friend Haley wrote a wonderful book on how her family embraced a counter-cultural lifestyle of seeking the Gospel more intentionally – The Grace of…
READ MOREHe and I stare down at the freshly laid gravestone, edged by spring-green grass. “When people come into our office for this,” he trails off, shielding his eyes from the morning sunshine, his weathered face suddenly young in disbelief. “It’s the absolute worst when this happens,” he shakes his head, unable to speak the words…
READ MOREI’m mad. Spitting mad. Irate, outraged, furious, frustrated, livid, fuming. Angry doesn’t have enough synonyms to sum up the fury I feel at the most recent sex abuse scandals to shake the Catholic Church. I can heap adjective upon adjective, yet everything falls flat in the face of depraved evil and systemic injustice. The men who…
READ MOREBefore we lost our twin daughters after birth two years ago – suddenly, tragically, publicly – there was another loss. Smaller. Earlier. Quieter. Five years ago we lost a baby to miscarriage. I wrote about this loss here and in my book Everyday Sacrament. Miscarriage was devastating. It upheaved what we knew about parenting. How…
READ MOREHere is today’s first reading. The promise of the new Jerusalem, part of the prophecy of Isaiah. Here is today’s Gospel. The healing of the royal official’s son, the second sign in the Gospel of John. And here is my whole heart, caught between the two. The same Scripture passage from Isaiah was read at our daughters’…
READ MORETwo years ago, I had two hearts beating beneath my own. Twins. I was overwhelmed most of the pregnancy, to be honest. Worry multiplies with multiples. How would we care for two babies at once? What would life look like with five kids? Deeper, darker questions slid underneath, slimy and squirming. How could I love…
READ MORE“Here is your ice cream cone,” he declares. Satisfied and soapy, he hands me a cup full of bubbles. He eyes me intently, underneath wet curls. “What flavor is it?” I know to ask. The joy sparks: she sees it, too! “It is chocolate-ish strawberry vanilla. It is served in a cone and a dish.”…
READ MOREHe laughs now, this rolling plump of a babe. Chortles like a chuckling gentleman when I tickle under his chin. The laughter is intoxicating; we are all addicted. His doting brothers swarm the changing table for a chance to coax out another. In the instant when his round eyes brighten and his soft mouth opens…
READ MORELast week we watched Irma, that swirling monster of a storm, with twisted stomachs and sick hearts. Friends we love live in Florida. We wanted them to be safe, their homes to stay dry, their schools and workplaces untouched. We read their anxious updates, prayed for protection, watched the weather forecast. It looked like the…
READ MOREI put off packing the hospital bag as long as I could. I didn’t want to jinx it. I didn’t want to think about the last time I packed it. Mostly I didn’t know what to put inside. The usual necessities, of course. Pajamas. Hairbrush. Baby clothes. But I was bringing so much more with…
READ MOREHere’s the big announcement I’ve been saving. In case you missed it in the brand-new Mothering Spirit newsletter, I have two new e-books available for you and yours: Prayers for Pregnancy was born from the prayers that bring so many to Mothering Spirit. I never expected how the prayers I wrote (when I couldn’t find pregnancy…
READ MORERight now are the waning days of pregnancy. Contractions come and go. Intense, then subsiding. I can’t walk without waddling. Sleep is fitful, restless. Comfort is elusive. I wake a hundred times. Every morning the kids ask if the baby will be born today. No one knows. These are my last days to carry. To…
READ MORE