RCNY Weekly | Life's a Journey

RCNY WEEKLY | January 31, 2023

The most critical moment had arrived—timed literally to the hour. My husband and I stood in a small conference room in the hospital. I was on the verge of tears from stress and hormone overload as the on-call doctor came in and gruffly pulled a long strip of black-and-white images from our file. “You only have five viable embryos, and none look great. I rate them all “a six” at best on a scale from one to ten, and strongly recommend we transfer three—you can always “reduce” one if necessary.” Now the tears had materialized, and my husband squeezed my hand.

Unfortunately, this was not the plan we had laid out with our doctor, who was off that day. With him, we had agreed on a single embryo transfer because we already had five-year-old twins from a previous round of IVF. That pregnancy was difficult and nearly resulted in a miscarriage. The doctor on hand stepped out of the room and gave us minutes to decide about his proposal. We chose to stay the course (much to his dismay), and immediately I was whisked off to the operating room.

The Lord blessed us with a third beautiful child. That was almost 17 years ago. As you can imagine, our road to parenthood was not what I dreamed it would be. When we couldn’t conceive naturally, I panicked, cried, was lonely and afraid, and felt envious of all those big bellies I seemed to see everywhere I went. Sadly, I never trusted that God had a plan for us. Instead, I ran frantically from one doctor’s appointment to the next. I was going to make this family happen. With the incredible advancements in science, man can certainly intervene in the miracle of life—and so it went, and our family was formed. Read more

For 25 years Camp Eagle’s Cliff has provided an action-packed, unforgettable summer camp experience that forms character, nourishes the soul, and trains in virtue the boys that will become the future Catholic leaders of society.

That’s why our professional staff and hand-picked team leaders make the safety and well-being of your sons our highest priority, as it has always been all these years.

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One of the biggest challenges for Fathers today is to find those moments of connection with their children, especially their sons. As men, we know instinctively that we need to do this, but many distractions keep us from following through. Perhaps we also lack confidence.

The Feb 10-12th weekend offers just that – an opportunity to connect on a deeper level with your son by experiencing something positive and faith-centered together. This experience should then lead to growing confidence in guiding your son along the right path. Dads are essential for this.

The weekend will include some prayer time, but also activities that are simple and fun, and deeper topics will be addressed. These last years there have been more and more older boys coming with their Dads (17+) since the relationship does change over time and needs to mature in the right way.

We invite you to consider joining us for this grace-filled weekend!

LOURDES, a small village where the Virgin Mary appeared to a young girl about 150 years ago. And where few miracles have been recognized by the church but not recognized and recounted by thousands. The biggest of them is the heart with which pilgrims come and go, each one with something to heal: mentally, physically or spiritually. Still today LOURDES is more alive than ever. And Our Lady remains active and attentive to each of her children. About 6 million people visit it every year. After the pandemic, her devotion is increasing. The multitudinous processions of people seeking a miracle feed a small army of caregivers (nurses, volunteers, hospitalists) who accompany them. These pilgrims are an amazing display of humanity: accident victims, the terminally ill, an overweight teenager being bullied at school, a group of prostitutes and trans people from Paris, etc. LOURDES is an insightful meditation on the human capacity for empathy and hope, and especially a journey into the mystery of religious faith in the face of life's profound tribulations.

The Legionaries of Christ podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Google Podcasts.