The Soulful Catholic
Stirring up faith, one soul at a time.
The Books
The Speaker
The Blog
The Person
The Why
As a journalist for the Catholic press for more than 20 years, the deep desire to continue penning words that pointed to Jesus has never diminished. In fact, it blossomed and gave birth to this blog! I attribute that zeal to the grace of God who in 2010 allowed me to meet and become adopted by the persecuted Christians of the Middle East. Their authentic witness to Christ in the midst of deep suffering reignited my faith and set me on a path that continues to unwind before me.
What follows are soulful meanderings into what it means to be a disciple of Christ living in a broken world redeemed by God.
Recent Articles
Sometimes we delve into current issues (what do you expect from a political science major?) but it’s always through a lens of faith. The Soulful Catholic likes to write about what God is doing in our lives today, right here and right now. Faith in Christ changes everything.
Gift of joy transforms an otherwise painful moment into encounter with Christ
“Consequently, an evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral!” Evangelii Gaudium #10
That has to be one of my favorite quotes from The Joy of the Gospel, the 2013 Apostolic Exhortation penned by Pope Francis. And it reminds me of Marlin, a radiology tech I’ve come to know over the last 20 years.
I’m not making this up.
Sharing the love of God with basketball fans: You’re being recruited for an unbeatable team
The Christmas lights have barely been packed away but the countdown to Lent has begun (Ash Wednesday is an unusually early Feb. 14 this year.) Which can only mean one thing: You’ll need to come up with your Lenten plan stat AND March Madness is right around the corner.
Now, why would The Soulful Catholic give a lick about the National Collegiate Athletic Association annual basketball tournament? And what, pray tell, does this have to do with Lent anyway?
Bringing them home: Reaching out to Catholics to welcome them back to the Church
You might not be surprised to learn that church attendance is down here and around the U.S.
Outside of Christmas and Easter, it’s not very often that you have a standing-room only crowd at church on Sunday. There’s a startling graph published by Pew Research that shows a steep decline in church attendance starting in 2007 when 54 percent of Americans said they attended religious services monthly or more.
By 2019, that number dropped to 45 percent. Pew also reported that during most of the Covid 19 pandemic, about 6 in 10 Americans did not take part in religious services in any way, including roughly 7 in 10 adults under age 30. Seventy percent of our young people are not going to church!
Meet Joyce
The Soulful Catholic
Wife. Mom. Regular, everyday person. God allowed me to write for The Catholic Sun for nearly two decades (not the Rosary kind, but more on that later!) I’m also a catechist and the editor of a community newspaper.
A conversion experience in 2010 changed my life forever and led to the writing of two novels about the plight of persecuted Christians. A third book, Daily Inspiration, rounds out my current titles.
I’ll speak to any group of one or more about God’s great mercy and how He intervened in my life in a miraculous way. Sometimes that means a parish mission or retreat but it might just be over tea.
