Get this as free printable here!Download Well, here we are on Monday of the first week of Lent. Happy feast of the Chair of St. Peter! (See how our family celebrates the day here.) If Ash Wednesday crept up on you this year, not to worry . . . it's never too late to...
I Learned some Stuff from this Product Launch Week: Books and Boxes and Binders and Babies and Dreams
Thanks for putting up with this week of me trying to sell you stuff.* But hopefully you think it's good stuff and . . . it will mostly be over after this last push today. So, here's what I've got to tell you about . . . The Catholic All Year Liturgical Living Weekly...
Kids & Tech: What We Do and Why We Mostly Don’t
I’ve received many reader questions on this topic over the years, and just discussed them again this week in a Q&A session after an online talk I gave to a parent group, so I figured it would be a good time to go ahead and get it in a post. Updates on The...
Liturgical Year Subscription Boxes, Meal Planner Catholic Mom Bundle, and New CAY Memberships!
Hey guys! I’ve been working for months on a bunch of new products and ideas and they all sort of came together at once, and (no surprise) many are liturgically seasonal, plus . . . I really like the creating of the things and I don’t at all like the marketing of the...
Merry Christmas from the Tierneys, 2020
Christmas Eve greetings, dear readers! Our Christmas cards are currently chilling with all their pals in a USPS sorting facility. So, if you get a card from us . . . it's coming! But in the meantime, and for all of you out there on the interwebs, here's a virtual...
St. Nicholas Catholic Book Stack
Hey, you ever announce you're going to start blogging again and then behind the scenes stuff goes sideways and then your dad has a stroke and you spend the beginning of Advent dealing with hospitals for the second year in a row, but this time it's 2020 so you can't...
New Book, Limited Edition Merch, a Giveaway, and the Thing I Was Wrong About Last Spring
It's been a while you guys, since I last typey typed up a blog post. But I've had a lot in the works for you guys. First things first . . . A new book! You will probably not be surprised that I wrote another book. (There are more in the pipeline too!) But you MIGHT be...
A Potluck Is Better if We Don’t ALL Bring Jell-o Salad: Why I Maybe Didn’t Write About an Important Topic That’s Important to You
Every few months, I will get a message or two like one I received today, from someone who says she has followed me for many years but can no longer do so because I haven’t publicly supported a particular issue in the way that she thinks would be appropriate. I’ve...
Pentecost, Printables, Behind the Scenes, and Maybe Patreon?
As of February 2021, I'm switching CAY subscriptions from Patreon to this website! Click here to learn more about the membership options, and here to read why I'm making the switch. First, some good news! They won’t be open for Pentecost, but Los Angeles churches have...
Abortion Jargon, Obedience, and Whether I Just Want to Kill All Priests: The Catholic + Coronavirus Can of Worms
I was hoping to get a conversation started with my previous post. That definitely happened. I Like to Think That I Would Die for Jesus I was impressed with the general tone of the dialog. I did have to delete some comments for breaking my long-standing rules against...
I Like to Think That I Would Die for Jesus
For some clarifications and considerations, see this follow up post, Abortion Jargon, Obedience, and Whether I Just Want to Kill All Priests: The Catholic + Coronavirus Can of Worms I suppose one never knows for sure until one is faced with the opportunity, but I like...
Happy Easter! And a Tierney Family Update . . .
The thing about Easter is that it came anyway. Alleluia! Our In-Progress At Home Painted Chapel, aka how I spent my summer vacation I can't tell you how much joy it has given me to share liturgical living traditions with you guys during this time. Virtual community is...
Holy Thursday at Home: a Virtual Seven Churches Visitation
The triduum is upon us! Let's talk Holy Thursday. No, wait, for a Holy Thursday overview, see this post The “You Can Still Do This” Guide to All Things Holy Week Here, let's talk about the Seven Churches Visitation. Under normal circumstances, following the Holy...
The Triduum at Home: a Tenebrae Service
Happy Spy Wednesday! Today we'll be hiding thirty quarters. Here's why: https://youtu.be/2alx0jkg1Jw See the April Booklet for the collects and readings for Spy Wednesday and each day of the Triduum. We've done the quarters thing for many years now, and love it. New...
Homemade Easter Candles or the Coronavirus Wins
Easter candles, you guys. EASTER CANDLES. We must have them. And really, my family can't imagine missing out completely on the stirringly beautiful beginning of the Easter Vigil Mass, with the fire and the candles and the Exsultet. The whole Easter Vigil is great of...
Palm Sunday at Home and Every CAY Printable for Holy Week
Palm Sunday is tomorrow you guys! I'm inadvertently VERY prepared for an at home Holy Week and Easter, but definitely mourning the prospect. The images of Palm Sunday from old picture Bibles are kinda punching me in the gut right now. The sea of humanity, the crowd,...
Four Effective Ways for Catholics to Pray When Separated from Mass and the Sacraments
Many of us do not now have access to the Eucharist, "the source and summit of Christian life." (CCC 1324) But let's not just throw up our hands and despair! We have recourse to a Morning Offering to unite ourselves to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered publicly...
The Catholic All Year at Home, Amazon-Free, Catholic Gift Guide for a Very Unusual Easter
Happy Solemnity of the Annunciation! 👼📣 For what we'll be doing to celebrate, see this post. tl:dr 🧇🙏 This Easter bunny seems to capture the general zeitgeist, no? Strange times these are, my friends! It's been a very Lenty Lent don't...
Chapter Books for Perspective and/or Inspiration for All Ages in Times of Trouble and Isolation
Number one requested post when all of this Coronavirus stuff started going down was how to homeschool all of a sudden, so I wrote this. Second was what to do about Mass when there are no public Masses, so I wrote this. And now, third most requested is book...
Participating in the Mass from Home During the Coronavirus Quarantine
I usually try to create content that is "evergreen" as they say in the blogging world, that can be useful to people for many years. I sincerely hope that this post is not useful for long and that soon churches will be open and Masses will be public again and we, the...
So, You’re a Homeschooler Now
The ranks of the homeschooling have grown exponentially in the last, well, yesterday. Maybe you find yourself making a face like Saint Anne here 😒. As an accidental homeschooler myself (for the past twelve years) I figured I’d share a few tips on how we manage...
From What Shall We Fast?
We are a week into Lent. Probably we've all had some moments to be proud of, and some fails, right? That's to be expected. The spring Ember Days begin today, Wednesday, and continue on Friday and Saturday. Ember Days are seasonal days of fasting and repentance that...
George Washington’s Rules for Mannerly Cell Phone Use in Company and Around One’s Children
People seem to believe that cell phone use is this new, unprecedented behavior about which there are no established customs that could govern our conduct. George Washington and I beg to differ. The technology might be different, but human desires remain pretty...
Control Is an Illusion: Some Things I Noticed While Spending Five Weeks in the Hospital with a Two Year Old (and a baby sidekick)
Baby Barbara and I recently accompanied two-year old George for most of his five week stay in the hospital as he fought and recovered from bacterial meningitis. I've had people mention since then that I should do a post on what I learned during our little sojourn, but...
Nursing Dresses I’m Recommending to the Virgin Mary (and you)
So, you've got a nursing baby. Hey, me too! And sometimes it's nice to go out in public and look cute and also feed the baby, right? You are the Mother of Incarnate God, free from all stain of original sin by a singular grace and privilege granted by the Father. *I*...
When to Expel Your Kid From Homeschool: Circles of Influence and Homeschool vs Regular School
I currently have four kids in "regular" school, three in homeschool (and three not-yet-school-age), so I often get asked why we transition our kids out of homeschooling, and how we make the decision when to do that. This post is my answer to that question. <note:...
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Lent: Because Decorating Isn’t Just for Christmas
Liturgical Living heads up! Lent is quickly approaching. Ash Wednesday is February 26th this year, so we've only got a couple weeks to get our acts together here and figure out what we're going to do. I've written SO MUCH about Lent over the years, and I'll link to...
Season One Recap of My Show: Will there be more? Up to YOU.
The Catholic All Year Liturgical Living Show wrapped season one with a December episode on our At Home Nativity Play that I never managed to share here on the blog, because . . . baby > blog 😆🤷♀️. So, I figured I'd share it...
Catholics Don’t Get Cancelled
I've had something on my mind for a while, and as today is the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, I figured I'd finally sit down and type it up. I'm generally a social media apologist. The Catholic mommy blog little pond of the internet (which is also peopled with...
A Tierney Christmas Card Which is Late by All Metrics but One, aka Praise God for Candlemas
Usually I can sneak a Christmas blog post in during the Christmas octave, or before Epiphany, or at the VERY latest before the Baptism of the Lord, and get to say, hey it's late but it's STILL Christmas! Even *I* think it's pushing it now, but watch me try. On the...