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Day 5
The whole family slept in until around 11am, we were so worn out by the events of the 
week and the events today didn’t start until the afternoon. It was nice to sleep in because we had to ride our bikes into Philadelphia to get to the events with the Pope. We eventually made it onto our bikes and headed out to Philadelphia ...
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Day 4
The fifth day of our pilgrimage and the fourth day of the World Meeting of Families has come to a close. Each day was filled with blessings (for a recap, see the daily articles), all according to God’s providence. On Friday, the last day of the #WMF2015, we were so tired and the vendor area was closed down by the Secret Service for security reasons, and we barely made it to morning mass and we sat very ...
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Day 3
The World Meeting of Families must be working because we were inspired to be a family of service on the 3rd day of the meeting. My 15 year old son has been quietly collecting extra snacks that he thought would be appreciated by the homeless we have been seeing in downtown 
Philadelphia. We took it to the next level when prompted by ...
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Day 2
Our second day of the conference and the first full day was a lot of fun. We found our groove and discovered a part of why we are here. We decided to keep the kids with us for morning daily mass and drop them off at the Youth Conference afterwards. We decided to forgo the keynote and instead spend some time walking through the vendor area. Our kids had a great time at the Youth Congress and ...
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Day 1
In my professional career, I attend lots of conferences. I have attended conferences that had over 100,000 attendees, Networld/Interop was held in Las Vegas because it was the only city in the United States that had enough hotel rooms to house everyone, it also has not just one but many large convention centers that can hold that many attendees. The show room floors had lots of vendors vying for your ...
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Initially when we planned to attend the World Meeting of Families, we intended to take our time 
getting up to Pennsylvania, but then we were asked to speak at a parish event in the Austin area related to the World Meeting of Families. How could we resist? So we said yes, then the date got changed from Friday evening to Saturday ...
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A pilgrimage is a spiritual journey to a destination of religious significance. It is not a vacation, but a quest for deeper faith. The pilgrimage is more than just the destination, it begins as soon as you leave the comfort of your home and your normal routine. A pilgrimage can include great sacrifice and suffering and great spiritual benefit for those who seek to unite their sacrifice and suffering with that of Jesus. Our family made the ...
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Visiting the sick, it sounds easy enough, you visit someone who is sick, keep them company, 
bring them some food, take care of their kids, or bring them medicine. My family has been the recipient of this corporal work of mercy, with each of our nine children. Our friends and family would rise to the occasion and help us through these times of transition as we welcomed new ...
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There can be joy in the dying process. I remember my reaction when my father was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. It was significantly different from the other times I had experienced the loss of a loved one. In the past, I felt somewhat devastated and every fiber of my being screamed no, but this time was different. Yes, I was sad about it, but interestingly, by some supernatural grace of God, I was ...
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I grew up in a loving family, we were very service oriented — giving of our time, talent, and treasure to help those in need. My parents constantly set an example, to show love in everything you do; give of yourself to make someone’s life better. I’ve been ...