My guest for the episode, Colleen Duggan, was just as lovely to talk to as I thought she would be. I love how down-to-earth she is. Her balance and honesty make for a refreshing episode that brings us all back to the same page when it comes to Catholic parenting. She reminds us that there are a thousand ways to be a great mom, that messy doesn’t mean failure, and that in the end there’s not a magic set of parenting practices that ensure your kids will be happy, faithful, and successful in life.
We hit off right away, especially after I confessed that an hour before we recorded the show I was getting stitches in my foot at my dad’s veterinary clinic! I had stepped on a broken fish bowl in my living room, courtesy of my five-year-old and a poor now-deceased frog (you’ll have to listen to the episode for the full story).
Colleen is a Catholic wife and mother of six who hails from the Northeast but confesses that her heart still lies in Louisiana (where it turns out we have lots of mutual friends!). She has written for many Catholic media outlets over the years, including Catholic Digest and The Integrated Catholic Life, and she is active in her diocesan and parish communities as a speaker and group study leader. You can read more about Colleen here.
Some of our thoughts and advice from this episode:
- The importance of respecting your spouse’s opinion when making parenting decisions
- There is not one set of parenting or spiritual practices that will make your family successful, happy, or holy
- The importance of remembering that every couple and every family has special circumstances that have an effect on the kinds of decisions they are able to make or choose to make as parents
- Advice for discernment in making family decisions: prayer, the guidance of a spiritual director if possible, and personal counseling if needed to deal with any issues that are getting in the way of a good decision
- The need to trust that God has given you what you need to parent the children He gave you
- The power of the sacrament of confession for dealing with anger and mistakes as a parent
- The need to ask Jesus for advice, first and foremost, rather than all of your friends or favorite bloggers
Links from this Episode
Sorry, Catholic Parenting is Not an Insurance Policy for Well-adjusted, Faithful Children (the twice-viral post that is how I first found Colleen’s blog)
7 Issues Catholic Mothers Face
Rachel Balducci (because I mention her in the episode and she has a lot of the same balance and encouragement as Colleen. Her blog is Testosterhome)
I stumbled across your blog just before you released the first 5 episodes of The Right Heart. Unfortunately, I haven’t listened to all episodes, but have had the pleasure to listen to several.
I am the mother of 5 children, ages ranging from 20 to 5, 4 boys and the last, a girl. My husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this past March. My oldest children attended Catholic school for 14 years. We are now homeschooling the 4 children still in the nest, our 4th year.
I have so enjoyed your podcasts, and share my background since I’m in a very different place than you and most of your guests …..still, I feel inspired and come back for more. Thank you for your work and for sharing your love of our beautiful catholic faith!
Hi Kristy! I am constantly surprised these past couple of months on the diversity of people who listen to the podcast. You are by no means a minority, trust me!:) Thank you so much for telling me that you’ve enjoyed the blog and podcast. That means a lot coming from a more experienced Catholic wife and mother like you.:) Please keep in touch with email, comments or Facebook. I appreciate you taking the time to reach out to me!
I just listened to this one & really appreciated the advice. I think I needed the refresher especially right now.
I love how honest Colleen is!I felt encouraged to hear that we do really all mess up. I really love how y’all talked about being encouraging to other moms too and how there truly is not one way to do things. I also loved how Colleen talked about how to strive to do what God wants us to do and not focus on trying to please others or worry about what others think. Thank you both for sharing!
Isn’t Colleen wonderful? I love how real she is. I feel like I could just go over to her house and bring my kids and my mess and she’d serve me a cup of coffee and leftover apple pie and we’d talk about life…in between breaking up a few altercations and putting a couple of bandaids on babies. So glad you enjoyed that one, Kristin!