abuse

Protect and Preserve: St. Charles Lwanga and His 21 Fellow Companions

From Franciscan Media Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions’ Story One of 22 Ugandan martyrs, Saint Charles Lwanga is the patron of youth and Catholic action in most of tropical Africa. He protected his fellow pages, aged 13 to 30, from the sexual demands of the Bagandan ruler, Mwanga, and encouraged and instructed them in the Catholic faith during their imprisonment for refusing the ruler’s demands. Saint Charles Lwanga first learned of Christ’s teachings from two retainers in the court of Chief Mawulugungu. While a catechumen, he entered the royal household as assistant to Joseph Mukaso, head of the court pages. On the night of Mukaso’s martyrdom for encouraging the African youths to resist Mwanga, Saint Charles Lwanga requested and received baptism. Imprisoned with his friends, Charles’ courage and belief in God inspired them to remain chaste and faithful. For his own unwillingness to submit to the immoral acts and his [...]

Protect and Preserve: St. Charles Lwanga and His 21 Fellow Companionstonyroberts2026-06-08T09:44:24-04:00

St. Joan of Arc Novena with The Sisters of the Little Way

Today we celebrate the life, death, and resurrection we share with St. Joan of Arc in Christ. Here is a Prayer Novena composed by the Sisters of the Little Way: "Saint Joan’s legacy is one of fierce trust, prophetic courage, and unwavering faith. Her life reminds us that God sometimes calls us to take bold steps that the world may not understand—steps that may even appear to end in failure. But with God, nothing is wasted. Even what seems like defeat can bear lasting and transformative fruit. Though young and without influence, Joan listened to God’s will and responded with a courage that defied fear and cold rationalism. In this way, she lived the little way of confidence in God, not shrinking from danger but stepping forward in obedience and love. Her bold witness calls us to live with that same courage: to choose truth even when it costs us, [...]

St. Joan of Arc Novena with The Sisters of the Little Waytonyroberts2026-05-30T04:00:49-04:00

When the Waves of Trauma Come Crashing In by Laura Moseley

Laura Moseley is a single mother of three children, who survived 23+ years of sexual and domestic abuse. I formally work as a customer service rep for a social service organization, as I love helping people. DV advocate, in my "spare" time. I am a blogger, future podcaster, public speaker, and community activist. https://www.facebook.com/dvwalkingwounded https://dvwalkingwounded.wordpress.com/ I, after 23+ years of abuse within my life, would consider myself to have an “unofficial” doctorate in trauma, as I’ve used myself as a bizarre test subject for years -- but not intentionally. It’s more like sitting with my own pain and analyzing, now that I am no longer in active abuse. Trauma, as defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, is “a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury.” It derives from the Greek word for “wound,” which initially signified a physical wound, but can now be [...]

When the Waves of Trauma Come Crashing In by Laura Moseleytonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:28-04:00

How Women Are Crazy: Pyschiatric Abuse Through the Ages

I was speaking with a friend this week about his grandmother who had been a missionary to one of the Asian nations. She had kept personal journals of her years in the mission field and my friend was prayerfully hoping to obtain them and possibly write a biography. One of his motivations was to celebrate the life and service of a woman of faith who had gone largely unnoticed in the shadow her famous husband cast. To acknowledge that women have been unfairly silenced for no other reason than their gender is more than just a radical feminist statement. It is a harsh and sometimes cruel reality. For centuries, women who somehow deviate from the societal norms placed upon them have been "put in their place" by the psychiatric profession. ... psychiatrists were often hired by husbands and fathers to probe their wives’ and daughters’ “abnormal” behaviors. The reasons men [...]

How Women Are Crazy: Pyschiatric Abuse Through the Agestonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:55-04:00

A Rape Survivor Speaks… with Compassion

by Kelcey R. ... Right now, I am sitting on my couch while an “I Love Lucy” rerun plays in the background. Here and there, my laugh punctuates the low volume of the TV, and the silence of an otherwise quiet night. It’s a nice moment. However, if all someone saw was the snapshot of this moment I am in, it would be leaving out the other roughly 10,920 days of my life. What I don’t share often is that half of those days have been freckled with nightmares, flashbacks, panic attacks, and other symptoms of ptsd. The snapshot wouldn’t be able to show that I spent a lot of those days, months, and years trying to white knuckle my way through grief and anger, before I learned how much more able Jesus is to carry those things for me. This week was a hard week, if you watched the [...]

A Rape Survivor Speaks… with Compassiontonyroberts2024-08-26T13:04:05-04:00