Maybe you’ve heard the term thrown around at your Newman Center. Maybe you read about it in your bible study. Maybe someone used it as their reason for breaking up with you. Emotional chastity, emotional purity, emotional integrity, emotional virtue, whatever people are calling it these days, has become quite a buzz topic in young adult Catholic circles. But what exactly is it?

"I'm not coming back! I have nothing in common with these people. They probably think I'm from the ghetto!"  These were the words of insecurity echoing in my head after I left the Catholic Student Center’s kick-off BBQ of my alma mater.  Have you ever felt this way?  If you have, you’re not alone!  As a first generation Latina, I grew up feeling I was more Nicaraguan and Dominican than American and attended very culturally diverse schools.  Coming into college from a predominately black and Hispanic high school, I felt like an odd ball at the University of Maryland's Catholic Center.  I wanted to get involved but just felt like I couldn't relate to any of the students I interacted with there.  This feeling of isolation was a combination of my own closed off-ness and really being the only non-white person in the place!

It was the summer of 2007 when I moved back into Mom and Dad’s house to take a research position at the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha, NE. I really looked forward to my job that summer, but spiritually speaking, I was nervous. Thank God there was a chapel at the office I was doing research at, so I had easy access to a prayer life . . . but what was I going to do for fellowship and accountability over the summer? How would I grow? I knew myself well enough that without the structure of school, the Newman Center community, and FOCUS activities, I would likely begin to slack off over the summer, get a bit half-hearted in my walk with God, and coast on fumes until the fall semester hit.

In my last post, “Evolution and the Existence of God”, we saw that the theory of evolution is in no way at odds with the existence of God. But if the scientific theory of evolution does not debunk an omnipotent creator, how are Christians to reconcile it with the creation account of Genesis?

In this post I want to explore the apparent but superficial conflict between the theory of evolution and the existence of God. In my next post we will examine whether there is a conflict between the theory of evolution and the creation accounts of Genesis.

Hey everyone,

It’s me, LG.

This is a rough time of year, huh? Lots of tests, lots of stress, very little sleep.

And for you twenty-somethings making big time decisions, you might also be experiencing the most widespread phenomenon of our generation.

You’re drowning under stacks of books, loads of laundry, hundreds of emails, job-postings, expectations, finding new friends in a new city, or the monotony of daily life. You remember that time in college when you experienced God deeply; that mission trip, the weekly Bible study, a retreat. 

Several months ago I was on my way to Chicago to deliver a talk. During the flight I had the opportunity to share the gospel with a man sitting beside me.