Mary C. (Petrides) Tillotson, a native of Flint, Michigan, graduated from Hillsdale College in 2011. She soon landed a job reporting, writing, and photographing for The St. Ignace News in northern Michigan, then married a wonderful man and moved with him to Virginia, where he is studying philosophy. Mary tutors reading, math (including algebra!), and freelances for The Heartland Institute. She keeps a portfolio here.
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I haven’t been an adult that long – graduated college two years ago, married less than one year ago – but I’m already sick of it. When I was a kid, I thought it would be really cool to be an adult, because I could be in charge. Mom couldn’t make me clean my room, [...]
Last year, I helped teach high school students at my parish’s faith formation program in St. Ignace, Michigan. We took the students to exposition, and afterward, one of them asked me how to tell when she is hearing God’s voice. This is an edited version of the letter I wrote her. Dear M., I’m glad [...]
Here’s the full text of the opening address of Pope Francis, elected a couple hours ago: Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good evening. As you know, the duty of the conclave was to appoint a bishop of Rome, and it seems to me that my brother cardinals have chosen who is from far away. Here I [...]
Here we are about two weeks into Lent. Some of us are doing great with our Lenten penances; others of us have petered out or never figured out what to do for Lent this year in the first place. This is for those “others of us.” It is not too late to start Lent. Should [...]
Ah, beauty. We’re tempted to pluck a couple more eyebrow hairs, worry about the color of our shirts, look in the mirror one more time. Or, under the guise of being modest and counter-cultural, we don shapeless denim jumpers, long skirts and tennis shoes, thwarting any glance that might come our way. Either way, every [...]
I’m 24 years old and two years out of college, which puts me at that age when nearly all my friends are getting married. It seems to me very common that young married couples of the “good Catholic” variety are beginning their marriage with a year or two (or a few) of NFP. Our generation [...]
Everybody knows that men don’t understand women, but I think it’s easy for us women to play some sort of nuanced superiority card and pretend that our natural feminine intuition is enough to understand men completely. Or at least sufficiently. We like the idea that we’re naturally good listeners, but it’s a fact that we’re [...]
I want to change the world, and I think I can do it. But I’m a young 20-something, and the older adults I meet tend to be jaded. “I thought we could save the world by doing thus-and-such,” they say, “and look how that turned out.” So, of course, I worry that when I hit [...]
A few months ago, I quit the full-time job I’d landed right out of school, married a college senior, moved four states away, and planned to find work. It was taking longer than we expected, so in the meantime, we pinched our pennies: no bottle of wine to celebrate our first home together, no haircuts [...]
“New research shows that The Pill reduces lubrication, arousal, and a woman’s ability to orgasm, thus lending credence to my theory that a lot of hormonal birth control “controls” whether or not you give “birth” by making you never want to have sex. We just can’t win with our ladyparts, can we?” –Jezebel We women [...]
Many of the pro-abstinence, anti-contraception types (mostly Catholics) will say that the “Don’t have sex, but if you do, use contraception” approach to reducing teen pregnancy is inherently flawed. They’ll say that the approach sets expectations low, and that it effectively says “Don’t have sex – but if you do, it’s okay.” Of course, many [...]
It’s interesting how different reality looks when it’s on paper, in neat paragraphs, all in the right order. There, I am a powerhouse. I am strong; I am adventurous; I am embarking on a mission with eternal consequences and not looking back. But for all my talk of heroism and mission, I’m often tempted to [...]
Q. How do you pronounce “ignitum”? A. Well, you have some options. The Romans would have said ig-NEE-toom. In church, we’d say “in-YEE-toom.”
Why?
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