Leila Marie Lawler

I am wife of one, mother of seven, and grandmother of a growing number of little ones, living in Central Massachusetts. I encountered Christianity as a high school student (but really from my earliest memories through fairy tales and The Chronicles of Narnia) and entered the Catholic Church in 1979, the year I was married to Philip Lawler, noted Catholic journalist, author of The Faithful Departed. My own journey of learning the faith has given me an appreciation for the difficulties and excitement today's family faces in living its Christian calling. I try to encourage all kinds of audiences, online and in person, to commit to the renewal of family life. I practice "kitchen sink philosophy" at Like Mother, Like Daughter, a website for practical and theoretical insight into in all aspects of daily life. I write on everything from cooking and knitting to education and recovering what I and my daughters call "the collective memory" -- things we like to share about our creative life and also things we don't want to forget that were passed down from family to family in a more generous era. I am co-author with David Clayton of The Little Oratory: A Beginner's Guide to Praying in the Home and author of God Has No Grandchildren: A Guided Reading of Pius XI's encyclical Casti Connubii, On Chaste Marriage (2nd Edition), and The Summa Domestica: Order and Wonder in Family Life, a 3-volume set.