By Observations on American spiritual life from our German gap year student, Theresa Some of my earliest memories involve learning about God and faith. I‘d always known that faith is deeply personal and that everyone believes differently, but coming to Lydia’s House made me realize how different faith is in America as compared to Germany. Growing up, I was taught that faith is my personal relationship with God—something private, shared only between God and me. I understood that faith can be lived out in community, but I also learned that prayer is usually quiet and done alone. In Germany, you don’t
We are thankful
Our weekly Wednesday night family program resumed, and last week the kids wrote this prayer. We are thankful that… we have an atrium we can go to church we have a community, food and the ability to play in the snow Help us today and every day to… have energy offer prayers persevere through the boring but necessary work help our family get help be with people we love Help us in our daily work of… school chores caring for dogs, cats, chickens, and little sisters working online walking God you are… helpful really nice awesome an amazing creator you
A Christmas Eve Retrospective
By Mary Ellen Mitchell, Lydia’s House co-director At 2pm on Christmas Eve I started gathering vases and table cloths to head to Lydia’s House because we were hosting “songs and stories” and an Italian dinner by candlelight, an event Meridith and I concocted to try and make things more festive at the shelter. I typically hate Christmas, but the guests at Lydia’s House take it to a whole new level, descending into despair for the birth of our Savior. As such, we thought it might be nice to give them something, besides sadness, to focus on. I arrived at our
Dilexi Te, a quick synopsis
Pope Leo recently released his first Apostolic Exortation, “I have Loved You,” about God’s special love for the marginalized. You can read the full letter here. Since reading it may be a lot, I’ve written a shorter synopsis. Merry Christmas! Love Mary Ellen Here’s a synopsis of the letter:The Pope writes this letter as “a call to recognize Christ in the poor and the suffering.” “The love of the Lord is one with love of the poor.” He argues that giving a preferential option to the weak, the sick, the migrant, the prisoner, the poor and suffering should serve as
Children deserve to live in buildings
Over the last 2 weeks several media outlets have reported that Cincinnati Public Schools will be opening a homeless car lot for families to live in cars with children. Here’s the article reporting on this plan in WVXU and in the Cincinnati Enquirer. In response, our co-director Mary Ellen wrote an op-ed which was published in the paper edition of the Enquirer on 10/26/25. Here is a copy of what went to print: Children deserve to live in buildings Cincinnati Public Schools’ opening of car lot is proof city has failed to find solutions for family homelessness Cincinnati Public Schools
