Filling our children’s souls with good stories plays a key role in their formation. The kinds of stories our children encounter shape...

Most of us did not grow up with specific training in the virtues. We were not given what authentic Christian communities have always seen as so vital to pass on from generation to generation: the great tradition on the virtuous life.

Virtues are so much more than values. We can have the noblest of ideals and most sincere of intentions but still fall short of who we’d like to be.

How do you respond when “bad things” happen to you? When you experience disappointment or setbacks? When you are hurt by something someone said?

How does a society decide whose “right” or whose “freedom of choice” will be protected?

The problem is not simply that the world has lost the gospel. We have lost the most basic human values as well. We have lost what he calls “the art of living.”

Prudence is the virtue that most immediately helps us live our lives on target. When we regret a decision, find ourselves in a sticky situation that was quite avoidable, or just sense our lives are not heading in the right direction, it is often because this foundational cardinal virtue was not at the forefront of our actions.

Do you agonize over big decisions or get anxious about the future? Are you afraid of commitments? Do you change your mind a lot? These tendencies may be an indication of a lack of prudence.

Stewardship. Time, talent, and treasure. Appeal. Those words are often merely associated with pleas to raise money for the Church. But if we understood the biblical concepts of stewardship, tithing, and almsgiving, it would revolutionize the way we look at charitable giving.

The focus of temperance is not about denying oneself pleasure. Temperance, rather, is about giving us the ability to experience the greatest goods in life