Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines dignity as “the quality or state of being worthy of honor or respect.” We might also think of it as the minimum amount of respect owed to something. We intuitively know that not all things have the same degree of dignity. A book has a little more dignity than a brick because books convey ideas, but both of these inanimate objects have less inherent dignity than an animal which has life.

As someone enthralled by Pope St. John Paul’s Theology of the Body, I love the Solemnity of the Annunciation, the day where the words of the “Hail Mary” prayer were first spoken by the Angel Gabriel (see Luke 1:26) to Mary. This was the moment when the Word became...

Our bodies deserve respect. Why should we be worried of AI “deepfakes” (highly realistic looking but fraudulent videos) mimicking our voices and names? Because they violate the truth of our bodies. This is what Pope Leo means when he writes, “Faces and voices are sacred… Safeguarding faces and voices ultimately means safeguarding ourselves.” In other words, as we say at TOBET, the body matters!

On this day, Irish men and women—and we who want to drink green milkshakes with them—around the world celebrate the Feast of St. Patrick. Some celebrate for religious reasons, some for cultural reasons, and some just because they enjoy the festivities. St. Patrick’s Day has become one of those Catholic holidays that has almost lost its Catholic character because it has become so engrained in the wider culture. But let’s take a moment to reflect on the life of St. Patrick and what he can teach us about making a gift of self.

Before jumping into the deleterious effects of screen usage, I want to mention one thing: giving your kid a device when he or she wasn’t ready for it does not make you a bad parent or a bad person. There’s a definite tension—do I want my child to be part of this group chat in middle school, or do I want him or her to be shunned? All of us are trying to do the best we can to navigate the very complex changes in our society, and the right decision isn’t always obvious. At TOBET, we don’t want to condemn; we want to help pave the path forward.

Our bodies tell us of our inherent value, regardless of our productivity. While sitting around doing nothing can make us feel useless, we have to realize that our worth comes from the fact that God made us in His own image and likeness, not from the work we produce.

Here’s one simple yet profound lesson from working at TOBET: when working, set aside the things distracting you from the task at hand. Keeping your attention on your phone is like keeping one foot in the door: your mind isn’t willing to focus when your body could leave at a moment’s notice. Be where your body is!

The Catholic Church has caught a lot of flak over the years for defending the idea that the word marriage means “an indissoluble union between one man and one woman.” Some take issue with the “indissoluble” part, some with the “one” part, and still others with the “man and woman” part.

If you only had ONE hour of mandated formation every year to teach over 2.5 million Catholic children and youth, what would you give them? We at TOBET know. We’d have them learn from our new program called Bridges and Boundaries.

Our bodies tell us of our inherent value, regardless of our productivity. While sitting around doing nothing can make us feel useless, we have to realize that our worth comes from the fact that God made us in His own image and likeness, not from the work we produce.

In the age of the Internet, we consider it quite fashionable to talk about how much we want to do away with the ever-present distraction of our smartphones. And yet for many of us – myself included – we don’t often get past the talking stage when discussing getting rid of our phones. Some people switch to “dumb” phones, but often times we have to just learn to live with this distraction as a cost of living in a modern world. That begs the question, why do these devices which we hoped would connect us make us feel more distant than ever? You can probably already guess the answer: because the body matters!

With the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord behind us, Christmas season has officially ended in the Roman Calendar. Though some will continue observing it until Candlemas, most of the Church has moved into Ordinary time. The excitement of the holiday season has calmed down, and we can look toward the year ahead. So, what’s next for TOBET?