• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

Rita Buettner

Rita Buettner is a wife, working mother and author of the Catholic Review's Open Window blog. She and her husband adopted their two sons from China, and Rita often writes about topics concerning adoption, family and faith.

Rita also writes The Domestic Church, a featured column in the Catholic Review. Her writing has been honored by the Catholic Press Association, the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association and the Associated Church Press.

Who’s ready for a summer party?

June 22, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

Outdoor parties are one of my favorite things to come out of the pandemic.

Good, Good Father

June 14, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

A few weeks ago, 5-year-old Christian Oakes said to his father, “Hey, Dad, I’ve got a good song just for you.” As Christian played the song, he would give his father a little smile. Brian was a little mystified because he had never heard the song before. He asked Christian where he had found the […]

Road trip, stolen Cheetos, baby bunnies, and muffin tops (7 Quick Takes)

June 11, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

Last weekend, we hit the road as a family and drove to New York to visit my sister Maureen and her four amazing children.

Just the other day

June 9, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Commentary, Feature, The Domestic Church

Graduations bring so many emotions. I’m overjoyed to be seeing our son taking this step. I’m beyond proud of the person he’s becoming. I am honored to be his mother. I’m grateful to be here to see him reach this point.

No worries, Kate. I’ve been there, too.

June 7, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

Anyone who’s ever parented a 4-year-old knows that moment. You’re in line at the grocery store or sitting in a pew at church or attending your husband’s grandmother’s platinum jubilee when your child starts acting out.

The first swim of the season, visiting friends, and a crocheted frog (7 Quick Takes)

June 5, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

Happy Pentecost! Happy birthday to the Church! Here are a few highlights from our week. ~1~ One of my goals every summer is to make sure our sons get some swimming time. One night this week our friends invited us to come to their house to enjoy their pool, so our boys had their first […]

That bad grade in Chemistry

May 30, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

It was a rainy Sunday afternoon when my father knocked on our door. He handed me a sheet of test scores from Mrs. Dougherty’s fourth-grade class, a dog’s license we had apparently never attached to her collar, and a report card from my first semester of college. Now, I was never a summa cum laude […]

Old Bay Goldfish, treats on the grill, and thoughts on prayer (7 Quick Takes)

May 28, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

Here in Baltimore, we take our Old Bay seriously. We put it on many foods—pizza and scrambled eggs and tuna melts and pasta and corn on the cob. Yum.

A lost tortoise comes home

May 22, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

This story starts with a birthday wish and ends with a miracle.

Yard sales, a B2 Spirit bomber, and a backyard scavenger hunt (7 Quick Takes)

May 21, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

~1~ Our neighborhood held its annual yard sale this weekend. Before I married John, I am not sure I had ever even gone to a yard sale. But John really enjoys selling things. He especially loves the neighborhood yard sale because we get to see neighbors that we haven’t seen all winter—and meet a few […]

When St. Bernadette’s relics came to Baltimore

May 15, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

I realized I could fit in a very brief trip, but it would have to be on my own, without my family.

A band concert miracle

May 10, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

I sent my husband an email titled, “HALLELUJAH!”

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 22
  • Page 23
  • Page 24
  • Page 25
  • Page 26
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 84
  • Go to Next Page »

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Father Gregory Rapisarda, revered for his accompaniment of the sick, dies at 78
  • Federal judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from ICE custody ‘immediately’
  • Movie Review: Wake Up Dead Man
  • Scripture series by popular Catholic speaker offers deep dive into the person of Jesus
  • Guadalupe pilgrims flood Mexico City as U.S. parishes join hemisphere-wide celebration
  • How about a little Old Bay on your Advent
  • Pope says US-European alliance needs to be strong
  • Jerusalem patriarch: Holy Land needs world’s prayers, support amid ‘disaster’
  • Hundreds attend Catholic medical conference exploring human dignity in health care

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED