• 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
          • 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
  • Radio/Podcasts
        • Catholic Review Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
        • In God’s Image
  • 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.

Greatest gifts

December 5, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Commentary, The Domestic Church

The weeks leading up to Christmas are their own gift, offering a time for us to ready our hearts and consider the enormity of the real miracle of Christmas.

Advent: It’s the most wonderful time of the year

December 3, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

Advent simply nudges us to make space in our lives for Jesus. It assures us that the Son of God is coming.

Train displays, parent-teacher conferences, December birthdays, fun with cardboard, and what’s left in the fridge (7 Quick Takes)

November 30, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

December starts tomorrow, so bring on train season! Actually, it’s always train season around here because we are a toy train family.

Table of plenty

November 27, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

We’re losing power for most of the day tomorrow. I know we’ll lose most of the food in our fridge, so we’ve been eating and eating—but we’ve barely made a dent.

Thanksgiving leftovers, lots of pie, sleepover fun, and more (7 Quick Takes)

November 23, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

~1~ Despite all my worry that the frozen turkey wouldn’t thaw in time, it thawed beautifully, and it cooked up even more perfectly. I watched my father pull it out of the oven, and it was gorgeous—and delicious. Everything tasted so good this year—my mother’s carrots and onions casserole, the mashed potatoes and gravy, the […]

Talking turkey and sweet potatoes and pie

November 19, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

A dozen years ago or so, back before we had children, my mother asked me to bring the sweet potatoes to our Thanksgiving dinner.

Snow, snow, snow, birthday spaghetti, an anniversary gift, and more (7 Quick Takes)

November 16, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

It snowed yesterday! I had seen that snow and sleet were in the forecast, but so often storms don’t amount to much—especially in mid-November.

When your jug is nearly dry

November 11, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

You wonder why God would ask that of you at a time when your jar of flour is nearly empty and your jug is nearly dry.

A big birthday, an anniversary, the end of the scarecrow, and more (7 Quick Takes)

November 9, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

Our older son turns 11 tomorrow. Eleven! It sounds so much older than 10.

Grieving Together offers couples support after miscarriage

November 7, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

Grieving Together is both beautifully and practically written. It is, in fact, the book Laura and Franco wish they had had when they miscarried their third baby.

A mistake that turned out just fine

November 6, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

This pot of slops wasn’t looking very exciting, so I pulled a packet of onion soup mix out of the pantry. Onion soup should be able to jazz almost anything up.

Leftover Halloween treats, autumn trees, limericks, and more (7 Quick Takes)

November 2, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

How was your Halloween? Ours was spooky and fun.

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 63
  • Page 64
  • Page 65
  • Page 66
  • Page 67
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 85
  • 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

  • Minnesota butter sculptor brings skills to NCEA convention, enshrines pope in the dairy staple
  • Religious Liberty Commission holds final hearing in shadow of Christian backlash to Trump posts
  • Xaverian Brother Charles Warthen dies at 92
  • New Chaldean patriarch elected for Iraq amid pope’s calls he ‘should be’ a ‘father in faith’
  • Trump draws backlash over Pope Leo rant, ‘deeply offensive’ image of him looking like Christ
  • Need a guide for deeper prayer? Pope Leo recommends a letter by St. Augustine
  • Lebanese Christians mourn rising death toll as war shatters communities, hope
  • St. Michael-St. Clement School will close at end of academic year
  • Common sense slowly emerges for protecting women’s athletics

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2026 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED