• 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
        • CR for Kids
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Shop
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
        • Subscribe
  • Advertising
  • Kids
  • Radio/Podcasts
        • Catholic Review Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
        • In God’s Image
        • “In Charity and Truth” with Archbishop William E. Lori
  • 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.

Cousins for Christmas, a word and saint for the New Year, “Fanta Baby” on the menu, and more (7 Quick Takes)

January 5, 2019
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

We had so many cousins to enjoy over the Christmas break. There were gifts and food and football games.

The year the tree fell

January 2, 2019
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

That single tree—a tree I had barely noticed before—was apparently such an obstruction between our homes that our paths had barely crossed. Once it was gone, we saw each other almost every day.

Greeting New Year with trust and hope

December 30, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Commentary, The Domestic Church

We step into the New Year with faith that each of us can help make the world a little better.

Baking cookies, the truth of the moose, carrots for the reindeer, trains, and a Christmas joke (7 Quick Takes)

December 28, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

I can’t remember the last time I laughed as much while baking.

Counting down to Christmas in 7 Quick Takes

December 21, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

Christmas is coming, and bit by bit we are getting ready.

Every Advent gives you another chance

December 21, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

God knows we fail and gives us another chance, in Advent and in Confession.

Rejoice—even in an imperfect Advent journey

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

It’s the third week of Advent, and Christmas—which seemed so far off just a few weeks ago—is looming large.

Christmas sweaters and lights, birthday celebrations, sharks, and rice (7 Quick Takes)

December 14, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

We were invited to wear ugly Christmas sweaters to a work meeting, and somehow I realized I didn’t own a Christmas sweater.

Singing for your supper at a Christmas carol-themed party

December 10, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

’Tis the season for Christmas treats, Christmas parties, and Christmas caroling. So why not wrap them all into one delectable, delightful experience?

Gotcha Day, what St. Nicholas brought, and sweet tastes of Christmas (7 Quick Takes)

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

Nine years ago today we met our older son. The past nine years have been the blink of an eye and yet forever, all at the same time.

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.

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 64
  • Page 65
  • Page 66
  • Page 67
  • Page 68
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 87
  • 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

  • Can’t go to Assisi? Visit a US replica of the tiny church where St. Francis founded order
  • Women religious sue New York over law they say would force them to assist in patient suicides
  • Vice president JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance welcome birth of their 4th child
  • New book fills in gaps of history of Mount St. Mary’s
  • St. Katharine Drexel parishioners close the school year with a gift to eliminate public school lunch debt
  • For Gaza Christians, World Cup final offers brief respite from horrors of war
  • Movie Review: ‘The Odyssey’
  • Sheen remembered
  • Pope Leo XIV in Castel Gandolfo: God’s kingdom grows in the ‘little things of daily life’

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2026 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED