About You:
Living Faith: Describe your vocation in life.
Kathleen Swartz McQuaig: Which hat shall I describe first? Besides being a beloved child of God (a title which took some convincing, and I only recently embraced) I love my vocations of wife, mother, and friend. I’m an encourager, a connector of people, a translator of sorts—characteristics which most often find themselves in my writing, speaking, and teaching. Or sometimes over a cup of tea with a friend.
LF: Do you reach out to readers online via a website or social media?
KSM: LivingFaith.com and KathleenSwartzMcQuaig.com.
LF: Share a little about your ministry or daily work…. (A day in the life looks like…)
KSM: Because my ministry embraces all of me, you can often find me starting my day with journaling prayers to God, daily Mass and/or Core-strength exercise.
The order of all hinges on the day of the week. My husband and I lead our church’s Bible studies, as well as help pilot a local outreach. I lector, co-lead a community writers’ workshop group and am involved with the Catholic Women of the Chapel at a nearby military installation. Conversation with family and friends is a priority. Then, because I need to sustain those and other activities with healthy eating, I squeeze in market days with locally sourced businesses and our Farmers on the Square.
Yes, sometimes I need to write on the fly, jotting notes in my planner, on loose-leaf or napkins—you never know when a thought might strike. 😊 Sometimes schedules and needs require writing late into the night or early mornings.
LF: How long have you been writing, or when did you start?
KSM: As a girl I penned my first stories hidden away in the arms of my maple tree—Kathy’s Tree. (Paper, pencil and my tree listened like no one else could.) Yet, I would graduate college, marry, teach, have children and travel the world before actually submitting even one manuscript to a publisher.
Thankfully, for about two decades now, I’ve dared to share my stories and reflections as a gift back to our Lord.
LF: What is the most difficult part of your writing process?
KSM: Two things:
- Timing. Being heavily involved in multiple organizations, involving leadership and commitments, I often need to triage life. I treasure my faith and family, military community and writers’ groups. Often writing assignments arrive during holidays or the busiest times when moments of quiet musing are rare and I find myself craving more lead time.
- And word count. Sometimes, even with tight writing, a particular reflection needs a little more leeway to adequately develop the inspiration.
LF: How many books have you written, and which is your favorite? If you haven’t written a book, name a favorite that you’ve enjoyed.
KSM: I’ve been published in multiple anthologies, magazines, devotional books, on blogs and in journals. I loved writing “Résumé of the Heart,” published by Jack Cantfield in Chicken Soup for the Mother & Daughter Soul. But my favorite stories have always been those personal-experience stories where God, after providing me with raw life events, reveals how he was with me through all—the integration of faith and experience.
LF: Where do you live today, and is that different from where you grew up?
KSM: You might say I’ve come full circle having grown-up in the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania. Just after college, I married my high school sweetheart-turned Army officer, embracing years of adventure and learning to bloom where I was planted. (My favorite was northern Italy.) After the Army War College brought us to Carlisle, PA, we discovered we liked south-central Pennsylvania and stayed.
LF: Three words your best friend would use to describe you.
KSM: Compassionate, sincere and creative.
LF: One additional thing you would want a Living Faith reader to know about you that we haven’t covered above. (A hobby, something silly or fun, an accomplishment, or an interesting fact?)
KSM: Pope Saint John Paul II made me a third-class relic and changed my life. Then an unexpected stranger miraculously connected the dots. Read about it here.
About Faith:
LF: When did you first know that God loved you?
KSM: As a young girl, I had an incredible “lost and found” moment of infused grace in which, despite trials and severity experienced, I knew God loved me like no other ever could or would.
LF: Describe a prayer practice that is meaningful to you.
KSM: Because I listen better when my hands are busy, I’ve loved praying in Adoration, feeling that nearness of my Best Friend. In those sacred moments, I sometimes sketch the monstrance which holds our Blessed Lord. I listen or journal whatever God places on my heart.
LF: What’s something you’ve learned from the Bible or from the Mass or the Sacraments that has always stayed with you?
KSM: So much more than time or space would ever allow. I’ve had to learn to love my neighbor as myself—not better than or instead of—and to embrace that I too am wonderfully made. Perhaps, in my most eye-opening Bible study, Dr. Brant Pitre truly helped me appreciate the Biblical Roots of the Eucharist.
LF: What excites you about being a Catholic?
KSM: I love that Catholicism is bigger me. I can always dig deeper or learn more. Even after living in various cultures, experiencing our Church’s universality, I still encounter unexpected beauty and diversity of individuals on fire for our Lord. Most importantly, I love that by being a Catholic, I can daily experience the intimacy of Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
About the Bible:
LF: Do you have a favorite Bible verse?
KSM: The road to Emmaus. I love the intimacy of our Lord walking with the two disciples—and how they finally recognize him in the breaking of the bread. My senses are heightened. And I too, with my heart on fire, enter into the story.
LF: Do you have a favorite Gospel? If so, which one? Elaborate if you wish.
KSM: “And the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us…” Below the statue of Mary in our home, you will most often find our family Bible opened to John’s prologue. At Christmas, Baby Jesus lays upon the pages between those words.
LF: If you could spend a day with a person (besides Jesus) mentioned in the Bible, whom would you choose?
KSM: I’d like to sit together with Mary (and the Apostle John) in their home in Ephesus, to truly see them and their love for one another. I’d listen to their vulnerability and sacrifice, the shared grief which ensued. Not only their firsthand foot-of-the-Cross witness, but how Jesus changed their lives. Favorite memories and most joyful moments. O to truly know the hearts of those who so knew and loved my Lord.
About Living Faith:
LF: How long have you been writing for Living Faith?
KSM: I’ve been away from home for more than several weeks now without access to exact timing. (I started writing for Bayard and Living Faith under Terence Hegarty, just before he and Pat Gohn changed as Living Faith’s Editors.)
LF: Do you ever get to meet your Living Faith readers? What do you talk about?
KSM: Sometimes readers have contacted me through my website. I try to respond via email whenever I can. Most seem to just need a word of encouragement. They’ve confessed feeling unworthy of God’s love. (I’ve been there.) Hearing the depth of their doubts breaks my heart and stirs a desire to assure them that they too are God’s beloved.
LF: What is one thing you love about Living Faith?
KSM: People from far and wide have contacted me. I love how Living Faith crosses borders and brings people together in our Lord.
*The interview was edited for clarity and conformity to style. No meaning was altered in the process.
