Welcome to my blog! This blog is primarily about my journey as a theologian, wife, mother, and my attempt to grow in holiness. I am, for lack of a better term, an intellectual type. I love to study, especially theology and philosophy. God uses my intellect to help me form a deeper relationship with Him. I love Scholasticism! God has given me a deep sense of wonder and love of beauty. My two favorite places to be are Mass and in God’s Creation. Beauty is a major theme of my writing, and I am told, a typical trait of the theologian.
I am a regular contributor for Catholic Exchange and unless it is a special feast day or current event, I publish there on Thursday. I’ve also been published at The Federalist and Public Discourse and been a Catholic radio guest on Teresa Tomeo’s program, Al Kresta’s show, and Morning Air with John Harper. I have been a speaker for the online Advent retreat, Pray More Retreats. My parish ministry work centers around evangelization and the pro-life movement. I am regular participant of 40 Days for Life. Now that my studies are done, I will be giving regular theological talks for my parish and I hope to pursue a writing career more earnestly
First, for those of you who do not know me personally, my name is Constance. I am a stay-at-home mom to one beautiful 7-year-old girl. I have been married for 8 years to a wonderful man who works hard for us and who is teaching me the art of selflessness. I am a Navy Veteran and I have a BA in Psychology that I never plan to use. I have a Master’s degree in Theology and I homeschool my daughter.
I love the outdoors! You can usually find me outside or at my parish. I kayak frequently and I also enjoy hiking, camping, biking, and working out. I grew up in Montana where I fostered a love of mountains and all of Creation, really. Living in the Appalachians, I still get to see the mountains, but I can also go to the ocean much more easily than in my childhood. My daughter and I attend daily Mass 3-4 times per week and it has become an essential part of our week.
We are devout Roman Catholics. My husband and I really enjoy being involved in our Church. I like to stay up with current happenings in the Church and in the world, but I have to take a step back a lot of the time because I become too empathetic to my own detriment.
My husband’s name is Phil, but these days he mainly goes by Daddy. We met online 9 years ago on the dating site Catholic Match. We both were looking to marry committed Catholics, but he lived in the mountains of North Carolina and I lived in East Tennessee, which meant that there were not a lot of young Catholics in our area. After all, we both lived in Baptist country. And while Baptists are lovely people, neither of us would ever convert.
My husband is a very talented wood-turner and I am sure I will be posting pictures of his work on the blog. He is the Director of Training for a building science training center. He is a 3rd Degree in the Knights of Columbus and current Grand Knight, on two boards and a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity (he even built houses in Nicaragua), and is deeply committed to our family. There have been numerous times that I have been awed by God’s choice of Phil for my husband.
Our beautiful daughter’s name is Michaela. She is named for St. Michael the Archangel and my father. We knew that given the state of the world, any children we have would need strong patron and patronesses. Her middle name, Elizabeth, is for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, a great saint for homeschoolers. Michaela is 5 years old and she is pretty much insane. She has so much energy and can barely sit still for 5 minutes at a time. She is a climber, explorer, extraordinarily intelligent, strong willed, extremely affectionate, artistic, an amazing builder, and she is the most amazing person that I have met. She is the snuggliest kid you will ever meet. She loves hugs and to hold hands with people.
There have been numerous times throughout the past couple of years that I have looked at her and thought, “God, what were you thinking giving this amazing person to me, of all people?”, as well as, “Thank you God, she is the most incredible gift I have ever received.” My daughter inspires me, frustrates me, loves me, stuns me, and humbles me on a daily basis. While it can be a struggle for me to stay home at times because it can get lonely, I would not have it any other way. I am sure you will hear plenty about her on this blog.
This is my family. We have 4 beautiful babies in Heaven (Victoria, Caleb, Marie, and most recently, Andrew). I will write about miscarriage from time-to-time because I know that there are other women and men who are grieving out there just like me. Orthodoxy is not decided by family size. God sanctifies each family in his own way. Miscarriage and infertility are very heavy Crosses.
I greatly appreciate you stopping by the blog and I pray that Our Lord blesses you by my words. Let’s be sojourners as we journey towards our ultimate goal: Heaven. There are so many writers out there who bless me with their writing. Have a blessed day!
Feel free to leave a comment or you can email me at constance.t.hull81@gmail.com. Follow my work and progress on Facebook @constancethull. I am not be able to respond to every email, but I do enjoy feedback and I read every comment and email I get (except when comboxes devolve into ranting, raving, and meanness). I cannot provide answers to theological, moral, or ecclesial matters in email. I do not have the time. That is what books are written to cover. Please keep feedback charitable and civil. We should try hard not to be an occasion of sin for anyone and ranting and attacking a writer is definitely a near occasion of sin for authors. I know it is for me. Writing is a deeply personal gift and while I know that a good many people will not like my work, it does not give people the right to be insulting and nasty. Pax Christi.
Swimming the Depths 
Thank you for your service!
Hi Constance! I’m so excited to find your blog! I’m looking forward to exploring it and reading more posts!
God Bless,
Ruth
http://www.christtorch.wordpress.com
Thank you so much for stopping by, Ruth! I hope Our Lord blesses you by what you find here. Your blog looks great too and I am now following it. God bless you always.
Thought I would email you but it was returned so here is a diplicate;
“Dear Constance Hull,
I just read this by you and it was awesome. http://catholicexchange.com/author/constancehull
Now I know that the Catholic church doesn’t teach science but I have an ability that is God given to see right thru the bull-crap. I not only believe God created the universe, I see how it works because it is part of my purpose to show the world. I can tell you this; the universe is a physical example of what God is teaching us to be a spiritual reality. As you are God’s Temple and your purpose is to radiate the spiritual laws of God’s love, what theoretical physicists haven’t learned yet is that each atom in the universe radiates the physical laws by continuing to give off the lowest potential energy, a gravitational wave. Time, space and gravitation (which includes gravity, dark matter and dark energy actions) are all actions of mass decaying into space itself. 2 Corinthians 4:18 which states to pay attention to the invisible because the visible is temporary. So God created a singularity that became three things, mass, energy and space and every atom is continuing to give off more space, the gravitational field.
As Christ renews our spirit every day so too, our sun renew atoms every day so that mass is in static equilibrium appearing as if no processes are going on when in fact two processes are going on. Time and space are actions of mass decay into a gravitational field and Gravity, dark matter and dark energy are actions of wave collisions of the very fabric of space and the pulling of mass at a constant velosity while the mass is decreasing. Or the easy way to see what everyone misses is to realize that both particles and waves obey Newton’s laws of motion!
I am working on a book about God, the bible and the universe explaining everything called
“And now a word from our Sponsor”!
My gravity theory Is called the expanding N.E.T. Wave theory and it’s copyrighted.
I thought you might want to know the answers to the universe before others know. Everything in the universe is trinitiaitian if you have not noticed.
Sincerely
(Charles) Michael Turner.”
Hi Constance, great, your blog. I will follow it as well as I can. I am a man, husband and father, who recently retired from work. I do like your blog, since what you aim for in your married life is what I have always wanted and considered ideal, however has been an item of great controversy in my family. I believe in it! But I also take it as God’s grace, if a wife decides to aim for holiness in motherhood. My wife recently decided to turn away from church, and our three grown up children also seem to have forgotten everything I taught them in childhood about Jesus and His church. So I am left alone. Just opposite to your situation. I pray God every day that He may re-open their minds and hearts for Him.
May God bless you and all you do for Him.
Ruud
Ruud,
I am sorry to hear that your family has turned from Christ and His Church. They will be in my prayers. A lot of my family has left the Church too. Keep St. Monica in mind. Nothing is impossible for Christ!
Thank you, Constance, for your encouraging words
Ruud
Enjoyed reading! Thank you. I’m following!
Lovely blog! Glad to have found you!! 🙂
What a gift your blog is, Constance! Surrounded by military here in Minterey, I have learned to refer to what so many have endured as Post Traumatic Distress. (It would be a Disorder if they weren’t in distress!). Your ability to use your pain and anguish to teach is very powerful indeed, reminding me of the refrain from the 60s folk song by Richard Farina, “Pack Up Your Sorrows.” In Jesus,
Fr Patrick
Thank you for your comment, Fr. Patrick! I was actually stationed at DLI in Monterey, CA during 1999-2001. :o)
What a gift your blog is, Constance! Surrounded by military here in Monterey, I have learned to refer to what so many have endured as Post Traumatic Distress. (It would be a Disorder if they weren’t in distress!). Your ability to use your pain and anguish to teach is very powerful indeed, reminding me of the refrain from the 60s folk song by Richard Farina, “Pack Up Your Sorrows.” In Jesus,
Fr Patrick
Thought your blog was great on St John Paul II. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing your insights with the world. If there is a way to see if your blog would you please let me know. God bless you
Thank you for your service. You are a blessing to your family, to the Catholic Church. You are inspiring. God bless you more! Psalm 128
Leo, Thank you for your very kind comment! God bless you. Constance
Hi, Constance – I’m working my way to a MA in Theology, too, and would like to suggest a title for your book list: Fr. Thomas Weinandy”s Does God Suffer? Are you familiar with this outstanding text?
God bless you, your family, and your work.
I tried to email you at that address above and my server said its not accurate
I wanted to talk to you about your post today on Catholic exchange
Thank you!
I double checked and my writer’s email is constance.t.hull81@gmail.com It seems to be working fine as I have received other emails from readers this morning. Let me know if you have anymore problems. Pax.
I’m from Brazil and just discovered your blog. Thanks for your service. You are in my prayers. God bless!
My mother also lost 4 children after me. I also lost my first child and then I made some test for Trombophilia and I have found 4 genetic mutations (I have received them from my mother probably). For my next pregnancy I will make a treatment with Clexane. I have a friend that lost 3 babies and with Clexane (by God’s grace) she managed to give birth to her second daughter. Maybe you have done these tests, but I wanted to share my experience…
Thank you! Yes, all of those tests have been done. My issues are hormonal. Pax.
Constance, I saw your video about St. Therese on the Pray More Advent Retreat today. Then I happened upon your website. Delighted to find you and I have a lot in common, I thought I’d stop and say ‘hi’ and thank you for using your gifts for God’s glory!
First, I also write for Catholic Exchange. Second, my husband, Ben, and I met on Catholic Match about 10 years ago – he living in New Mexico, I in Indiana. Third, I also have a BA in Psychology that I’m not using. I’m a stay-at-home mom to 2 girls with special needs and am homeschooling our oldest daughter, who is 6. We’ve also suffered from infertility but are now expecting our third baby, God willing! So I feel a kindred spirit with you.
Many blessings to you and your baby.
Hi Jeannie, I apologize for my slow response. I am wrapping up another semester of grad school. Only one more semester of coursework and then it’s onto thesis and my final comprehensive exam. I am so close!
I have read many of your articles. I am glad to meet someone else who met their spouse on CatholicMatch. :o) After many, many, many medical tests with my Catholic NaPro doctor we still do not have a definitive answer on my miscarriages. It may be my low hormones, it may be a genetic mutation I have, it may be….It’s a bit frustrating to have no concrete answers.
We are in the adoption process right now, but we are taking our time with it since we are still grieving and I am still trying to accept my infertility. It’s strange to call it that. I can get pregnant no problem. My body can’t seem to keep the babies alive. Our daughter is our miracle! I know God is using all of this for our sanctification, but I definitely do not understand it at all, yet.
Congratulations on your third child! I will be praying for a healthy pregnancy for baby and you. I hope you have a very blessed rest of your Advent and Christmas season.
Greetings, Constance. I sent you an email, about something that came up in the advent meditation you did, which was wonderful by the way 🙂 Christ’s peace!
Judy,
I did receive your email. Thank you! I am slow at responding to correspondence right now because I am finishing up another semester of graduate school. The coming spring is my final semester before thesis, so I will be able to devote more time to writing after I finish next summer. Thank you for sharing your family’s story with me. I will be praying for all of you. I hope you have a very blessed final few days of Advent and joyous Christmas season.
Constance, I’m so sorry about your losses. I didn’t know you had lost this baby. XOXO Miscarriage and infertility is such a particular cross. You are all in my heart.
Thank you, Jeannie! I appreciate it.
Keep me on your list.
I think the Masses are filled with older Catholics because they were taught with the simple old Baltimore Catechism. If you can find one on eBay or TAN books, you and your daughter may appreciate it.
Constance, I will keep you and Phil and Michaela in prayer. You might want to read “Undoctored” by Dr. William Davis. He has authored several other books in his search to find out what causes auto-immune diseases. His Facebook page is Wheat Belly and his website is http://www.wheatbellyblog.com. Our wheat was changed in the late 70s early 80s and the new modern wheat is responsible directly or indirectly for 119 different diseases.
Connie, you brought back memories when I was a “stay-at-home” mom. I found my adult contact came when I took a part-time evening job so my husband could baby-sit for a couple of hours. Now that I’m a widow with no family in the area, my other “family” are the Catholic friends I have met at church. We all need people in our lives, and the best person and closest friend is my sister who lives in another state. No one following Christ should walk alone, because we both know Jesus sent his apostles out Two by Two. God bless you, and you sister-friends in Christ, Dianne
Dianne,
Thank you for reading and for your comment. We absolutely need one another on the journey.
As a side note, I have never gone by Connie. :o)
Dear Constance, You are a blessing! Through a private Rosary Soldier of Mary online prayer group did I come across your article in Catholic Exchange. Wanting to know more about the author, you, I read your blog. You are definitely “Fully Alive!” as late Sr. Margaret Mary Kane would say.
It is so true, death does change one, and when we have strong faith in Jesus, change for a deeper relationship and understanding of Jesus’s mission of love.
My first husband and I were to adopt a child and then found out he had a cancer that within 7 months he died. As you know in a faith-filled marriage a desire for children stems from the love for each other.
My nurturing instincts were so opened and my experience in a State school back in the late ’60’s led to my going into special education.
Nine years later I remarried and we now have two sons. One son’s wife is expecting her first child. She had been in the hospital 8 days with a bacteria infection. She is considered high-risk because of her age. By the grace of God we pray we are to have a granddaughter for the first time in September.
Again, you are a blessing! Why? Because seeing the “Light of Jesus” in your family’s smiling faces, reminds me that throughout suffering does come a special joy – a joy beyond human understanding.
Look forward to reading more material you write,
Love, peace and joy,
Elizabeth
Dear Constance, I just discovered your blog from your Catholic Exchange article, ““Nothing but You, Lord”. What a beautiful, clear voice you have in that piece. Thank you for sharing your passion for theology here and the story of your beautiful family! God Bless