I’m Karen Early, a Catholic writer, educator, and founder of Fides et Ratio. Since 2016, I have been bringing faith and reason to questions that shape ordinary life and the life of the Church: prayer and marriage, spiritual formation, public affairs, and technology. My purpose is to help readers think clearly, judge honestly, and live their faith with conviction.

The name Fides et Ratio, Faith and Reason, comes from St. John Paul II’s encyclical. It expresses the conviction that guides this work: faith and reason belong together in the search for truth. What we believe about God and the human person has consequences for how we raise children, exercise authority, build institutions, and use the tools we create.

I hold a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University, a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (Applied Physics) from the University of California, San Diego, and a Master of Arts in Theology from the Augustine Institute. My engineering and physics training informs my theological work. These disciplines shape how I approach a question, examine evidence, and connect ideas with their practical consequences.

Here you will find essays, commentary, and recorded conversations. Garden of Graces explores the spiritual life through the saints, Catholic teaching, and the daily work of growing in holiness. Miracle Micah examines Scripture. My essays also address the dignity of the human person, developments in technology, and questions of truth, authority, and responsibility in the Church and public life.

I welcome readers who love the Catholic faith, those troubled by failures within the Church, and those sincerely seeking to understand. Catholics should not have to pretend that scandals and failures within the Church do not exist in order to remain faithful. Fidelity to Christ requires honesty about wrongdoing, including wrongdoing within Catholic institutions. It also calls us to prayer, repentance, and the work of becoming holy ourselves.

I am a wife, mother, and grandmother. My husband, Ted, is my general editor. Our marriage and family life are part of the experience from which I write.

If you want to examine difficult questions carefully and deepen the faith you live each day, I invite you to join me.

All views expressed on this site are my own.