New Year’s Resolutions for Couples
What can you do for your marriage in 2016? Try making a New Year’s resolution to improve your relationship. Here are some ideas to get started: Schedule several “Date Nights” for the first few months...
View ArticleWhat Do Catholics Read?
It’s summer, and perhaps you have the chance to catch up on your reading. Maybe even your spiritual reading. But where to start? The Bible, of course, is foundational. Consider delving into some of its...
View ArticleTry a Five-Point Tune-Up For Your Marriage
At the end of each summer, my husband and I receive a letter that urges us to have our heating system checked before the Fall. It’s usually slipped through the mail slot on an oppressive August day,...
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Spiritual Help for Grieving Parents
Of all the pains that life can hand us, arguably the most searing is the death of a child. A parent’s world irrevocably and horrifically changes forever, no matter what the circumstances or the age of...
View ArticleOrder of Celebrating Matrimony, Second Edition, What’s New?
On November 12, 2013, the U.S. Bishops approved two documents with far reaching effects for the Sacrament of Marriage: the English translation of the Order of Celebrating Matrimony, Second Typical...
View ArticleConvalidation: Bringing Your Marriage Into The Church
Note: The following text is intended to give a basic overview of the convalidation process. Because every couple’s situation is unique and because practices related to the implementation of the process...
View ArticleHope, Healing and Purpose After the Death of a Spouse
My first wife died in 1998 after a long illness. I was 41, widowed, and an only parent to two young boys. Now what? Many days I toiled with despair, hopelessness and questions. Many questions. St. Paul...
View ArticlePornography’s Effects On Marriage And Hope For Married Couples
Note: This article is part of the USCCB “Clean Heart” series and is a companion resource to the USCCB formal statement Create in Me a Clean Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography; a printed pamphlet...
View ArticleSaint Joseph: My New Patron Saint
Advent is often spoken as a time of preparation. This means not just preparation for parties, celebrations and family gatherings, but preparing for the Incarnation, the birth of the Christ child,...
View ArticleCelebrate National Marriage Week 2017 + Virtual Retreat
National Marriage Week (Feb. 7-14) is a great time to support marriage. As Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family and Youth said in his...
View ArticleObserving Lent? Try a Team Approach
The forty days of Lent can seem like a long time, especially if one is giving up a favorite food or video game. It’s helpful to have a friend to keep us going. He or she can encourage us, challenge us,...
View ArticleGratitude: Foundational for Marriage
If you consult one of the larger dictionaries about the meaning of the word virtue you will discover three categories of virtue. They are cardinal virtues, natural virtues and theological virtues....
View ArticleStations of the Cross for Marriages and Families
Introduction The particular needs of marriages and families prompted and largely influenced this reflection on the Stations of the Cross. Its purpose is to encourage all to reflect on Jesus’ passion in...
View ArticleThe BeDADitudes: 8 Ways to Be an Awesome Dad
Pope Francis has called Jesus’ Beatitudes our “guide on the path of Christian life.” Of course, as the Incarnation shows, God leads by example. In addition to being a call to Christian discipleship,...
View ArticleTry a Little Kindness
Kindness in words creates confidence, kindness in thinking creates profoundness, and kindness in feeling creates love (Lau Tzu). Michelle hates to make decisions. Her husband, Craig, enjoys it. Over...
View Article10 Pointers for Prayer
The baby’s crying, the dog is whining, and you need to leave for work in five minutes. Finding time for prayer can seem impossible. Amid the busyness of family life, how can one respond to God’s...
View ArticleWhen Your Marriage Hits the Boredom Rut
The Dilemma After 16 years of marriage Bill and Betty find themselves in the marital doldrums. Although neither would say it openly, each feels their marriage has become lackluster and is in a rut....
View Article“Just” Friends
They go out to a movie. She likes this one better than the one they saw two weeks ago. He doesn’t say much about it. They are husband and wife, young enough in their relationship to find occasional...
View ArticleBalancing Family and Work
The Symptoms Joe has been married for four years. It’s pretty clear that in order for him to advance in his profession, he is going to have to work 60 hours a week for the foreseeable future. That’s...
View ArticleWhen Can We Use NFP?
What the Church teaches on the moral spacing and limiting of births by spouses Catholic spouses who strive to live Church teaching on responsible parenthood are sometimes confused by what the Church...
View ArticleResolving Differences
The Situation We have only been married a short time, and things are going pretty well between us, but something that concerns me is that we don’t really solve problems. One of us raises an issue, we...
View ArticleFall Resolutions to Spark Your Marriage
Has your marriage fallen into a rut? Even good marriages go through the doldrums. The arrival of Fall, however, can bring new energy and purpose. Why not use this energy to reinvigorate your marriage?...
View ArticleThe Blessing of “Unanswered Prayers”: An Adoption Story
I am still in awe of how abundantly my husband Tom and I have been blessed. Like country music star Garth Brooks states so well in one of his songs, “I thank God for unanswered prayers”. For years we...
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Celebrating Advent as a Family
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “Prayer is the life of the new heart. It ought to animate us at every moment… But we cannot pray ‘at all times’ if we do not pray at specific times,...
View ArticleHow To Make Christmas About Christmas
I wish I could say these were my ideas but I can’t. Although I don’t remember where I read them, I vividly recall how one brief article transformed the Christmas season in our home. About 23 years ago,...
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