Posts by Francine & Byron Pirola
The Family is Holy Ground
October 7 marks the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. How might this feast be relevant to marriage and family life? In 1571, a vast Ottoman navy was poised to invade Europe. The Christian forces had already suffered numerous defeats as the Ottomans expanded across the Mediterranean. Putting his support behind a coalition of…
Read MoreThe Dating Recession
We recently spent some extended time with a group of young adult singles. Dating came up repeatedly in our conversations, and much of what we heard was a variation on the same theme: exhausted, wary, yet quietly still hoping. Some had been hurt and were hesitant to risk vulnerability again. Many felt overwhelmed just keeping…
Read MoreUndoing the Knots is Easier than you Think
September 28 marks the feast of Mary Undoer of Knots. The devotion is over 300 years old and is based on a Baroque painting by an unknown artist located in Germany. The painting features angels feeding a knotted rope to Mary who unties the knots one by one. It was inspired by an ancient homily…
Read MoreThe Mental Load is an Equal Opportunity Frustration
The ‘mental load’ is trending online as a woman’s burden. But if we only count tasks and time, we miss half the story – because someone also sets the standard, and that makes a big impact on the dynamic. We’re at a family gathering and our sister-in-law approaches the husbands who are chatting in…
Read MoreMyths about Arguments
When it comes to marriage and relationship, there are a lot of myths out there. Here are five of the most common. Myth 1: Good couples don’t argue. The presence or absence of arguments is not a good indicator of the health of a marriage. Some couples who don’t argue are living detached, parallel lives.…
Read MoreMade for Greatness: Why the World Needs Strong Men
Rediscovering fatherhood, courage and tenderness as two sides of the same masculine coin. There’s a quiet suspicion floating around our culture that masculinity itself might be the problem. Strength, competitiveness, risk-taking, the instinct to protect and provide – these are treated less like gifts and more like flaws to be managed. We think that’s a…
Read MoreMarried Saints: There’s Hope for Us Yet!
As Catholics, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the REALLY holy people are only religious celibates. Afterall, most of the canonized saints were priests or religious sisters and brothers. Think past popes and the founders of religious orders… not many married people among those saints. Being a mere married couple, occupied…
Read MoreThe Conversation No Couple Wants to Have (But Needs To)
Why “until death do us part” deserves more than a passing thought on our wedding day Standing at the altar, we made a promise that included the words “until death do us part.” At the time, death felt like a distant, abstract idea – something for our old age, decades down the track, after a…
Read MoreFinding Our Way to Heaven
We’ve been listening to Mike and Alicia Hernon’s podcast called Messy Families. One of their recurring messages for parents is: stop worrying about getting your kids to heaven – parenting is about helping you get there! When we first heard them say this it stopped us in our tracks. Mike and Alicia go on to…
Read MoreWhen a Pregnancy Ends Too Soon
Content warning: miscarriage / pregnancy loss Miscarriage is one of the most common – and most hidden – losses in our communities. How we respond to grieving couples matters more than we might think. For many couples, a positive pregnancy test arrives quietly. Long before a public announcement, a due date is calculated, names are considered, and a whole future begins to take shape…
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