Posts by Francine & Byron Pirola
A Sacramental Season
It’s ‘Sacrament Season’ in Australia: children are busily preparing to make their first Confession, first Holy Communion or Confirmation. Meanwhile, weddings are playing catch up following months of pandemic restrictions. A life-long encounter As parents, we had high ambitions for the sacramental preparation of our children. Good intentions, however, struggled against the time drought of…
Read More#1 Marriage as a Mission
What does it mean to make ‘marriage our mission’? With our guest, Philipa Caulfield, we break it down and explore how we’ve done it and why we need it. Guest: Philipa Caulfield, with her husband Luke, are SmartLoving super-sponsors. They’ve been accompanying engaged couples for over ten years and have featured in some of the…
Read MoreRestoring hope in life long marriage
Divorce creates a problem for us, a cognitive dissonance: Love is not permanent, vast, unrelenting, faithful. Redefining the ideals we have for marriage however, leads to more divorce and pain, not less.
Read MoreThe Eleventh Commandment
When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, he added a postscript for parents: passing on the faith makes parents the first – and most important – educators. Over a period of 24 years, our five children attended Catholic education across six schools. These schools included the local parish school, two private schools, and three regional…
Read MoreFrom Death Comes Life
Why does death and decay so horrify us? Why do our hearts restlessly seek immortality, everlasting peace, enduring joy and beauty? In this Easter message from the Theology of the Body Institute, Dr Christopher West shares powerfully about his experience at the death bed of his sister. And, drawing on the reflections of Pope Benedict…
Read MoreA Love Stronger than Death
“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave.” (Songs 8:6) As we celebrate the Easter mystery this verse is worthy of contemplation.
Read MoreFive Ways to Build Trust
Today we had a meeting. Sigh… The dreaded meeting! Being a couple and working together is complex. We’re both strong-willed and passionate about what we do so it’s easy for us to slip into a mode where we single-mindedly pursue what we believe is the best course of action. It triggers us both for different…
Read MoreThe Family Models Synodality
Only two of our five children, now adults, still reside with us. As resident adults, we respect their right to make decisions about their personal life, but we also impose some house rules. For example, we require them to communicate about their movements, tidy their rooms, do their own laundry, and participate in the preparation…
Read MoreMaking the connection: It’s easy with these three tips
In times of challenge and stress, it’s especially important to make the connection with each other. Here we offer three tips to make it easier. We recently analysed the feedback from 400 participants in our online marriage preparation course. The results to the question, “On which of the following areas would you like more formation/education”,…
Read MoreBest Lent Ever…For Your Spouse!
While lots of people make resolutions for the New Year, most of these optimistic beginnings fizzle out before the end of January. Thankfully, Lent gives we Christians another, and a better, chance of success. One year, about two decades ago, a close friend of ours shared with us how she decided to give up blame…
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