SL Column
Echoes from Childhood
Unpacking the hidden ways our earliest bonds influence love and trust in our adult relationships. One of the most powerful topics in the SmartLoving Engaged course addresses formation in our family of origin. The family is where we first encounter love and learn to relate with others. That’s why the Church calls the family “a…
Read MoreThree Tools for Better Conflict
Every marriage has conflict. Two imperfect people sharing a home and dealing with all the pressures of modern life? It’s inevitable! But conflict doesn’t have to be destructive. Whether it’s the sting of misunderstanding, silent withdrawal, passive aggression or a shouty, foot-stomping exchange, conflict shows up regularly in married life. Busyness, stress, and insufficient…
Read MoreMaking the Connection…with Arguments
Neither of us likes it when we disagree, yet we’ve had more than a few in our 28 years of marriage – some of them leading to horrible arguments. When disagreements descend into arguments, they usually become hurtful and unproductive, leaving us feeling bitter and exhausted. But are arguments all bad, or always harmful?…
Read MoreThe Riskiest Place For Our Marriage
A while ago a viral video clip came to our attention. In the video, a marriage counsellor is responding to the claim that 85% of affairs begin at work. While the insights presented were quite good, we were curious about the details as that 85% figure seemed high. After considerable searching, we eventually identified the…
Read MoreDeclining Divorces: A Cause for Celebration?
Exploring the trends and what they mean for our relationships and families Recently published data on marriage and divorce in Australia have caught media attention: according to the Australian Institute of Family Studies, the crude divorce rate has dropped to 2.3 per 1,000 residents (2023). Like trends in USA and other developed nations, it’s…
Read MoreEmbracing Hope in Our Marriage
Letting go of EXPECTATIONS opens us to God’s grace. Like most couples, we stood at the altar on our wedding day with hearts full of dreams of what our married life would bring. We imagined a partnership filled with effortless harmony, where our spouse intuitively anticipated our every need. But as the years…
Read MoreRestoring Fertility…. God’s Way
The Catholic Church has some surprising treasures. No – we’re not thinking of the Vatican museums or its countless historic churches! We’re thinking of the remarkable services that exist to support couples with subfertility. Restorative Reproductive Medicine is a rapidly growing field that seeks to treat subfertility by restoring it to healthy functioning, rather…
Read MoreEmbracing a Pro-Life Heart
As we celebrate Grandparents Day on July 27, we’re reminded of the profound role we play in nurturing a culture of life within our families. For us, being pro-life isn’t just about supporting the movement through donations and attending rallies – though those efforts matter. It’s about how we live every day, especially in our…
Read MoreThe Maybe Baby Conversation
How do couples decide when and how many children to have? The Maybe Baby Conversation can Help. During our engagement, we took lessons in a Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), then known as Natural Family Planning. Wanting to live a Catholic marriage, we accepted the Church’s wisdom and rejected contraception to follow her moral teaching.…
Read MoreThe Natural Revolution
Rediscovering Fertility Awareness We’ve been promoting and teaching Fertility Awareness Methods (FAMs – also known as Natural Family Planning) for over two decades. One of the things we hear often, is how couples, and especially women, lament that they didn’t hear about FAMs earlier. Disenchanted with popular contraceptives, they welcome a natural…
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