The Power of Ritual

By Francine & Byron Pirola | October 7, 2021

Some years ago, we attended a Smart Marriages conference in the United States. One of the most memorable inputs was from Dr Bill Doherty, a…

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Listening is the Music of Love

By Francine & Byron Pirola | September 30, 2021

One of the most supremely loving gestures we can give another is to listen to them. Yet for most of us, being listened to is…

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Undoing the Knots is Easier than you Think

By Francine & Byron Pirola | September 24, 2021

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…

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Unconditional Love is a Contradiction of Terms

By Francine & Byron Pirola | September 15, 2021

A Story Over the last few months, we have had several conversations with a woman who is struggling with a difficult situation. Her best friend…

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Change Starts Here

By Francine & Byron Pirola | September 9, 2021

Part 4 of It Takes One to Tango. See others in this series here, here. and here. All change in our relationships should start with ourselves.…

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Making Stumble-Stone Altars 

By Francine & Byron Pirola | September 2, 2021

There will be mistakes. We will make errors and we will mess up in this marriage business. Obstacles and challenges will be part of every…

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Why Reality TV Makes Us Stupider

By Francine & Byron Pirola | August 27, 2021

These days we rightly talk a lot about exploitation and abuse. It comes in many forms and we worry we might walk past it without…

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Forward Planning your Family Planning

By Francine & Byron Pirola | August 5, 2021

Some years ago, I (Francine) was teaching a couple fertility awareness. They had been married five years and assumed that once they discontinued the pill,…

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Song of Songs Explained

By Guest Author | July 22, 2021

Get in touch with one of the greatest love songs of all time – the Book of the Song of Songs in the Old Testament.…

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Families on Mission

By Francine & Byron Pirola | July 9, 2021

In 2016 Pope Francis published Amoris Laetitia which translates as the ‘Joy of Love’. The document, the result of discernment over several years and two…

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Myths about Arguments

By Francine & Byron Pirola | July 1, 2021

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…

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We Married Too Young

By Francine & Byron Pirola | June 4, 2021

Lots of people told us so. Neither of us had really experienced life: Byron at 27 had at least lived out of home for three…

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Why Two is better than One

By Francine & Byron Pirola | April 30, 2021

One of the more popular posts on the SmartLoving blog features Couple Projects. First published in 2014, our search data over the years shows that…

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Honest Talk about Physical Intimacy – Messy Family Podcast

By Francine & Byron Pirola | April 27, 2021

The sexual intimacy we share as spouses is both wonderful and complicated! 

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Say a little prayer for marriage

By Francine & Byron Pirola | March 10, 2021

In October a few years ago, the Australian bishops called the entire Catholic community to pray for marriage and family. The initiative was joined by…

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