Posts Tagged ‘Marriage’
The wrong kind of penance
It’s Lent again and time to think about reform in our spiritual lives by taking on some Lenten penance. But is all penance equal? The traditional Lenten traditions of prayer, fasting and almsgiving have been somewhat diluted by we moderns to very lame versions of what our forebears in faith used to do. Here’s what…
Read MoreTIME – The Currency of Relationships
There’s an old adage in the world of parenting advice: Kids spell LOVE as T.I.M.E. Kids don’t need things nearly much as they need a parent’s attention and availability. It’s a classic mistake that we make all too often; we give them stuff we’ve bought instead of the thing they most need from us –…
Read MoreSt Valentines Day 2017
For almost a decade, the Australian Catholic Marriage & Family Council has produced a printable flyer for use on the Sunday before St Valentine’s Day. This year, The Parish & Marriage Resource Centre is pleased to take up this task. Why the fuss about St Valentine? It’s true, St Valentine is a ‘minor’ saint in…
Read MoreThe day after the big day
Yesterday we celebrated our daughter’s wedding to a wonderful man and family. Our daughter Kiara looked absolutely radiant with an interior joy; her now-husband Doug, was magnificent – strong, steady and adoring. Their evident love for each other lit up the church and the celebration that followed. As parents of the bride we were afforded…
Read MoreLessons from Mr and Mrs Smith
Earlier this week the news reported that Angelina Jolie had filed for divorce from Brad Pitt. Together for over a decade and married for two years, the Brangelina match appears to be over. Irrespective of the reasons for the breakdown of their marriage (and why it is anyone else’s business anyway), every broken marriage is…
Read MoreHow to Help a Marriage in Trouble
Over our years as a married couple we’ve had numerous occasions when people have approached us about their troubled marriage. It hasn’t always been in the context of being the facilitators at the marriage seminar either – sometimes it’s just a friend looking for support or a family member needing a sounding board. What we’ve…
Read MoreAvoiding the Divorce Flu
A new study has documented what counsellors have observed for years: divorce is contagious. Just like a virus, divorce spreads among social networks and influences marriages among the divorcing couple’s friends, family and work colleagues. For example, got a divorced sibling? Your chances of divorcing go up by 22%. A divorced friend? Up by 147%.…
Read MoreKnow What You Want
Part 3 of It Takes One to Tango Perhaps you’ve heard the saying: Failure to plan is a plan to fail. So many people fail to experience the fullness of their ambitions in all sorts of areas such as health, friendships, career etc. simply because they fail to plan. Without a plan, we are like a…
Read MoreDo Something Different
Part 5 of It Takes One to Tango Too often people don’t think or act ‘sanely’ when it comes to their marriage problems. Picture this common scenario: a wife is frustrated that her husband doesn’t help more around the house. She nags and badgers him but it doesn’t inspire him to step up and be…
Read MoreVirtue in Action
In many of our courses, we teach couples strategies and skills for navigating relationships more effectively. As important as these frameworks are, research suggests that they are not the critical factor in avoiding divorce or building a successful marriage. Rather, the key appears to lie elsewhere, in the practice of virtues. Virtues are personal characteristics…
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