Being God’s presence to those we Accompany

Pope Francis has called Catholic communities to accompany couples at various stages. What does accompaniment look like, and is there anything special about a Catholic version? A few years back, our 23-year-old son found himself accompanying a stranger. At the time he was working for a building company that specialised in upgrades and maintenance for…

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#11 Marriage Catechumenate

In this episode we will discuss the Marriage Catechumenate I will be interviewing SmartLoving Director Francine Pirola about this concept and vision from Pope Francis. Francine has done a lot of reading and research into this as given two presentations recently to clergy across Australia so in this episode we will explore what it would…

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How Senior Couples Make Marriage Better

Senior couple

In a culture that glorifies youth and sanctions the euthanising of the sick and elderly, it’s easy to lose sight of the gift of seniors. Here are three ways that senior couples make marriage better for all of us. Earlier this year, Pope Francis released a series of homilies on the elderly. Each one explores…

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Smiling Saints

st valentine

St Valentine is the one saint with a feast day (Feb 14) that is known by millions of people, including non-Christians. But how many know why he is a saint?   The back story is that Valentine, a Roman priest at the time of Claudius II, was imprisoned for conducting secret weddings against the orders of…

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Families on Mission

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 international gatherings of bishops and other leaders, is a pastoral exploration of the challenges facing families and their role in the Church. Five years on and Pope Francis is again…

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Like Father, Like Mother

In our household, the traditional stereotypes of father as disciplinarian and mother as comforter don’t describe us very well and that’s probably a good thing. However, we do tend to parent quite differently. Byron is more likely to provide study or career planning advice, and to engage with the children around sport. He’s more likely…

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Newsflash: Pope says sex is ‘a gift from God’

In Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), Pope Francis writes extensively about many aspects of marriage and family life. In it is a section that is dedicated to affirming the sexual relationship of the married couple as good and holy. Saint John Paul II wrote extensively about the sacredness of marital love making. In this…

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Annulments made easy…really?

In September when Pope Francis announced a reform of the annulment process, media headlines suggested the Church was stepping towards the acceptance of divorce. However, the closing of the Synod on the Family just one month later saw confirmation that the Church would not change its teaching on the indissolvability of marriage. So what is…

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Pope Francis Marrying Sinners Is No Surprise

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Last month Pope Francis seemed to shock the world by marrying twenty couples in a ceremony at St Peter’s Basilica. Aside from the fact that Popes don’t get the opportunity to preside at weddings all that often, what provided the real shock value was that amongst the couples, some had cohabited, one had a child…

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