Interior Integration for Catholics

Download a PDF of Dr. Amalu’s dissertation: https://www.mediafire.com/file_premium/8yt9aur8ixed59q/Amalu_Final_Dissertation.pdf/file His private practice:  https://www.deeprenewalpsychotherapy.com/ Dr. Peter Martin’s practice:  https://www.immaculateheartcounseling.org/ The CCMMP is here:  https://divinemercy.edu/department-integrative-studies/catholic-christian-meta-model-of-the-person-ccmmp/ Dr....

Catholics becoming Gods.  In this episode, Mother Natalia of the Byzantine Catholic of Christ the Bridegroom Monastery and host of the “What God is Not” podcast discuss theosis (or deification) from an Eastern Catholic perspective, bringing in parts and systems thinking.  Join us for a fascinating, rollicking conversation about this most important topic. Mother Natalia’s podcast:  https://www.yout...

Deification: A secret in the Catholic Church that really shouldn’t be a secret.  Join Dr. Gerry Crete, Dr Matthew Tsakanikas, professor of theology at Christendom College, and Dr. Peter for a wide-ranging discussion of the glory, the adventure, the awe of partaking of God’s divine nature with the entirety of our being – our hearts, souls, minds, bodies, innermost selves, and all our parts, from a...

Four Catholic therapists and four Catholic philosophers take on the most frequently asked metaphysical questions about grounding Internal Family Systems in a Catholic worldview.  Join Elizabeth Galanti, Dr. Anthony Flood, Dr. Andrea Messineo, Dr. Gerry Crete, Dr. Monty De La Torre, Fr. Thomas Berg, and Dr. Peter Malinoski for a spirited discussion of: 1) the relationship between IFS and the Cathol...

Moral theologian Fr. Thomas Berg and philosopher and therapist Dr. Andrea Messineo take on the topic of personal conscience and parts work through a Catholic lens.  We explore the relationships among conscience, parts, the innermost self, the intellect, the will, impulses, and desires.  We address concupiscence and parts, and offer specific examples.  Join us for a fascinating exploration of consc...

Catholic philosopher Dr. Andrea Messineo and moral theologian Fr. Thomas Berg guide us in moral reasoning from a parts perspective, grounded in Alasdair MacIntyre’s Thomistic thought. Join us as we romp through understanding the development of moral reasoning informed by IFS, “values clarification”, Winnicott’s object relations model, the importance of unblending and recollection for clarity in mo...

You need to love yourself properly to love others in an ordered way. How can we understand St. Thomas Aquinas' insistence on us governing our passions from an IFS perspective in a way that loves our passionate parts?  How can we be detached from worldly goods?  Do saints get blended with their parts?  Are there benefits to some kinds of blending with parts?  How can we frame the Theology of the Bo...

Christopher West has recently embraced IFS and parts work because of Dr. Gerry Crete’s book, Litanies of the Heart .  Dr. West shares the impact of IFS in his life, seeing it as a “missing piece,” a key to internalizing and living out the powerful message of St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.  In this episode, Dr. West, Dr. Gerry, and Dr. Peter invite you into their rollicking, wide ranging,...

A sure norm for teaching the faith – that’s what the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) is, according to St. John Paul II.  Today, Elizabeth Galanti, Dr. Gerry, and Dr. Peter look at what the CCC has to say about parts work,  human formation, divided hearts, healthy multiplicity vs. inner fragmentation, self-knowledge, self-governance, self-love, inner unity, sexual sins, the body, and hope. ...

“Man is divided within himself.”  So says the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes.  Sins – original sin, the sins of others, and your own personal sins lead to your inner fragmentation and the obscuring of your conscience.  What is your conscience?  Where is your conscience within you?  What does Vatican II say about IFS concepts?  How did St. Maximilian Kolbe live sacrificial love in Auschwitz wi...

We explore the surprising compatibility of Internal Family Systems with a Thomistic understanding of the human person. The modern pioneer of parts work, Richard Schwartz, originator of IFS harmonizes with the medieval angelic doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas. Join Thomistic philosopher Dr. Anthony Flood, Catholic psychologist Dr. Eric Gudan and me, Dr. Peter, as we discuss how the goodness...

How do we love with the three loves in the two Great Commandments?  And what are the relationships among love of God, love of neighbor, and love of self?  Join Catholic philosopher Anthony Flood and Catholic psychologist Eric Gudan as we explore love in Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas.  We address flourishing, friendship, virtues, interior integration, inner unity, union with others, trauma, heal...

We have answers to your questions about Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Catholicism.  From the experts.  That’s what this episode is all about.  Dr. Peter Martin, Dr. Gerry Crete, Dr. Christian Amalu and Dr. Peter Malinoski come together with a live audience to discuss your questions about parts’ felt sense of safety, their God images, and your innermost self as a secure internal attachment figu...

Both Socrates and Plato were deeply concerned with the questions 1) Who is the human person? and 2) How does one flourish in living the best life possible.  And both addressed these questions through understanding a person’s relationship with self.  Knowing oneself, loving oneself, and governing oneself wisely are the core of their teaching on virtues and ethics.  All three of those imply a relati...

Q: What can St. Bonaventure teach us about our inner life? A: More than you might imagine. Writing in the 13th century, St. Bonaventure emphasized the importance of the heart, of our emotions and our desires. He prized love and relationality – starting with the relationships among the three Persons of the Trinity, that God is both a unity and a multiplicity. He also emphasized the faculty of memor...

Q: Did St. Maximus anticipate Internal Family Systems thinking by 13 centuries?  A: In a word, Yes.  Maximus, writing in the seventh century, described in detail the unity and distinctions within the human person, and how each of us is a mediator that connects the spiritual and natural realms, and microcosm that contains within us the entire cosmos.  Mind-blowing ideas.  He also believes that each...

You can think of St. Augustine’s heart as an “open book” titled “Confessions.” In this episode, we go deep into his restless heart, sharing with you how well his clear, detailed, and nuanced descriptions of his inner experience reflect Internal Family Systems and parts work so well. As St. Augustine describes his “divided heart” and “conflicting wills” and the stages of his conversion, Dr. Gerry C...

What can the Early Church Fathers teach us about our inner worlds, the complexity of our psyches?  Actually, very much, if we are willing to listen.  Join Dr. Gerry Crete, Dr. Christian Amalu and me for a highlight tour of what these Early Church Fathers offer us in understanding and loving ourselves, God, and others:  St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Irenaeus, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Gregory of...

Internal Family Systems is extremely popular not only as a therapy model, but as a way of making sense of our inner experience.  IFS does not have specifically Catholic origins.  But can there be a way of understanding parts work and systems thinking and harmonizing them with an authentically Catholic understanding of the human person?  Dr. Christian Amalu, Dr. Peter Martin, Dr. Gerry Crete, and D...

You have got questions, we have answers – all about IFS and parts work, Catholic style. Join Marion Moreland, David Edwards, Bridget Adams, and Dr. Peter as we engage with a live audience for a discussion. David provides a brief drop-in exercise. The new discuss relating with our parts with love, legacy burdens and legacy gifts, detecting when a part is blended, displaced anger, how core beliefs d...

Question: What do improvisational jazz bands, 8-man rowing shells, the Catholic Church, and a nuclear family all have in common? Answer: They are all human systems. Systems have three components: 1) elements (or parts); 2) interconnections (relationships among elements); and 3) a function or purpose. John David Edwards and Dr. Peter as we explore systems. Understanding yourself as a system, with a...

Fearfully and wonderfully made – that is what you are.  And made not just as a single, homogeneous personality – but as a system.  But what is a system?  How can we understand ourselves not just as a monolithic personality, not just as a unity, and not just as a multiplicity, but in terms of our inner relationships with ourselves?  Join Dr. Gerry Crete, Bridget Adams, and Dr. Peter as we explore h...

“The body remembers what the mind forgets,” psychiatrist Jacob Levy Moreno tells us.  And Bessel van der Kolk takes it a step further – the body not only remembers, but “the body keeps the score.”  Our parts have so much to tell us about their experiences – our “forgotten,” unconscious experiences – and so often, our parts communicate with us through our bodies.  Will we listen?  Will you listen? ...

Survival.  Importance.  Agency. Goodness.  Mission.  Authentic expression.  These are the six integrity needs that Dr. Peter came up with over decades of work with Catholics.  In this episode, we define integrity and integrity needs, we discuss how so many children are forced to choose which needs will be met and which will be denied.   We cover each of the six integrity needs in depth, we explore...

Feeling safe. Feeling seen and heard. Feeling reassured, soothed. Feeling cherished and delighted in. Feeling loved. Feeling that I belong. We all have these six attachment needs. But how do our parts experience these needs? Which kinds of parts have which kinds of attachment styles? How can I recognize which attachment needs different parts of me have? Where do I start in helping a part of me who...