Messy Family Podcast : Catholic Conversations on Marriage and Family

Social fragmentation, the break down of the family, isolation, and stress has wounded and broken many of us. Families need to be honest about their need for professional help - honest with themselves and with those around them.  It is a sign of strength to admit weakness! Plus, there are burdens that parents simply cannot carry alone. Marriage counselors, child therapists, 12 Step groups, doctors,...

Parenting is a path to holiness, that is clear.  Part of this growth in your holiness is taking on the responsibility for the formation of your children.  It's hard to form people! But it is a job for unselfish, dedicated parents and no one can do it better than you can!  In this podcast, we discuss principles that are important to keep in mind as we form our children. Ideas such as your children...

During our tour of Australia, we had the opportunity to meet many listeners and make some amazing new friends.  One of our events was a day seminar for engaged and newly married couples with an Australian ministry - The Marriage Project.  During the day, we had a time to take questions from the audience and we loved it! It was great to experience firsthand the desire that these couples had for int...

"The family is indeed more than any other social reality, the place where an individual can exist 'for himself' through the sincere gift of self...it is the 'sanctuary of life'" ~ St. John Paul II, Letter to Families, #11 This episode is our first LIVE podcast, recorded during our Australian Tour in May 2019.  During this tour, we presented a seminar sponsored by our good friends (Australians, rea...

  "Are you the adult you want your child to become?" ~ Dr. Brene Brown High emotions and the advent of adolescence seem to go hand in hand.  Instead of getting caught up into our children's emotion and the drama that may ensue, parents need to truly be "the adult in the room" and be an example of how to deal with strong feelings in a appropriate way.  To do this, we parents need to be self-aware a...

Have you ever felt like your world was going up in smoke?  Listen in as we explain this dramatic story of our car fire, where no injuries occurred or lives lost, but the disaster was complete.  Though the loss was great, God's faithfulness and providence was even greater. We felt it was not a coincidence that this happened during the season of Lent because we are able to see the themes of fasting...

"The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness." ~ Pope Benedict XVI Men today can't do anything right. The world has taken the idea of masculinity and distorted it to the point that it is barely recognizable from the ideal man celebrated one hundred years ago. As dynamic Catholics living in this time, we want to celebrate men and encourage them to re...

"Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives." ~St. Peter Chrysologus We have a very exciting program to share with you all in this podcast that we are doing for Lent. We know that we want to bring our wills and our hearts closer to God, but how do we make sacrifices and offer up our wills as a married couple? What do sacrifices in Lent look like when you are raising children and ar...

  "Wash the cup not because it is dirty, or because you are told to, but because you love the person who will use it after you ~St. Teresa of Calcutta Very frequently people will email or write to us asking for our organization secrets, tips, or techniques. Our secret is.. We don't really have one. We do have principles and a philosophy that we live by, but the perfect system of organization for o...

"Love is never something ready made, something merely given to man and woman, it is...a task which they are set. Love should be seen as something which never 'is' but is always only 'becoming'..." - St. John Paul II   "I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance...

A parenting fail is simply a lesson wrongly considered. ~ Mike and Alicia Hernon Have you ever let your emotions get the better of you? Have a discipline plan go south? Have a fun family time turn into a disaster? Yes, us too. All parents make mistakes! Even though we have a marriage and family podcast and we share advice and ideas, please don't think that we (like you!) haven't had some big "fail...

"A family doesn't need to be perfect; it just needs to be united." Families are busy - running from place to place with little time to look where they are going or to even form an idea of what they want their family to look like. The Family Board Meeting is a tool that couples can use to cast a vision for their family and create concrete goals that will make that vision a reality. In this podcast...

"Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 19:14 Most parents realize that young children are not little adults and they have particular needs for their physical and mental well-being. We must realize that they have particular needs for their spiritual well-being as well. Parents need to learn how to tend the seed of their child's fait...

"Fathers, do not exasperate your children, instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4 More than any other topic, discipline is something listeners have asked us to address in our podcast. Our hesitation has been that this is just such a complicated topic! One that deserves much time and thought because, well… it's complicated and there are no easy answers, as...

Welcome to the 100th podcast!  We are celebrating the public launch of our ministry with new branding, new website, and even new intro and outro music on the podcast itself!  As promised, we decided to interview the people who had more influence on our parenting than anyone else, and who have taught us the most. Those people would be (drum roll, please!) our children!  We hope you find both interv...

We listen to what our parents say to us because this is how we figure out who we are. – Dr. Meg Meeker The words that parents say to their children are important, but equally as important (if not more) is HOW we say those words. We have found this through our own struggles with yelling! Communication happens not only verbally, but also emotionally, so our words can be lost in the way in which we e...

Raising children is beautiful but also hard work. It's a task for unselfish, devoted parents. ~ Archbishop Chaput Parenting is not for cowards, that is for sure! Thankfully, God gives children two parents who, when they work together, can provide the best environment for their child. But working together can be tough. Spouses come from different backgrounds, have different personalities, virtues,...

"Each family finds within itself a summons that cannot be ignored and that specifies both its dignity and responsibility: family, become what you are" (Familiaris Consortio, #17) We have discussed how important a family culture is. It is a powerful construct that communicates more effectively than your words alone can. But how do parents build a healthy culture in their home? What should the eleme...

Creating a Family Culture is a powerful way to influence our children in a way that goes beyond our relationship with any one individual child. It is greater than just you or your spouse. Family Culture is the unspoken system that binds your family together and communicates your expectations, beliefs, and values more powerfully than any written word. It is a natural construct, but it is actually s...

Siblings: Children of the same parents each of whom is perfectly normal until they get together ~ Sam Levenson One of the greatest gift we can give our children is more brothers and sisters. But as parents our responsibility isn't just to provide those siblings and just walk away saying, "Hope it all works out!". We need to provide the environment and guidance that children need to have healthy, l...

"When little people are overwhelmed by big emotions it is up to us to share our calm, not join in the chaos" You are at a friend's house for dinner with your kids. The 3 and 5 yr old are playing on the floor. Each has a toy, but then one child decides that he wants what his friend has. Chaos ensues. What are parents to do? How do you deal with your child? What do you say to the little friend? How...

"...the ability to be "at leisure" is one of the basic powers of the human soul." - Josef Pieper, Leisure, the Basis of Culture How many of us really appreciate what it mean to enjoy leisure in our lives? Life can't be just about work, and simply "having fun" doesn't capture what we really need to be rejuvenated in our lives. We need to allow ourselves to just "be" and we need to also create that...

To be in your child's memories tomorrow you have to be in their lives today. ~ Unknown. Be who you were made to be and you will set the world on fire. ~ St. Catherine of Siena There are parents in this world who are greatly gifted. They started out as Catholic men and women who were highly successful in their professional lives and had made sacrifices to get there. When children come into the pict...

"Sanctify the family and you will sanctify the world." No, we are not talking about dad (although he may be king of the remote!) We have a different King in mind. 62% of children say they stopped being Catholic between the ages of 10 and 17 according to the CARA research center. This means children are losing their faith while they are under their parent's roof. How can we make sure our kids are n...

"Emotions are like children. You shouldn't lock them in the trunk, but you don't want them driving the car either" Have you ever had a child melt down because they didn't get what they wanted? How do we respond to emotional outbursts in our children? Self control is an under appreciated virtue in our modern culture, but ironically, it is the one skill we can teach our children that can help them a...