Messy Family Podcast : Catholic Conversations on Marriage and Family

 "For a Christian, joy isn't what happens when life is going perfectly; it's what happens when you know you are loved perfectly, even when life is a mess." ~ Chris Stefanick Sometimes we look at other couples and think, "Those people have it all together. It must be easy to be married to that person.  We are the only one's struggling." Nothing could be further from the truth. This interview starts...

"In the adult, the space of acceptance is never whole, yet it is in the child. The child is really capable of listening impartially and unselfishly, the child is receptive to the greatest degree." - Sofia Cavalletti, Founder of CGS We've all been there. You're trying to calm a crying infant, the toddler is crawling under the pews, the seven year old is drawing in the missal, and you wonder if your...

"When parents nag kids, we get ignored.  When they nag us, we keep answering. Just who is smarter?  Maybe we have strong-willed kids because we (parents) are not strong-willed." ~ Dr. Ray Guarendi In this episode, we have an enlightening conversation with Dr. Ray Guardendi, a Catholic father, teacher, and clinical psychologist who we have been following since the early years of our parenting.  It...

Host Hijack!!  Alicia's brother Paul joins Mike for some manly conversation (but don't worry, Alicia jumps in at the end!) This conversation will be helpful to anyone who is looking to have a great marriage - whether you are a husband or wife.  It's clear that there are many roles that men play in our world, some big and some small, but no other role comes close to the significance of being a good...

"Without ideals we are aimless, but never let ideals eclipse the reality of our situation"  ~ Mike and Alicia Hernon Living life with infants and toddlers is no joke.  And the more you have the crazier your life is!  We all know life is more than survival, but there were plenty of times that all Alicia could think when she woke up was "I just have to make it till nap time". In this MFP classic epi...

"Instead of trying to protect yourself through your fear, learn to live dangerously! – by doing and saying what you think, know, and believe to be right, by not caring that you may be mistaken at times"  ~ Dr. Conrad Barrs, Born Only Once: the Miracle of Affirmation Unfortunately, we live in a Pinterest-perfect, commercialized, consumerist culture that is looking for the top of the line in everyth...

"One earns Paradise with one's daily task." ~ Saint Gianna Beretta Molla  Chores, laundry, meal preparation, etc, etc…. It never ends!  But even this part of family life is an area in which God wants to enter into our lives and teach us to be holy.  Yes, there are very practical aspects of family life that we need to just get done, but HOW we do them will effect our growth as a Catholic family.  L...

"If their love is a true gift of self, so that they belong each to the other, it will not only survive but grow stronger, and sink deeper roots… only when love between human beings is put to the test can its true value be seen." - St. John Paul II  Over the years, we have met many couples, ordinary people, who have been able to come to a deeper understanding of God's love for them and the importan...

The world says husbands and wives have the same or even interchangeable roles.  Some fundamentalist Christians and even Catholics say wives should let their husbands decide everything (even in regards to sexual intimacy!) and wives should obey as long as it is not immoral.  This way of thinking does not reflect the rich, intricate, dynamic teachings of the Church in regards to men and women.  A tr...

Lent is a great time to take inventory of our spiritual life and ask ourselves, "How am I doing in my relationship with God?"  To help us all do that, we decided to interview Mike's spiritual director of many years, Fr. Boniface Hicks.  Fr. Boniface is a director of directors!  A Benedictine monk, he runs the Institute for Ministry Formation at St. Vincent Archabbey and is the author of several bo...

You try your hardest to raise your teenagers with patience, honesty and good manners, but they still end up being like you. – Anonymous There is much confusion among teens today around the crucial questions of life and we believe it is because too many parents are not taking up their essential role in their children's lives.  During adolescence, the parent-child relationship is crucial especially...

After attending our niece's wedding recently, we had some time to reflect on the significance of marriage not only in our own lives today but how being married prepares us for our eternal unity with God.  The church teaches clearly that marriage is a foreshadowing of the unity between Christ, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride.  This reality should impact our marriages greatly!  We need to...

"Teaching kids how to handle money is more than dollars and cents, it's about character and responsibility" - Dave Ramsey Handling money is a subject that can bring about strong emotion in couples, but it's a life skill that we need to teach our children!  How we use money reflects our values, and if we want to intentionally train our children and instill in them our deeply held beliefs, then we n...

The family is a kind of school of deeper humanity. But if it is to achieve the full flowering of its life and mission, it needs the kindly communion of minds and the joint deliberation of spouses.  Gaudium et Spes 52. How do you live life intentionally?  You plan for it!  And when you are a family, that plan starts with taking some time to have a "deep dive" conversation with your spouse.  A tool...

Having all our adult children along with our grandchildren at our house over the holidays reminded us that all the sacrifices we have made over the years (and continue to make!) are all worth it.  We thought our listeners would enjoy hearing from our kids' perspective what worked for them and what didn't, what we taught them intentionally or unintentionally, and how these lessons affect them now a...

Lovers do "for love" what never would be done for a reason, or a rule, or a doctrine or a law. True love "loves" and needs to suffer — not for suffering's sake alone, but for the sake of what we know is only gained on the other side of suffering: Joy.  - Damon Owens   Damon and Melanie Owens have been serving couples throughout most of their 27 years of marriage and now they have launched their ow...

The Advent season is more than just a countdown to Christmas. It is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ –  His coming at Christmas and His second coming. The Church gives us many beautiful traditions to help us lead our children to focus on more than just presents and treats, but instead on the true celebration of the gift of Jesus! In this podcast we share some ideas and inspiration on...

Jeff Cavins is the author is the Bible Timeline, the tool behind the hit podcast "The Bible in a Year" with Fr. Mike Schmitz.  Jeff and his wife Emily have studied, taught, and led thousands of people into a deeper relationship with the Word of God through their books, talks, and guided tours.  They have a heart for families and a desire to teach parents how to teach their children!   On this podc...

We love interacting with our listeners and one way we do this is by taking your questions!  Katie (Hernon) Gamboa joins us again to sit in as the "Every-mom" and ask us the questions that our members have sent in to us to be answered.  Per usual, there is a variety of subjects that we cover in this episode.  One mom is struggling with spiritual desolation and a husband who is agnostic.  A dad deal...

All of us need community and having people in your home is a great way to make them feel loved and to experience a little bit of heaven.  But so many of us have "hostess anxiety" and feel like our home, our cooking, or our kids aren't good enough to be exposed to others.  The reality is that we all need to practice hospitality, but not everyone has been trained how to be a good host!  In this epis...

In this episode, we continue the conversation on spiritual freedom with Matt and Jen Lozano from Heart of the Father Ministries and we get practical!  Matt and Jen walk us through the process of defining the lies of the enemy and breaking their power over us.  This all begins with repentance and forgiveness.   Then, we have to renounce these lies, just like we do in confession, and engage in the g...

Parents feel like failures almost every day, but this is the lie of the enemy!  We are so excited to share with you this interview with Matt and Jen Lozano, speakers and teachers for Heart of the Father Ministries. They have worked with people all over the world, hearing their stories, praying with them, and leading them to freedom.  In our discussion, we talk about some essential spiritual issues...

When families act as they were created to be they can be a powerful force of transformation and renewal in the world because the Catholic family has what the world is looking for.  Every person has a deep need for belonging and relationship, which is naturally found within family and ultimately satisfied by God the Father. In this presentation, we will discuss how to cultivate these relationships...

We all realize there is a war on the family, right?  But do you understand where it is coming from?  And what the goal is?  You can't fight a war when you don't know who the enemy is and what they want.  In this podcast we identify the enemies of the family as socialism, feminism, and sexual radicalism.  The ultimate goal of these "-isms" is the separation of children from their parents.  Make no...

Forgiveness is becoming a lost practice in our increasingly secular world which we believe is one reason for the fracturing of our society. We are always going to offend each other. People are always going to sin against their fellow man. Those offenses and sins cause distance between us. How can they be repaired? Forgiveness. In this podcast, we define what it means to forgive someone and the dif...