Mystery of Parenthood

On Tuesday, August 13, Trey brought back regular MOP guest, Adam Arehart to talk about T(t)radition, in the Church and within the family. Through Scripture and Tradition, we can receive the Divine Word of God. Scripture even points out in several places that Jesus gave us tradition pointing back to Him. Adam and Trey talk about how parents can pass on tradition to their children in the way they li...

On Tuesday, August 6, Trey welcomed Dr. Joseph White, who works for Our SundayVisitor Publishing as the Director of Catechetical Resources. He has a background in child and family psychology. They discuss the pedagogy of God – the way that God teaches and what He does for us, and how we can emulate that through a family. As we look at how God teaches us, Dr. White says we should be continually app...

On Tuesday, July 30, Trey Cashion spoke with Shaun and Jessica McAfee all the way from Vicenza, Italy, about a recent article in The Atlantic titled The Future of the City is Childless, that talks about how families are becoming smaller because couples are having fewer children. (Read the full article here .) They talk about how today younger, urban Americans have the tendency to see children as a...

On Tuesday July 9, Trey brought back frequent guest Dr. Sarah Bartel. Dr. Bartel and her husband have been preparing engaged couples for marriage for nearly 10 years. Now they have a new online ministry, Cana Feast - "a new way to grow closer to each other and to God". Cana Feast explores the riches of Catholic teaching on marriage and brings the best of marriage enrichment straight to you at  can...

On Tuesday, July 2, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion dive into what it truly means to “offer it up” to God, no matter what season of life we are in. Trey opens with an excerpt from a document from the Second Vatican Council, paragraph #34 in Lumen Gentium, which talks about all parts of our lives being sacrifices to God if done in the Spirit. When we attend Mass we are essentially offering all of...

On Tuesday, June 25, host Trey Cashion talked about why observing and celebrating the Liturgical Year of the Church in the family can make a huge difference in conveying the faith and making it tangible. How can we as parents and families take what the liturgy gives us and live it out? Have you ever thought about the significance of Ordinary Time and the multiple meanings of it? We as Catholics re...

On Tuesday, June 4, Trey opened with the sacraments and how they are visible signs of invisible realities, or "mysteries". The memory verse that comes to mind for the topic is Heb. 11:1, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." In its fullness, faith requires us to not have seen and, yet, still believe. A good example of this is heaven and the spiritual...

On Tuesday, May 28, 2019, Trey and Stephanie bring back long-time guest Dr. Sarah Bartel to talk about the Eucharist and Holy Matrimony, the link between the two, and how we can use those to help teach our children about the sacredness of both. Dr. Bartel and the Cashions talk about how when we approach the Sacrament of the Eucharist, we should be cleansed of any mortal sin, lest we bring condemna...

On Tuesday, May 21, 2019, Trey Cashion brought back Mystery of Parenthood Show veteran, Adam Arehart to talk about why a rule of life for family should be considered. The last time Adam was on the show he talked about using Third Orders as models for family life. This time, he draws on the notion of a monastic rule of life to guide the family. St. Augustine said "a rule of life is a measure or sta...

How do you sell a faith that calls for suffering? What is this life for? Why am I here? On Tuesday May 14, Trey and Thaddeus continued about holiness and how to become saints. The life that Jesus came to give us is a life of belief and suffering. We must have meaning in life with that suffering. As a parent, that union with Jesus Christ is essential. We have to trust that God will provide and give...

On Tuesday, May 7, 2019 Trey and Thaddeus discussed the universal call to holiness for every human being. Creating a union with God is the only source of holiness, which happens when we go to mass. The Catechism even states that we are all called to holiness in an intimate union with God. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. As part of holiness, we are all called to suff...

On Tuesday, April 30, 2019, Trey and Thaddeus talked about parenting styles, stemming from an article titled Why Being an Authoritative Parent is the Best Approach. Trey started with the Catechism's teachings on the duties of parents and children then moved on to go through the 4 styles of parenting: authoritarian, permissive, un-involved, and authoritative. He made the point that limits are funda...

On Tuesday, April 23, 2019, Trey talked with guest Monica Ashour about the theology of the body and the resurrection. We need to start realizing that the body is a gift—from God, and to God, and to others—and that the Incarnated Second Person of the Trinity (Jesus) made himself a gift for us to save us from our sins. At Mass, we put ourselves, our bodies, all those deceased souls, on the altar and...

On Tuesday, April 16, 2019, Trey talked with Dr. Sarah Bartel about an article from New York magazine titled Is Marriage Obsolete, a sardonic essay on the difficulties and "absurdities" of marriage that are part of the conventional wisdom about the institution today. Dr. Bartel contrasts this with the teachings of the magisterium about the spiritual, sacramental nature of marriage. But the article...

On Tuesday, April 9, Trey and Thaddeus talked with Adam Arehart, former Campus Minister of St. Mary's in College Station, and now Director of Evangelization at a parish in Arlington, Virginia. Adam suggests that Catholic families find out about the charisms and spirituality of the third orders--the lay, secular membership of the Church's historic religious congregations--in order to enrich their p...

On Tuesday, April 3, 2019, Trey and Thaddeus talk with Arland Nichols about Parenting Tips from the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Because of the Incarnation we are called to become perfect through the Beatitudes written in the pages of Scripture and written upon our hearts as well. As Fulton Sheen urged in Three to Get Married that God must be at the center of the home and in the center of the marr...

On Tuesday, March 19, 2019, Trey and Thaddeus talked with Monica Ashour about the theology of the body. Monica hit on three points: 1) the body as a teacher 2) the body as a gift and 3) the body deserving reverence. They also talk about the sacredness of sex in a marriage, and how spouses are meant to be co-redeemers with Christ for their spouse. This conversation is full of insightful information...

On Tuesday, March 12, 2019, Trey, Stephanie and Thaddeus answered some questions from last week's show with Dr. Sarah Bartel, like: is it okay to get married during Lent? They also talk about rules in the Church and in parenting, and why we should understand why we are called to follow those rules. They even touch on Lenten practices, and Fridays being penitential days. Enjoy this episode packed w...

On Tuesday, March 5, 2019, Trey and Stephanie interviewed Dr. Sarah Bartel about weddings in the Catholic Church. Dr. Bartel co-hosts the radio show Enduring Love for Sacred Heart Radio and co-edited A Catechism of Marriage and Family Life. She holds a Ph. D. in moral theology from The Catholic University of America and serves as a marriage and family life consultant within the Archdiocese of Seat...

On Tuesday, February 25, 2019, Trey and Stephanie encouraged listeners to take time to prepare for the coming of Lent within the family. To begin with, they recommended a family catechesis on sin throughout the season that varies with the maturity level of children—i.e. from ‘no-no’s’ to woundedness or loss of opportunity for fulfilled relationship followed by a family catechesis on repentance tha...

On Tuesday, February 19, 2019, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion took the previous week's theme about why parents should allow their children to fail and applied it to the relationship between God the Father and us, His children.  Trey and Stephanie spend time showing resonances between family life and human life in general that teach the need for perseverance, faith, hope, and mortification. Enjoy...

On Tuesday, February 5, 2019, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion completed their annual review of the Seven Secrets of Purposeful Parenting. They covered secrets 4 through 7 this time. Purposeful Parents: 4) Coach 5) Build Scaffolds and Use Funnels 6) Tell Stories 7) Say Yes. This week's Memory Verse is Proverbs 29:17: "Instruct thy son and he shall refresh thee, and shall give delight to thy soul."...

On Tuesday, January 29, 2019, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion began their annual review of the Seven Secrets of Purposeful Parenting. 1) Parenting is Hard: Nothing about parenting is easy, neat, and perfect. It is meant as a reminder that parenting is a challenging, but in hindsight, it also reminds you to not take yourself too seriously or be unreasonably hard on yourself. Persevere. Don't quit....

On Tuesday, January 22, 2018, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion welcomed special guest, Dr. Sarah Bartel (@drsarahbartel), co-editor of The Catechism of Catholic Family Life, a "Baltimore catechism" for marriage and family life that takes the CCC content and arranges it in life-cycle order under a question-and-answer format. Learn about how a Catholic scholar continued her work while also living ou...

On Tuesday, January 15, 2019, Trey and Stephanie invited Adam Arehart (@stcharleschurch) back to the show to consider the crisis in the Catholic Church as an abuse of authority. Discussion ranged widely over the various factors that affect our ability to be clear with our children. This pertains to the rules and expectations of the family; the love and care we communicate to our children, and the...