Mystery of Parenthood

On Tuesday, January 8, 2018, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion discussed the idea of how Christ often hides in plain sight by considering the feast of the Epiphany and Jesus in the ordinary. They considered ways that Jesus was overlooked or ignored in His earthly ministry; ways that we ignore Jesus in our sacramental and spiritual life; ways that we ignore and overlook the Christ Child in our own c...

On Tuesday, December 18, 2018, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion answered question from listeners, family, and friends. One question was how to use the Memory Verses in the family. Steph responded that they are great for memorization, copy work, reflection, eventually a practice they will make their own. Next, parenting unruly children during Mass requires encouragement and self-sacrifice as a pare...

On Tuesday, November 27, 2018, Trey talked the importance of Christian marriage for a good family and the good of society. Much of this conversation was sparked by the release of Scott Hahn's new book on marriage and family, The First Society. Enjoy the episode, take a moment to like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. And remember to pray, parent with a purpose, and prepare for God to amaze...

On Tuesday, November 20, 2018, Trey invited Adam Arehart back to the show to consider the crisis in the Catholic Church as an abuse of authority. Many Catholic lay people are dismayed with the Church hierarchy's response to these evils and want clarity and conviction. The Church exists because we are sinners and is itself holy and at the same time in need of constant renewal. As we try to parent o...

On Tuesday, November 6, 2018, Trey continued his discourse on the Church. The church is not only a building, but is an institution founded by Jesus Christ that has four marks as stated in the Nicene Creed: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Trey focuses especially on these marks in this episode and explains how if they are true about the universal Church then they should also characterize our fam...

On Tuesday, October 30, 2018, Trey considered the Church, a big topic to be sure. On a practical plane, the church is a building. But it has many meanings and implications beyond that. Of course, we know from the Nicene Creed that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Trey goes even deeper and draws out further meanings of this term that we often pass over quickly. In fact, it even has...

On Tuesday, October 23, 2018, Trey and Stephanie welcomed Adam Arehart, former campus minister at St. Mary's Catholic Center and currently Director of Evangelization and Adult Faith Formation for St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Arlington, Virginia. They discuss the open letter of His Excellency, Bishop David Konderla of Tulsa, Oklahoma to the 2018 Synod on Youth. The touchstone of their di...

On Tuesday, October 09, 2018, host Trey Cashion confronts the problem of the "First Year Experience" seminars that have taken hold on college campuses and serve as venues and vehicles for the teaching of identity politics and victimology based off of an article in City Journal (@cityjournal) titled "Reeducation Campus." Listen for suggestions on how to prepare your children for these attacks and w...

On Tuesday, October 02, 2018, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion welcomed back Monica Ashour, from the Theology of the Body Evangelization Team (TOBET) to give her thoughts on talking about difficult subjects with children within the family and at different ages. Monica especially focused on the unfolding crisis of infidelity within the Church and how, in light of what the Theology of the Body teach...

On Tuesday, August 28, 2018, host Trey Cashion encourages parents to greet their children's question about the Faith with joy, encouragement, honesty, and humility. These questions are usually moments of grace, episodes of intervention by the Holy Spirit, that are times to draw the child deeper into the Faith and how to make it their own. Enjoy the episode, take a moment to like us on Facebook, an...

On Tuesday, August 21, 2018, host Trey Cashion revisited how the sacrament of Baptism accomplishes the saving action of Christ's life, death, and resurrection in the here and now. The Latin term sacramentum is the word mysterion in Greek, thus the words "sacrament" and "mystery" are intimately linked. So, it's natural we have a focus on the sacraments here at Mystery of Parenthood. The jumping off...

On Tuesday, August 14, 2018, host Trey Cashion reviewed the dogma of the Assumption of Mary into heaven. Trey talked about how to explain it our children and how the truths that the dogma protects can strengthen family life. The Assumption actually leads to greater reverence and awe for Our Lord and faith in Him because, "without Jesus none of this would be possible." The Assumption also reverence...

On Tuesday, July 31, 2018, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion discussed the ways that a correct understanding of the Eucharist can be shaped by the aspects of sacrifice, presence, and meal contained in the Blessed Sacrament. This week's Memory Verse is John 14:6, "Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Enjoy the episode, take a mom...

On Tuesday, July 24, 2018, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion were pleased to welcome Monica Ashour, from the Theology of the Body Evangelization Team, to review, first, the central points of Humanae Vitae. She then went on to explain how Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body raised the encyclical's conclusions to an even higher level.  Humanae Vitae demonstrated that the twin, inseperable ends o...

On Tuesday, July 17, 2018, hosts Trey Cashion considered an article from First Things, "Sacramental Realism." Trey took apart the essay and presented its conclusions about the visible vs. the invisible world and a false bifurcation between the two.  These confusions present themselves in misappreciations of the sacraments and their efficacy as well as confusions about identity, sexuality, and mora...

On Tuesday, September 25, 2018, host Trey Cashion looked at a blog post from Dr. Edward Sri of The Augustine Institute directed at encouraging more Catholics to adopt the Rosary as a regular devotion. Based on his book, Praying the Rosary Like Never Before: Encounter the Wonder of Heaven and Earth, Sri's blog post offers 5 keys to help someone take the plunge into praying a Rosary regularly. Trey...

On Tuesday, September 18, 2018, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion welcomed first-time guests, Jessica and Shaun McAfee. Shaun is a Catholic writer and blogger; Jessica is a certified Creighton-method NFP practicioner. The Cashions invited them on to discuss the chapter they contributed to the new collection from Catholic Answers Press, Inseparable: Five Perspectives on Sex, Life, and Love in Defens...

On Tuesday, July 10, 2018, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion were pleased to welcome back Monica Ashour, from the Theology of the Body Evangelization Team. Monica spoke with them about how to create families that prioritize bodily presence ("the body demands a response") and embodied relationships over virtual connections and social networks in order to preserve the family as a true community of pe...

On Tuesday, July 3, 2018, host Trey Cashion continued to discuss a recent essay by sociologist Allan Carlson on the thought of the early-twentieth-century American sociologist, Carle Zimmerman.  In this episode, Trey zeroes in on some of the attributes that Zimmerman ascribes to the "domestic family" (one of his three historical family types) and how they contribute to health and vitality of civil...

On Tuesday, June 26, 2018, host Trey Cashion considered an article linked below by Allan Carlson. It is an essay on the thought of an early-twentieth-century American sociologist, Carle Zimmerman.  In this episode, get an introduction to Zimmerman's life and and work followed by an overview of the big themes in his 1947 magnum opus, Family and Civilization. Enjoy the episode and take a moment to l...

On June 19, 2018, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion considered what we can learn from a great new saint, Zelie Martin, the mother of the Little Flower, St. Therese of Lisieux. Below is a link to the article from Aleteia that was referenced at the beginning of the show. 1. Some women are called to combine work and motherhood 2. “Doing it all” takes help 3. Moms are allowed to have fun 4. Even moms o...

On Tuesday, June 12, 2018, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion take time to discuss different approaches they have taken over the years to disciplining temper tantrums, dishonesty, irresponsibility, etc. Especially, they encourage us to 1) make an approach to parenting your own, 2) aim to convert your child's heart, and 3) pray to identify the root issue. Listen in to see how your approach to parenti...

On Tuesday, June 5, 2018, host Trey Cashion shared a recent experience when he allowed his emotions to dictate how he related to his family and to others around him. What we learned during this episode is that genuine love, especially in the family, cannot always depend upon positive circumstances or emotions. It must come from an act of the will. Below is a link to the article from Aleteia that w...

On Tuesday, May 29, 2018, host Trey and Stephanie Cashion talked about what Catholic families ought to keep in mind in order to raise effective and frutiful families. The pieces of advice that the Cashions offered included making the family a foundation of life and a reflection of the love and mercy of God. Our memory this week was Ephesians 3:14-19, "For this reason I bow my knees before the Fath...

On Tuesday, May 15, 2018, host Trey Cashion discussed the Pope St. John Paul II's important apostolic exhortation of 1984, Familiaris Consortio. Trey takes up the message of Part 3 on the role of the family in the modern world. He brings out the three functions that the Holy Father identifies for the family: to guard, reveal, and communicate the Catholic Faith for the world and for future generati...