Category

Family Life

Aug 27
0

Enthronement Offers a New Beginning in Your Marriage

By | Communication, Family Life, Finding Joy, Marriage Enrichment, Marriage Preparation, Spirituality | No Comments

By Emily Jaminet More than seven years ago, my family welcomed Jesus in a special way through the enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On that day, my husband and I were joined by our six children and my parents for this momentous occasion. At the time, we felt like “life was good” and marriage was “fine,” but we soon discovered that the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus was offering us so much more! The enthronement allowed us to hit the pause button as a couple amid our very busy lives and pray that our Lord would come into our lives in a new way. Over the years, I have realized that every other significant spiritually impacting experience took place on retreats, at conferences, at our church, and in Holy Mass. The enthronement was the first time where as a couple and a family we were strengthened in the…

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Jul 27
0

Family Planning the Natural Way

By | Catholic Weddings, Communication, Family Life, Marriage Enrichment, Sexual Intimacy and NFP | No Comments

By John Bosio  Do you remember private conversations before your wedding about how many children you wanted? I remember Teri dreaming out loud that she wanted to have six, just like her mother, but coming from a family of three I was secretly hoping it would not be so. I would say, “let’s start with one at a time.”   The conversation about children and when to have them is one that leads couples to choose a method for managing their fertility. Many women today choose to manage their fertility through some form of hormonal contraception—a method that has many side effects and risks. The Catholic Church considers all methods of artificial contraception as misguided. Let me explain.  In a Catholic wedding, just before reciting the vows, the priest asks the couple: “Are you prepared to accept children lovingly from God and to bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?”   According…

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Jun 22
1

Help Those Suffering Because of the Pandemic

By | Communication, Family Life, Finances | No Comments

By John Bosio  In these days, whenever I read statistics about job losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, (20.5 million jobs lost in April alone) my heart aches for the families affected. I think of the people those numbers represent: the tears shed; the anxiety of fathers and mothers who wonder how to tell their children. I imagine the private conversations between parents on how to meet the family obligations: rent and bills of all sorts. I think about couples discussing how to stretch the family budget, the disagreements that under the stress of the moment escalate into arguments and can at times explode into violence. I think of the single parents who have to weather this crisis alone. My heart aches for all these families. Anyone who has experienced a job loss knows some of the pains.  The news of job losses brings back memories of a time when, during an…

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Jan 16
2

The Meaning of Love

By | Catholic Weddings, Communication, Family Life, Marriage Enrichment, Meaning of Marriage, Romance, Uncategorized | One Comment

By John Bosio A few months ago I received an unsolicited email message entitled “The Meaning of Love.” The author had collected many definitions of love given by young children, ages four to eight years old. Here are three that caught my attention: “When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” “Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” “Love is when mommy gives daddy the best piece of chicken.” These are truly examples of love that is self-giving through which couples imitate Christ in their everyday life, and when they do they are an example to others, especially to their children, of God’s love. Love…

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Nov 19
0

5 Steps to a Couple’s Spiritual Resolution by Lindsay Schlegel

By | Communication, Family Life, Marriage Enrichment, New Year's Resolutions, Romance, Spirituality | No Comments

“What’s your New Year’s resolution?” Perhaps this question will circulate around your dinner table this Christmas, or at least while you wait for the ball to drop and draw the calendar year to a close. It could be that you already have a healthy habit in mind or that there’s some vice you’re hoping to weed out in 2019. On the other hand, maybe this question only brings to mind fancy gym memberships that will languish by mid-February. The “you” in the question is typically in the singular and it could be that’s why so many resolutions fail so quickly. Lasting change depends on solid motivations and reliable accountability. Without these it can be hard to forge on when obstacles come our way. Rethinking this question in the plural presents unique opportunities for both this life and also the one hereafter. This year, try approaching resolutions this way: How can…

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Feb 11
0
Introduction to Natural Family Planning

What Everybody Ought to Know About Natural Family Planning

By | Family Life, Sexual Intimacy and NFP | No Comments

We are happy to welcome Josh and Stacey Noem as guests at Together for Life Online. Here they share a brief introduction to Natural Family Planning (NFP) based on their experience working with couples preparing for marriage. Working with couples in marriage preparation, we always get to the conversation about how the couple intends to plan their family. More often than not, the man goes silent and looks at the woman to see how she will respond. Kind of odd. It’s not as though women are capable of fertility alone. Quite the contrary, the gift of fertility in marriage, by its very nature, is shared. We can have no fertility without our spouses. It is not my fertility or your fertility. There is only our fertility. So, why should a man leave all of the planning about fertility to the woman? It is hard to blame the men. So much…

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Jul 10
1
Couple to Couple League

8 Websites and Blogs to Help You Learn More About Natural Family Planning (NFP)

By | Family Life, Marriage Enrichment, Sexual Intimacy and NFP | 6 Comments

Having prepared for a marriage in the Catholic Church, you are likely to be familiar with the Church’s teachings about contraception and Natural Family Planning (NFP). For many couples, their marriage preparation sessions are their first introduction to these teachings causing them to look for more information. The websites listed below should help couples gain a deeper understanding of why the Church supports NFP and how couples can integrate it into their lives. Couple to Couple League For years the Couple to Couple League (CCL) has been the leading organization for promoting the proper use of Natural Family Planning. Their website includes a host of resources to explore including the opportunity to sign up for CCL classes. CreightonModel.com The Creighton Model is a popular NFP method used by many Natural Family Planning practitioners. Their website gives a nice overview of the details of the Creighton Model and how to use it. The key, however, is…

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Apr 03
0
Catholic Infertility Webinar

Catholic Infertility Webinar

By | Family Life, Sexual Intimacy and NFP | No Comments

When entering into marriage, many couples do not realize the challenges of trying to have a child. Infertility is a cross that affects one in six couples in the United States. Amid all of the emotions that come with experiencing infertility, Catholic couples face additional confusion, worry, and frustration as they explore the medical options available to them. Recently Ave Maria Press hosted a webinar featuring authors Angelique Ruhi-López and Carmen Santamaría, who experienced firsthand the challenges of infertility. Angelique Ruhi-López and Carmen Santamaría are the authors of the new book The Infertility Companion for Catholics: Spiritual and Practical Support for Couples. This resource is the first book to address the medical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of infertility, but also focuses on the particular needs of Catholic couples who want to understand and follow the Church’s teaching on the use of assisted reproductive technology, the most common of which is in…

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