Category: Marriage

Book Review: <i>Style, Sex, & Substance</i>
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Book Review: Style, Sex, & Substance

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by on May 14, 2012 in Columnists, Dating & Singles, Featured, Live in Christ, Marriage, Men, On Books, On the Job, Parenting, Women
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Style, Sex, & Substance: 10 Catholic Women Consider the Things that Really Matter, edited buy Hallie Lord, is full of spiritual truths and spunk! The ten women who each tackle a different current issue seem to hit most of the hot topics usually found splashed across the covers of women’s tabloids, but from a Catholic […]

<i>The Vow</i>: A Story of True Love
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The Vow: A Story of True Love

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by on May 04, 2012 in Featured, Marriage, On Media
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About a month ago, I went to see the movie The Vow fully prepared for it to be an overall disappointment.  It certainly delivered, except for one scene that actually makes the movie worth seeing. The mother tells her upset daughter that she stayed with her husband after learning of his lengthy affair because she […]

Is NFP Effective?
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Is NFP Effective?

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by on Apr 30, 2012 in Featured, Marriage
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Although there is less skepticism with regard to NFP’s effectiveness these days, Natural Family Planning still gets a bad rap from many in secular society. I’ve heard more than a few people say, “NFP didn’t work for us.” When the rules are followed, NFP can be 99 percent effective in avoiding pregnancy and works well […]

For Societal Well-Being, Marriage Foundational
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For Societal Well-Being, Marriage Foundational

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by on Apr 26, 2012 in Columnists, Featured, Marriage
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It’s official. Brad and Angelina are engaged, succumbing to pressure from family members to finally tie the knot. Back in the day, that pressure would have come from a worried mother, or more likely, a protective father and the business end of shotgun. But this is 2012. The family pressure to marry comes, in this […]

The Spiritual Consequences of Sterilization
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The Spiritual Consequences of Sterilization

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by on Apr 20, 2012 in Featured, Marriage
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Last year, on one of the morning shows, a couple was asked to carry a camcorder around while they debated and discussed their decision to have a vasectomy. After the births of three boys — the youngest only a few months old — they made the decision to go ahead and have a permanent solution […]

Mass Marriages
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Mass Marriages

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by on Apr 12, 2012 in Columnists, Featured, Live in Christ, Marriage
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The poor remodeler, he was so uncomfortable that I thought he might break into a sweat. In fact, he might already have been sweating, but I dared not look too closely, lest my scrutiny escalate his discomfort. He’d come to bid on our kitchen reconstruction and walked into more than he’d bargained for. However, the […]

Common Misconceptions About the Church and Sex
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Common Misconceptions About the Church and Sex

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by on Apr 05, 2012 in Featured, Marriage
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In today’s secular culture, there are some common misconceptions (pun intended) regarding the Church’s teachings on sex and marriage. I believe the following attitudes (in bold) illustrate that many modern Catholics, young and old alike, are poorly catechized, especially in this important area. The Church is preoccupied with sex. Actually, it is the world which […]

Why Opposing the Gay Lobby is Not Anti-Gay
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Why Opposing the Gay Lobby is Not Anti-Gay

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by on Apr 04, 2012 in Featured, Marriage, The Homosexual Agenda
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Earlier this month the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s (GLAAD) “Commentator Accountability Project” included me on their list of people who deserve special scrutiny before they can be engaged as commentators on the marriage debate. But it is organizations like GLAAD that need to be held accountable for the impact of their rhetoric on […]

Open Your Heart and Family to Love!
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Open Your Heart and Family to Love!

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by on Mar 29, 2012 in Contraception & Abortion, Featured, Marriage, MyChurchParish.com
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When our first son was born, my oldest daughter was 7.  She had been an only child for so long, we believed she might have some concerns and insecurities over this new addition.  I remember talking to her the night our son was born.  Mom was still in the hospital. I explained that the addition […]

The Church Wasn't Meant to be the "Cool Mom"
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The Church Wasn’t Meant to be the “Cool Mom”

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by on Mar 17, 2012 in Featured, Live in Christ, Marriage
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When I was asked to share my perspective on the HHS mandate, I thought there must be a mistake. Surely folks would rather hear from a good Catholic. A perfectly NFP-practicing, saved herself for marriage—five, six, seven-kid-having Catholic woman. That hasn’t exactly been my path. Not to mention, what could I possibly add to the […]

Reverencing our Spouses
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Reverencing our Spouses

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by on Mar 16, 2012 in Columnists, Featured, Marriage
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Some years back, Mark and I visited with friends of ours, an older couple for whom we had great admiration. Dick and Pat showed near perfect complementarity, worked like a team, and had a way of disagreeing without actually disagreeing. This couple had a way of filling the room with peace and joyful energy at […]

CL37 - hbratton notxt
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The Attack on the Family

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by on Mar 14, 2012 in Featured, Marriage, MyChurchParish.com, The Social Order
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Many of the most violent attacks on morality taking place today seem to be centered around questions of sexual morality. The controversies surrounding sex education in schools, acceptance of homosexual conduct, pornography, divorce, and, of course, the paramount matter of abortion—all these would seem to have sex as their common theme. But though all these […]

Attachment in Human Love
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Attachment in Human Love

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by on Mar 06, 2012 in Dating & Singles, Featured, Marriage
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Love between a man and a woman is one of the most beautiful things in the world. But what happens when the love you share with that person becomes the most important thing in your life? There is nothing more natural than wanting to be loved. We need it. We need it from our parents […]

How Spouses Can Live the Mass Together
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How Spouses Can Live the Mass Together

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by on Feb 22, 2012 in Columnists, Featured, Marriage, MyChurchParish.com
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The poor remodeler, he was so uncomfortable that I thought he might break into a sweat. In fact, he might already have been sweating, but I dared not look too closely, lest my scrutiny escalate his discomfort. He’d come to bid on our kitchen reconstruction and walked into more than he’d bargained for. However, the […]

Compatibly Incompatible
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Compatibly Incompatible

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by on Feb 18, 2012 in Columnists, Featured, Marriage
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At the time Mark and I became engaged, our diocese required couples to complete a six-month Pre-Cana program that involved meeting a few times with an older, more experienced couple, attending a one-day retreat, and taking a premarital inventory. We were excited to complete the program, because we wanted to start things off right. We […]

What is True Love?
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What is True Love?

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by on Feb 15, 2012 in Featured, Marriage
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This week a lot of tokens of affection were exchanged. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. I’m not going to begrudge anyone their cards, candy, and flowers. There’s even a time and place for diamonds. I’m quite fond of gifts that involve chocolate myself! But, it is important to realize that love, true love, […]

My Son the Matchmaker
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My Son the Matchmaker

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by on Feb 13, 2012 in Featured, Marriage
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This article is by Regina Rico Ferreira as told in Amazing Grace for Mothers. “Mommy, where’s my daddy?”  My four-year-old son Jacob asked me.  The question was a jolt to our leisurly Sunday afternoon walk together.  I always knew the question would one day come, but I was not expecting it so soon. “Dear God,” […]

My Better Half...The Coupon King
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My Better Half…The Coupon King

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by on Jan 31, 2012 in Featured, Marriage
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I certainly hit “pay dirt” when I met my husband thirty-two years ago. I could never have anticipated that the sexy man in the disco pants and silky shirt had so many unique talents. These gifts complement our family and me personally, in so many ways. For starters, I jokingly refer to him as the […]

The Crisis in American Marriage -- Catholic Division
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The Crisis in American Marriage — Catholic Division

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by on Jan 26, 2012 in Columnists, Featured, Marriage, MyChurchParish.com
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I was chatting with a priest who is a judge with the marriage tribunal of his large Eastern diocese when he shared an interesting tidbit of information. In his diocese and the other dioceses of his state, the number of requests for marriage annulments has lately fallen by 10%. Good news? Fewer marriages on the […]

Conjugal Love is Not an Act of the Will
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Conjugal Love is Not an Act of the Will

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by on Jan 19, 2012 in Featured, Marriage
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A couple of years ago, a well-known and highly regarded apologist sent his subscriber list an email article about finding a spouse.   He began by explaining that when he was young, he made the mistake of thinking that liking and loving were basically the same thing, with the latter being just a more intense version […]

Signs the Secular Left is Facing Up to the U.S. Marriage Crisis
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Signs the Secular Left is Facing Up to the U.S. Marriage Crisis

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by on Jan 12, 2012 in Columnists, Featured, Marriage
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Is it possible that secular liberals, some of them anyway, are starting to realize  that knocking the supports out from under traditional marriage may not be such a great idea? If so, and if their next step is to think seriously about how to halt this destructive process, it will be the dawning of a […]

One Percent or 33: America's Real Inequality Problem
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One Percent or 33: America’s Real Inequality Problem

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by on Jan 11, 2012 in Featured, Marriage, The Economy
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The American economy remains sluggish and, from all over the political spectrum, particularly the left, people have turned their attention to inequality. The Occupy Wall Street movement, though without actual plans for reform, emphasizes the growing inequality between the top one percent and the 99 percent of Americans below them, with the implication that income […]

The Power of Stories in Teaching NFP
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The Power of Stories in Teaching NFP

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by on Dec 30, 2011 in Featured, Marriage
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After being married for almost two and a half years, I’m not sure men really “get” the power of stories. Perhaps it’s that difference in our brains ­— you know, the women’s-brains-are-like-spaghetti, men’s-brains-are-like-waffles theory. Whatever the cause, all I know is that when my husband has something to report to me, he generally does so […]

The Gift
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The Gift

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by on Nov 23, 2011 in Featured, Marriage
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I hadn’t felt normal for several days, so I decided to skulk into Wal Mart, snatch the first pregnancy test within reach off the shelf, and slide it under my purse, which was strategically awaiting its purpose, as a shield, within my cart.  I casually threw a tube of toothpaste into my cart while strolling […]