Blog
Practical wisdom, faith-filled insights, and real-world relationship advice for couples at every stage. Our blog offers practical tools and Catholic perspectives to help you love smarter. Explore topics including communication, fertility, forgiveness, spirituality, parenting, and more — authored by Francine & Byron Pirola and other guest contributers.
Twelve Ways of Christmas
Christmas is more than a day – it’s a season! It’s easy to overlook the birthday boy in the festivities of Christmas Day. When our…
More than “I’m Sorry”
Saying sorry and asking for forgiveness are two very different factors in resolving arguments. Saying Sorry is Simple We were in the midst of yet…
Going From Good To Better
Marital health is about more than minimizing conflict. If we want to go from ‘good’ to ‘better’ we need to capitalise on the positives. Most…
Three Ways to a Better Advent
The Church New Year begins with Advent and is a season of preparation ahead of the birthday of Jesus. Beginning four Sundays before Christmas Day,…
Knowing what to love
You can’t love what you don’t know. This saying has profoundly influenced our marriage and our faith. About once a decade we book tickets to…
Attachment Style and Marriage
Our earliest experiences of love and care profoundly influence what we each bring into our marriage. Attachment Theory illuminates how. As infants, we are completely…
The Growth Mindset
At our daughter’s recent award assembly, the school Principal addressed the topic of ‘Growth Mindset’. She noted how education was more than merely preparing students…
Together again… for stronger and better
Contrary to popular belief, separation does not always end in divorce. Well supported, the process of separation can help a couple address their problems and…
Sexual Integrity in a Messed-up World
Last month we convened a national symposium to explore how we, as a church community, might pastorally respond more effectively to those impacted by pornography.…
Three Tips for Trust
Relationships thrive when trust is strong. But how do we build it in the first instance, and then recover it if we’ve lost it? Here…
Marriage or Matrimony?
People call a lot of relationships ‘marriage’. Everything from cohabitation (common law marriage) to civil contracts (secular marriage) to the Judeo-Christian concept of covenant. In…
Making marriage last is all in the Intention
No matter how easy it may seem to fall in love, staying in love requires attention and effort. We all start out in marriage bright…
The Ecology of the Body
When we were preparing for marriage some decades ago, we undertook training in Fertility Awareness Methods (FAMs). As graduates in biological science, we got right…
Deep Impact Conversations
“How was your day?” It’s one of the most common questions couples ask each other and either leads to a dead-end response like, “fine” or…
Unplanned Childlessness
“My daughters are in their thirties. They always hoped to marry and planned to be starting a family by now. It is so hard to…