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.
Private Vows: Good Idea or Not?
With a son and two nieces presently engaged, there’s a lot of conversation about weddings in our household. One of the things that has come…
The Epic Battle in Every Marriage
If there is one thing that the seasons of Lent and Easter bring into focus, it’s the struggle between good and evil. At its heart,…
Finding Our Way to Heaven
We’ve been listening to Mike and Alicia Hernon’s podcast called Messy Families. One of their recurring messages for parents is: stop worrying about getting your…
Passion, Death, and Resurrection in Marriage
Every marriage has elements of passion, death, and resurrection. These seasons of growth, disillusionment and revitalisation are entirely normal, and to be expected. The problem…
Being God’s presence to those we Accompany
Pope Francis has called Catholic communities to accompany couples at various stages. What does accompaniment look like, and is there anything special about a Catholic…
Hear Me, Touch Me, Know Me
In relationships, the word ‘intimacy’ is often used as a euphemism for sex, but this is a very narrow and impoverished view. Some people have…
Gratitude: The Heart-beat of Love
New research validates age-old wisdom: the simple habit of gratitude can transform a jaded marriage into a joyous encounter. By Marilyn Rodrigues A University of…
Two Sides to Relationship Repair
Periods of disconnection are an unfortunate part of every marriage. Relationship Repair takes both an initiator and receiver. Disconnection has happened frequently in our marriage,…
Three Ways to a Resilient Marriage
We’ve been hearing from many of our SmartLoving leaders around the world looking for help in supporting couples under stress. There’s certainly lots of stress…
Stonewalling: A Silent Killer in Marriage
Stonewalling – aka ‘the silent treatment’ – is common in many marriages. Never helpful and poorly understood, we ignore it at our risk. Stonewalling is…
How Expectations Set Us Up for Trouble
When we look back on our early romance, we note how quick we were to trust each other, even recklessly so. We dived into the…
#21 Beyond Feelings
The world of feelings is vitally important to life and relationships. But what does current research and best practice tell us about how to understand…
Kiss to Connect
Many couples find the excitement of sex somewhat diminished within a few years of marriage. Their physical intimacy seems somehow perfunctory, unimaginative, even boring. Soon…
The Light of Bethlehem Heals
More than any other time of year, Christmas connects us with powerful childhood memories. For some, these are joyful: for many however, the memories are…
#20 The Good the Bad and the Ugly of Holiday Traditions
Whether it’s Christmas, Easter, Mothers/Fathers day, birthdays or Thanksgiving… holiday traditions can be a source of blessing or of grief. With our guest we unpack…