Marriage and Family Resources
There are so many Catholic resources out there for pre-marriage, marriage, and families (your family begins the moment you get married)! This is definitely going to be a constant work in progress. As the list grows, we pray that you won’t be intimidated by it all, as we once were by how much is out there. See it as a blessing! Our faith has such a rich depository to choose from that can speak to each of our unique circumstances, needs, and seasons. So don’t feel like you have to be involved in everything here to have a fruitful journey! We are firm believers that when you’re heart is open to the journey, God will lead you to what will help you each step of the way. For us personally, we find ourselves diving into different prayers and resources depending on our season.
If you have any resources, prayers, devotions, etc. that you’d like to share, we’d love to post it here!
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Pearl & Thistle
Here is another powerhouse of a Catholic mother who has spent over a decade advocating for body literacy - Christina Valenzuela! Scroll down her home page and you’ll get the idea that her conversation around women’s cycles isn’t just for fertility. Her courses and resources are meant to open up the conversation about God’s design for our body for teens, single women, women in consecrated life, the Church (i.e. ministries, priests, RCIA), and women bearing crosses of infertility, loss of a spouse, or approaching menopause. Christina emphasizes that body literacy is for everyone as they are ‘aid to holiness.’ I know for our family, we’ll definitely be opening up the conversation of female anatomy, fertility, and reproduction with our girl with Christina’s course - Cycle Prep. No more letting the world teach our children about our sacred sexuality!
Elizabeth Clare Blog
We stumbled upon this ‘die hard Protestant’ (her words!) turned Catholic blog by a lovely woman named Elizabeth Clare who clearly loves her faith! She has created a TREASURE TROVE of resources for Catholic families that we highly recommend. There you can find anything from information of all the different Catholic Homeschool schools and programs out there, to creative gifts for dad and the kiddos, to very honest and transparent thoughts on topics like mass expectations when going to church with your little ones, to ideas on how to live out the Catholic liturgical year in the home, to at-home Catholic library suggestions…and so much more! We’ll be pinning her blog as a featured post just because all the amazing resources she’s put together - for free!
Femme Fertility (a Natural Family Planning service)
This is a natural family planning (NFP) service that we are using ourselves! NFP, stated in Femme Fertility’s FAQs is “approved by the Catholic Church Church for use by Catholic married couples to avoid or achieve pregnancy.” It is a beautiful way of collaboratively planning your family naturally by understanding how it is that God created us. There are a number of methods - Femme Fertility uses the Marquette Method. Our lovely friend Christina with Pearl and Thistle gives a great explanation of NFP and the various methods if you’re seeking to start this journey with your future or current spouse. For candid conversations about the purpose and their experience with NFP, check out our Jackie & Bobby post too!
Use our coupon code SETAPART to receive 10% off any course on the Femme Fertility site!
Springs in the Desert (An infertility ministry)
A beautiful and much needed ministry to journey with those who are struggling with infertility. The vocation of marriage is not one void of challenges, and for any struggling with infertility, we pray that this ministry will speak to your hearts in understanding what it means to be life-giving. This Catholic ministry also serves as advocates to help ‘pastors, diocesan offices, and healthcare professionals’ become more aware of those carrying this cross.
Reclaim Sexual Health
Talk about the redemptive and healing love of God! This program was developed by a Catholic couple, whose marriage was deeply challenged by the husband’s addiction to pornography. The wife was one day led to a recovery program for pornography addiction based on brain research performed at Harvard. All previous methods of recovery failed and they finally understood why, as his addiction had essentially rewired his brain. They now have a program of their own. How amazing God is to take our darkest storms, our struggles with evil, and use them for good, to help others suffering in the same way.
The Wisephone
As we think about the future parental decisions we’re to make for the newest addition to our family, one thing we agreed on is to give our kids not-so-smart phones. There are so many options out there, but the Wisephone is one that we have our eyes on. Stealing from their features/comparison chart, features include: porn free, complete parental insight, call and message visibility, location tracking and a wonderful list of no’s - no ads, no social media, no ‘Big Tech’ spying. Below is an interview on Pints with Aquinas with the creators.
Catholic Rural Life
For anyone thinking about or currently living the rural life, this is definitely a community you want to check out and/or become a part of. We were surprised to find it ourselves - so cool!
33 Days to Morning Glory
Sandra and Paul did this consecration journey 33 days before their marriage, where they did the consecration (on Day 33) within their wedding mass. Their relationship with Our Blessed Mother changed and continues to grow because of this book that takes you on a daily journey teaching you about the role Our Mother can play in our lives when we let her, which was admittedly unclear and confusing for Sandra and Paul. The daily reflections and prayers do not take longer than 10 minutes to do each day and is an amazing journey to take as a couple at any point! Consecration to Momma Mary (as Sandra says) can seem intense and scary, but it’s actually quite the opposite! It opens the door to a beautiful relationship that allows her to help us in our spiritual journeys. Momma Mary is truly the secret weapon to vibrantly living out the Catholic faith, as proven by the lives of the many saints that allowed her to walk with them, most familiarly, St. Pope John Paul II. As the first hand witness to her Son’s ministry on earth and ultimately His suffering for us, Our Mother wants nothing more than to help us grow closer to her Son and advocates on our behalf to Him in a way that no one else can.
Covenant Eyes
A sensor app to help those struggling with pornography, that can be used to create a porn-free environment for your family as well as help loved ones who may be battling this addiction. Not only is it a sensor, it also provides educational and coaching content to help those on the journey away from addiction.
Fitness Blender
We’ve been working out with this couple since their humble beginnings on YouTube! We just find them to be a reliable fitness resource for clean, effective, formal-education-informed workouts - ranging anywhere from intense HIIT routines, weightlifting, low-impact, yoga, pilates, prenatal - you name it! They have plenty available for free too, which is so generous of them!
Jackie & Bobby
A wonderful Catholic couple that speaks frankly about how to uphold the gift of sexuality before and in marriage, including discussions on contraceptives, chastity (even in marriage), natural family planning, dealing with a partner’s sexual past, healthy relationships with others of the opposite sex during marriage, and more!
Pints with Aquinas
Matt Fradd really does an amazing job bringing on speakers from different faiths, perspectives, and those with deep knowledge of the Catholic Faith. It’s a trusted channel for getting amazing, in-depth answers to questions that we even have about the faith.
Sandra & Paul’s Soundcloud Playlists
We love music! And we came to discover that we needed music to help fill a void when we were transitioning away from music that had lyrics that were not so good for the soul. We needed Soulfood Music! We knew that the contemporary praise and worship scene was always going to be there, but surely there had to be other music out there that we could vibe and dance to! So we created a few playlists on Soundcloud with lo-fi, r&b, soul, afrobeat, reggae, dancehall, soca, house, and funk! The music in the playlists aren’t certifiably Catholic per say, but the artists surely did help us in our journey to the faith and continue to help us stay on track :)