Family Honor programs bring parents and their children together to discuss the true meaning of love, chastity, fertility, friendship, true self-worth, sexuality and much more in an age-appropriate manner. It is always gratifying to hear about the positive impact our programs have on families. Read what three families had to say about their experience with Family Honor!

“We would recommend the Family Honor program to anyone with children. We thought the program was well done and very, very informative. The presentation, including the audience participation, etc., was right on target. The program really made our daughter think about chastity in a different and more complete way. As parents we also completed the program more informed and with a better understanding of this most important virtue. We hope to have our two younger daughters participate in the program when they come of age. Again, thanks for a top notch program!”
–David & Kathy Mikolajczyk

“I recently went to a wonderful program with my 12 year old daughter put on by Family Honor, Inc. called Real Love & Real Life. It was probably the best thing I have ever done with and for her. The program was all about making good decisions as a young person in regards to sexuality and growing as a whole person designed in the image of God. I could have used something like this before I was in high school!”
–Ohio Parent

“We had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Family Honor program with our 14 year old son at St. Andrew Parish. This is a priceless education for families about the value of human life, the virtue of chastity, and the importance of personal respect. The Family Honor program is recommended for all teens and their parents – especially during the most vulnerable time in a teen’s young adult life. As a family, together we learned how to communicate more effectively with each other and in a respectful manner. Our son has learned that communication is the key in all relationships. Our teenage children are now more comfortable in discussing personal issues with us that concern them. As parents, we have learned to listen to them and guide them more effectively.

The Family Honor Team was energetic, informative, and kept all participants involved. We are glad we participated in the Family Honor program and would highly recommend it to any parent with teenage children.”
–Scott & Regina Heddinger
St. Andrew Parishioners

In his homily on January 15, 2012, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York gave a sermon that got a lot of attention. At the beginning of his homily he said, “I’m going to preach about sex!” Now…hopefully we have your attention!

In a reflection of that Sunday’s second reading from the first Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, Archbishop Dolan told the congregation that “chastity and purity is the virtue by which we integrate God’s wisdom about the joy, the beauty, the responsibility and the nobility of sexual love.” He said that human sexual love should have the same characteristics as divine love – that it should be forever, faithful, and life-giving. “Thus, the Lord intends that sexual love occur ONLY within the life-long, life-giving, faithful loving bond between a man and a woman in marriage.”

The soon-to-be cardinal admitted that he had to force himself to preach on this topic even though it made him uncomfortable, and asked publicly, “why are we reluctant to extol the magnificent virtues of chastity and purity?” Dolan said that those virtues are “hugely ignored” because they are countercultural. Anyone who tries to live out those virtues can expect temptations and ridicule. “The one who, with God’s grace and mercy, tries his or her best to be pure and chaste, is often thought of not as a hero…but as a freak in our culture today.”

The archbishop proposes that we Catholics try to regain the upper ground on chastity and purity; to recapture the true meaning of sexual love and re-present it to ourselves and to a world that has, very sadly, reduced sexual love to the cultures most popular contact sport.

Listen to Archbishop Dolan’s homily here.

Family Honor is excited to announce that we are co-hosting a national conference this summer that will be a new exploration of theology of the body.

In conjunction with the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina, we invite you to attend the Theology of the Body for Families: Hope and Healing conference which will take place on Friday, July 6 and Saturday, July 7, 2012 near Greenville, South Carolina, at St. Mary Magdalene parish in Simpsonville.

This marks the 4th national Theology of the Body Conference Family Honor has co-sponsored and is another way that Family Honor is serving and supporting families. Theology of the Body for Families: Hope and Healing will offer a variety of workshops, engaging and informative talks, networking and fellowship opportunities, adoration, Reconciliation, Mass, exhibits, meals, and much more!

We are pleased that The Most Reverend Robert E. Guglielmone, bishop of Charleston, SC will be a part of this special summer event. We have also lined some amazing speakers that include:

• Dr. Janet Smith, Theology of the Body expert and speaker;
• Fr. Thomas Loya, popular Theology of the Body writer and speaker;
• Katrina Zeno, Co-Founder of Women of the Third Millennium and Theology of the Body speaker and author;
• Dr. Ray Guarendi, clinical psychologist, speaker, author and father of 10;
• Damon Owens, newly appointed director of the Theology of the Body Institute;
• Dr. Bob Schuchts, co-founder of the Theology of the Body Healing and Training Center
• … and many more!

You won’t want to miss this exciting and empowering conference! Make plans now to join us in the Greenville area this summer to be a part of Theology of the Body for Families: Hope and Healing. Be sure to check FamilyHonor.org regularly for registration information (including Early Bird registration discounts); additional speaker information; hotel information; conference schedule including workshops and general sessions; and details about a special VIP Reception.

Only 51 percent of American adults are currently married — a record low — down from 72 percent in 1960, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census data.

There are three major factors behind these trends.

First, the number of never-married Americans has nearly doubled, from 15 percent to 28 percent, from 1960 to 2010. Pew said that many couples are cohabiting instead of marrying because “they fear divorce.” Why? Many are adult children of divorce who do not want to live through such pain again.

Read more…

MELBOURNE, Australia, December 12, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A study carried out by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne has found that adolescent boys who have a father figure in their lives are significantly less likely to engage in subsequent delinquent behavior than are their peers with no father in their lives.

“The sense of security generated by the presence of a male role model in a youth‟s life has protective effects for a child, regardless of the degree of interaction between the child and father,” said Professor Deborah Cobb-Clark, Director of the Melbourne Institute and lead author of the study.

Read more…

November 30, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Newsweek magazine, a rather pedestrian organ of American liberal sensibility, has been compelled to admit the obvious: Americans are addicted to sex in large numbers. Surprisingly enough, the magazine even goes so far as to admit that at least some homosexual activity is related to sex addiction.

Some hair-raising statistics from Newsweek’s “The Sex Addiction Epidemic”: 40 million people a day are logging into porn websites, (about 13% of the US population). Up to 9 million may qualify under the strict clinical definition of a “sex addict.” Psychologists specializing in the the disorder have multiplied from 100 a decade years ago to over 1,500 today.

Read more…

VATICAN, December 14, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A ringing endorsement of parents’ “absolute right and Divine duty to educate their children about human sexuality” was presented in the November 23 edition of the weekly Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.

Writer Edmund Adamus, the Director of the Department for Pastoral Affairs of the Diocese of Westminster in London, England warns: “For countless decades, Catholic parents have appropriated the habit of delegating their un-renounceable and irreplaceable educative role in this arena to the Catholic school, and then largely forgetting about it.”

Read more…

Vatican paper article backs parents over schools as educators in sexual matters

Newsweek admits the obvious: America is in the grip of sex addiction

Study Shows Fatherless Boys More Prone to Delinquency

Let’s revive marriage in America

More news…

We have started off 2012 with a great deal of activity and will be serving hundreds of families this year through our family-centered programs, our unique, college-level online course, and our easily-accessible resources. In the next two months our talented Family Honor presenters will offer nine Real Love & Real Life programs and six Changes & Challenges programs. These programs will be offered in four states: Georgia, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.

Our unique online course, The Truth and Meaning of Sexuality, Love and Family begins a new semester this month with 13 students hailing from eight states. Our students are from Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Massachusetts, Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. The Truth and Meaning of Sexuality, Love and Family will provide these students with an understanding of the core truths of sexuality, love, and family as defined by Sacred Scripture, tradition and natural law. Family Honor’s goal is for this course to serve as a solid foundation for authentic formation of men and women in their dignity as images of God.

Please join us in praying for the families who will attend an upcoming program as well as those students participating in our online course.