Mystery of Parenthood

173 Principles for Raising Children of Character (Pt. 2)

Trey Cashion and Thaddeus Romansky finished up their discussion of a Catholic Education Resource Center article by Professor Thomas Lickona. (https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/marriage-and-family/parenting/raising-children-of-character-10-principles.html ) They covered his remaining 5 principles for raising children of character. In the 2004 article, Prof. Lickona intended his principles as guideposts for parents to prioritize character formation, which will then have by-products like academic and extracurricular engagement as well as religious conviction and practice. Here are the ten principles at a glance:
Make Character Development a High Priority
Be an Authoritative Parent
Love Children/Love as communication/Love as sacrifice
Teach by Example
Manage the Moral Environment
Use Direct Teaching to Form Habits and Conscience
Discipline Wisely
Solve Conflicts Fairly
Provide Opportunities to Practice the Virtues, and
Foster Spiritual Development.
As always, Trey and Thaddeus interwove examples from their own families and lives throughout this energetic discussion.

172 The Saints of Advent

Come along with host Trey Cashion on Tuesday, November 30, 2021 as we look at the saints of the Advent season, how you can venerate them, and how you came celebrate their feasts in your home and in your family. The saints spotlighted were St. Andrew, St. Nicholas, Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego, St. Lucy and, of course, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Get to know these feasts better and live liturgically. And remember to pray, parent with a purpose, and prepare for God to amaze you—and he will!

171 Principles for Raising Children of Character (Pt. 1)

Trey Cashion discusses with Thaddeus Romansky a Catholic Education Resource Center article (https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/marriage-and-family/parenting/raising-children-of-character-10-principles.html ) on ten principles to raise children of character by Thomas Lickona. In the 2004 article, it lists and explains the following:
Parenting is arguably the hardest job there is and the one for which we get no training. Here are ten principles of parenting that can guide us in the demanding work of raising children of character:
Make Character Development a High Priority
Be an Authoritative Parent
Love Children/Love as communication/Love as sacrifice
Teach by Example
Manage the Moral Environment
Use Direct Teaching to Form Habits and Conscience
Discipline Wisely
Solve Conflicts Fairly
Provide Opportunities to Practice the Virtues, and
Foster Spiritual Development.
As always, Trey and Thaddeus interweave examples from their own families and lives throughout this energetic discussion.

170 Virtue for Men and Women

On Tuesday, November 2, 2021--the Feast of All Souls--hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion delivered up the good news about how living virtuous lives can produce happiness for young men and young women. The Cashions were given an opportunity in the prior week to speak to Aggie freshmen who take part in St. Mary's Catholic Center's John 15 evangelization ministry for first-year students. Please give this episode a listen because there's always lots of laughter when Trey and Stephanie are together and you'll get some perspective on how to make virtue a part of the conversation in your family. Remember to pray, parent with a purpose, and prepare for God to amaze you! And he will!

169 Dr. Andrew and Sarah Swafford: Family--A Domestic Church

On Tuesday, October 26, 2021, hosts Trey and Stephanie Cashion had a great conversation with Dr. Andrew "Swaff" Swafford and his wife, Sarah. Like Trey and Stephanie, they are a Catholic husband-and-wife team that brings tremendous energy and great insight to the table. Andrew is a professor of theology at Benedictine College in Kansas and Sarah is a Catholic speaker in her own right, who also has a great Instagram (@sarahswafford18). They live in Atchison, KS, with their six children. The Swaffords will be speaking at the Diocese of Austin's first Together in Holiness Marriage Conference on Saturday, November 6, 2021, at St. William's Catholic Church in Round Rock. They will be giving two talks that day and they give you a sneak peek here on the Mystery of Parenthood! You can still register to attend by visiting togetherinholiness.org or emailing erin@forlifeandfamily.org. As always, remember to pray, parent with a purpose, and prepare for God to amaze you! And He will!

168 Adam Brill: A Deep Dive into the Liturgy (Part 2)

On Tuesday, October 19, 2021, Trey again welcomed Adam Brill to discuss the liturgical action of the Mass and how to bring this concepts into family conversations about our Faith. Adam is the liturgical coordinator for St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in College Station, TX and brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. In this two-part series, he and Trey especially focused on dissecting the concepts of sacrifice, consecration, celebration, and mystery. Remember to pray, parent with a purpose, and prepare for God to amaze you, and he will!

167 Adam Brill: A Deep Dive Into the Liturgy (Part 1)

On Tuesday, October 5, 2021, Trey welcomed Adam Brill to discuss the liturgical action of the Mass and how to bring this concepts into family conversations about our Faith. Adam is the liturgical coordinator for St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in College Station, TX and brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. In this two-part series, he and Trey especially focused on dissecting the concepts of sacrifice, consecration, celebration, and mystery. Remember to pray, parent with a purpose, and prepare for God to amaze you, and he will!

166 God Is Love

On Tuesday, September 14, host Trey Cashion talked about how God is love and how to get our children to gain a proper understanding of what love is.  Love is what holds our families together and how we as parents need to be challenged to be better at reflecting of what God's love is to our children. Remember to pray, parent with a purpose, and prepare for God to amaze you. And he will!

165 Two Questions to Ask Your Children Each Day

On Tuesday, September 7, host Trey Cashion followed up on his previous show's discussion about the research of Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith into "best practices" for passing on the Faith to our children. In this episode he discussed an article by Theresa Cervantes Barber, who recommends asking our children two critical questions each day in order to keep them on track. Trey built on Barber's insight by linking these questions to Our Lord's explication of the two greatest commandments in Matthew 22 and to His judgment of the nations in Matthew 25. Listen in and get all the great insights on offer. Remember to pray, parent with a purpose, and prepare for God to amaze you—and he will!

164 Four Keys to Your Children Keeping the Faith

On Tuesday, August 31, host Trey Cashion went through a great article on Aleteia (https://aleteia.org/2021/05/21/if-you-want-your-kids-to-stay-catholic-heres-what-matters-most/) based on the social science research of University of Notre Dame professor Christian Smith. Smith is interested in how families pass on their Catholic faith to their children and keep them in the Faith. It's a great conversation and you can take confidence too. One of the article's key take-aways (and good news) is that the influence and the example of parents really makes a difference in how children internalize and make religious faith their own. Our children are listening and watching us for how we live out our Faith and if it really matters to us!  Listen in and remember to pray, parent with a purpose, and prepare for God to amaze you. And he will!