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Forever Love: Julia Dezelski

From Julia Dezelski's vantage point, while the U.S. is very different state to state, the challenges and opportunities facing marriages are the same.

Julia Dezelski, Assistant Director for Marriage, Family and Laity at United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), sits down with Darnell Miller, Creative Director of MAX Studios at University of St. Thomas-Houston, to discuss the Marriage Catechumenate Summit and the state of marriage in the U.S. Julia shares how she thinks the foundation of revitalizing marriage in the U.S. begins with children and the family, and how the bishops support and challenge the laity to be advocates for this special vocation.

This interview is bonus content from the Marriage Catechumenate Summit that took place at Circle Lake Retreat Center near Houston, Texas in June 2023. This continues a series of interviews with Catholic marriage experts in North America who attended the summit. A mini-documentary of the summit will be released at the end of the interview series.

 

USCCB COMMITTEE: Laity, Marriage, Family Life, & Youth

Called to the Joy of Love: National Pastoral Framework for Marriage and Family Life Ministry

Catechumenal Pathways for Married Life

Forever Love: J.P. DeGance

Studying the rise and fall of marriage in the U.S. has helped J.P. DeGance understand what is at the core of people leaving Christian churches.

MAX Studios Creative Director Darnell Miller talks with J.P. DeGance, author, researcher and President and Founder of Communio, about his findings from the Nationwide Study on Faith & Relationships and how we can do better to serve the loneliest people in church pews.

This interview is bonus content from the Marriage Catechumenate Summit that took place at Circle Lake Retreat Center near Houston, Texas in June 2023. This continues a series of interviews with Catholic marriage experts in North America who attended the Marriage Catechumenate Summit. A mini-documentary of the summit will be released at the end of the interview series.

J.P. DeGance

Communio

The Nationwide Study on Faith and Relationships

J.P. DeGance on Jacksonville’s Divorce Decline: 5 Questions With Family Studies

Forever Love: Bishop Brendan Cahill

Marriage enrichment encompasses more than just the couple - it's the whole family. Following an energetic small group discussion at the Marriage Catechumenate Summit, Bishop Brendan Cahill, in the Diocese of Victoria, TX, discusses how to evangelize the whole family.

This interview is bonus content from the Marriage Catechumenate Summit that took place at Circle Lake Retreat Center near Houston, Texas in June 2023. Bishop Cahill shares about the value of engaging young families and how it's important to take seriously the questions of young people, and even teaching them philosophy.

This is a part of a series of interviews with Catholic marriage experts in North America who attended the Marriage Catechumenate Summit. A mini-documentary of the summit will be released at the end of the interview series.

Bishop Brendan Cahill

Witness to Love

Preparing Missionary Disciples w/ Dave Plisky of DeSales Media | Understanding Our Apostolic Age

How do we prepare people to have the skills and confidence they need to be missionary disciples, share their faith and invite others into it too? That has been the focus of Dave Plisky and DeSales Media. So they put together a questionnaire and asked people to evaluate their preparedness and identify ways they would like to develop their missionary skills. In this conversation Dave and Darnell Miller, Creative Director of MAX Studios at the University of St. Thomas - Houston, sit down and discuss the findings of that report.

Learn more about DeSales Media and read their report.

Masculinity & Evangelization w/ Dcn. Michael Halbrook & Nick Meyer | Understanding Our Apostolic Age

Every year, in the 90 days leading up to Easter, the team at Exodus invite Catholic men across the world to deepen their spiritual life by participating in a challenge, Exodus 90, that draws men away from distractions in life - social media, video games and television amongst others - and prompts them to engage in a series of ascetic, spiritual and communal activities to transform their lives and deepen their relationship with God.

Darnell Miller, Creative Director at MAX Studios, sat down with Deacon Michael Halbrook, Exodus' COO, and Nick Meyer, Exodus' Head of Growth, to discuss the importance of understanding true masculinity and the importance of community and friendship.

Learn More about Exodus

The Beam in Our Eye w/ Sam Mazzarelli | Understanding our Apostolic Age

We must know our strengths and weaknesses before we can become better evangelists. At least that is the thesis behind the Catholic Leadership Institute's mission. In this episode, MAX Studios' Creative Director, Darnell Miller, sits down with Sam Mazzarelli, Vice President, Innovation and Development at Catholic Leadership Institute, to learn how they are working with parishes to identify their blind spots and help them better serve their community while preparing them to serve others.

Learn more about Sam Mazzarelli and Catholic Leadership Institute

The Art of Serving the Deaf Community w/ Fr. Sean Loomis | Understanding Our Apostolic Age

While in seminary, Fr. Sean Loomis, Chaplain Annunciation B.V.M Rectory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was approached and asked if he would be willing to learn American Sign Language and serve the Deaf community. He accepted and his since gone on to learn, understand and participate in their language and culture.

In this episode, Darnell and Fr. Loomis discuss the challenges that come with serving a new community and explore how the lessons Fr. Loomis learned in serving the Deaf community can be applied in any mission.

Learn more about Fr. Sean Loomis and his ministry

Accompanying Parents Through Loss w/ Kelly Breaux | Understanding our Apostolic Age

After losing a child of her own, Kelly Breaux realized there was not sufficient support in her church community. So she set out to create Red Bird Ministries, where she trains others, priests and lay alike, to accompany families through the struggles that come with miscarriage and loss of a child.

In the this conversation, Kelly shares her story of loss, why she believes it is important to empower the priests to accompany families and what she has learned in serving.

Learn more about Red Bird Ministries

What Does it Mean to Live in an Apostolic Age w/ Jason Simon | Understanding Our Apostolic Age

We are in the midst of an Apostolic Age.

But what does that mean?

We headed to Dallas to attend The Evangelical Catholic's Conference: Priests for An Apostolic Age to find out. There we had the opportunity to talk to experts - lay and religious - about what it means to live in an apostolic age and how they are using their ministries to "Go Out" and reach people for Christ.

In this first episode we talk to Jason Simon, the President of The Evangelical Catholic, and organizer of this conference, about what it means to be in an apostolic age and why it is important to empower priests to develop new styles and tactics for outreach. We also discuss the fundamental shift of our understanding of parish life that needs to happen if we are going to prepare the laity to go out and evangelize.

Learn more about The Evangelical Catholic

Around the Halo: Season 2, Episode 10

Episode 10 is here!

Inspired by the popular show on ESPN, Around the Horn, Around the Halo features four guests who weigh in on topics about sports, pop culture and the news.

In this episode, Little Flower Media COO Matt McClure is the host. Guests are Jonathan "Bearded Blevins," CEO of Little Flower Media, Darnell Miller, Creative Director of MAX Studios at University of St. Thomas-Houston, Joel Stepanek, Chief Mission Officer for the National Eucharist Congress, author and speaker. Our is special guest Fr. Victor, a priest at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Here are the chapters:
1:05 Intros
6:00 Joel Pandering
7:24 99 Luftballoons
14:24 State of Awkward
22:54 Darkness My Old Friend
31:44 Hogwarts Heresy
42:45 Unholy-Moley
54:40 The Big Game

@BeardedBlevins

maxstudios@stthom.edu
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