Marriage – The Inner Life – January 23, 2025

Fr. Dave Heney joins Patrick to discuss Marriage

  • (3:23) What is Marriage defined by the Church?
  • What is the matter and form of marriage?
  • (18:12) Shana – My husband and I married 33 years. Married in American Catholic Church not Roman. I just wanted to share what we’ve been through now as we pursue to get the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church.

(22:01) Break 1

  • (23:50) John – My wife and I are Catholic. 3 kids. Want Father’s perspective on the whole idea on holding off and practicing NFP. Having the 3rd was challenging…wife had postpartum depression.
  • Barbara – We have to work to fortify our marriage and strength in the Lord as time goes on. Worked in the Diocese of Phoenix in marriage prep for over 13 years.
  • (30:51) Maria – I was baptized in the church and married in the church. Husband died last year. I am now single. I have a suitor who is Maronite Catholic. As a Roman Catholic, I can get married in an Eastern Church. How does that work between Roman and Maronite Catholic church? Is it possible for a couple to married sacramentally?
  • John – Married 45 years. We’re called to suffer. Could marriage be source of suffering? Not trying to be disrespectful.

(37:46) Break 2

  • (39:41) James – Wife is in process of divorcing me. How do I maintain the marital relationship, the love for her, when she keeps pushing me away and says she doesn’t want to be with me? In a sacramental marriage?
  • Maria – Question regarding children who are living together. How should I advise them. Should I tell them to get married or tell them they shouldn’t live together? They have a 2.5 year old child.
Patrick Conley was born, raised, and baptized in Wisconsin in a Protestant tradition. After meeting his wife, Kendra, through an Evangelical ministry at the University of Minnesota, they entered the Catholic Church in 2010. They listened to Relevant Radio, specifically The Inner Life, while preparing to enter the Church. Conley now holds a degree in theology from Oxford University and has served the Church in both academic theology and grassroots pastoral ministry. Conley teaches religion classes in a Catholic elementary school, serves as his parish Director of Religious Education, and is in formation for the permanent diaconate. He also hosts Practicing Catholic on Relevant Radio, exclusive to the Minneapolis area’s airwaves, and is a traveling presenter for the Catherine of Siena Institute apostolate. He lives in rural Wisconsin with his wife and their bulldogs, Georgie and Bingley.