Messy Family Podcast : Catholic Conversations on Marriage and Family

Mike and Alicia Hernan center this Messy Family Podcast episode on Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical “God is love,” using Eros and Agape to explain marriage, Scripture, and the human desire for God.

Mike and Alicia Hernon interview Jake and Heather Khym on Catholic discipleship, parenting, and marriage.

Mike and Alicia Hernan start with a fear many parents know well: the worry that they are messing up their kids.

Mike and Alicia Hernon interview Clare Morell about her book 'Tech Exit', discussing the harms of smartphones and interactive screens on children's development.

Mike and Alicia Hernan reopen a conversation about parenting through the season of lots of little kids.

Mike and Alicia Hernan focus on bids for connection and why small moments matter in marriage and family life.

Mike and Alicia Hernan open with their familiar back-and-forth.

The podcast opens with Mike and Alicia Hernan talking with Catherine McCulloch about Hannah's Children and the question of meaning, children, and faith.

Mike and Alicia Hernan start with family updates and a recent niece's wedding before moving into Lent and prayer.

Mike and Alicia Hernan start the year with a re-release about intentional family life.

Mike and Alicia Hernan hand the microphone to their kids.

Mike and Alicia Hernan start with a hard question: why do so many kids feel anxious now?

Mike and Alicia Hernon talk with Father Sean Monahan, a priest with the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, about his workshop "The Path to Healing our Broken Hearts" and why it matters for married couples.

Mike and Alicia Hernan use Field of Dreams, a Kevin Costner movie, as a frame for family life, fatherhood, and the legacy couples build over time.

Mike and Alicia Hernan open by marking the show’s 10th year and asking listeners which phrases from the podcast have actually stuck with them.

Mike and Alicia Hernan frame marriage around three human needs: identity, belonging, and mission, then narrow this episode to belonging in marriage.

Mike and Alicia Hernan open with laughter and bring Katie into a round of listener questions.

Mike and Alicia Hernan open MFP 368, “The Four Horsemen in Busy Marriages,” by describing how a wife’s concern and a husband’s busyness can turn into a spiral of hurt, criticism, and missed communication.

Mike and Alicia Hernan open Messy Family Podcast 351 by pushing back on the parenting slogan that parents should only “accompany” children, not lead them.

Mike and Alicia Hernan open by saying they have 10 kids and grandkids and are returning to the four parenting points from their first podcast, recorded 10 or 11 years ago.

Mike and Alicia Hernan talk about why marriage is foundational.

Mike and Alicia Hernon talk with Dr.

Messy Family Podcast episode 359, “How to Choose Toys for Christmas,” has Mike Hernan sidelined by sickness while Alicia Hernan and her sister Regina Doman build a toy-buying framework for parents.

Mike and Alicia Hernan, who say they have 10 kids and grandkids, frame this episode around a parental mission to answer children’s question “Who am I?” They connect identity to their recurring workshop themes of “identity, belonging and mission,” and say the parent’s job is to confer identity before a child is shaped by the world.

Mike and Alicia Hernan frame this Messy Family Podcast episode around the claim that marriages do not accidentally communicate well and that couples need deliberate habits.

Mike and Alicia Hernon answer pressing questions from a Midwest family conference, covering topics like handling family anger, defending Catholic values in a secular world, and improving dysfunctional dynamics.

Mike and Alicia Hernan open on a heavier note than usual.

Mike and Alicia Hernan frame Advent as the "mom Olympics" and talk with Emily Stimson Chapman, a best-selling Catholic author with 10 kids and grandkids, about family life, The Story of All Stories, and hospitality.

Mike and Alicia Hernan open MFP 365 by naming their family of 10 kids and grandkids and by apologizing for a missed stretch of episodes after a Catholic couples getaway in the Bahamas with 30 other couples.

Mike and Alicia Hernan open with their familiar welcome.

Mike and Alicia Hernon discuss how parents can regain authority when children take over the household, emphasizing healthy boundaries and Catholic family values.

Mike and Alicia Hernon discuss the Easter season and encourage families to celebrate and build their family culture through their Cana90 program.

Mike and Alicia Hernon interview Dr.

Mike and Alicia Hernon discuss how to invest deeply in teenagers' hearts and minds to successfully launch them into adulthood, drawing on their Catholic faith and experience as parents of ten.

Mike and Alicia Hernon interview a Catholic psychologist about strengthening marriage through understanding the Trinity and internal parts.

Mike and Alicia Hernon discuss summer activities and family life with guest Katie Gamboa on their Catholic parenting podcast.

Mike and Alicia Hernon interview singer-songwriter Andrew Peterson about his Wingfeather series and the importance of beauty in family life.

Mike and Alicia Hernon discuss parenting teenagers and the importance of loving them well as their children grow up.

Mike and Alicia Hernon discuss how parents can talk to their kids about sex and relationships from a Catholic perspective.

Mike and Alicia Hernon introduce a unique episode featuring a conversation with Alicia's sisters about family wisdom.