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Can Catholics French kiss before marriage? After Elizabeth Busby’s Theology of the Body Institute answer and Christian B. Wagner’s response, “No, You Can’t Kiss Your Girlfriend,” sparked a Catholic internet debate, Renzo and Monica enter the conversation as a married Catholic couple.
Is passionate kissing always sinful outside of marriage? Is arousal the same as lust? And what does chastity actually require from dating and engaged couples who are trying to love one another well?
This is a conversation about French kissing before marriage, Catholic dating, Theology of the Body, desire, chastity, and why marriage does not simply make using another person acceptable.
Follow us on Instagram @twobecomefamily.
Looking for some accompaniment when it comes to talk about sex with your spouse?, Check out our book and order Lovemaking: How to talk about sex with your spouse
Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children
Don't forget to visit https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/
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In this episode, Renzo and Monica pause their regular series to talk about Pope Leo’s latest encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, through the lens of marriage and family life.
This is not meant to be a full summary of the document. It is an invitation to read it. But as we worked through the encyclical, we kept seeing how much Pope Leo’s reflections on human dignity, artificial intelligence, technology, algorithms, and the attention economy matter for Catholic families.
The rebuilding of society starts in the home. The family is where a child first learns who he is, what he is worth, and what it means to be loved. That matters even more in a world where technology is forming imagination, attention, self-worth, and desire.
We talk about why parents cannot afford to ignore AI, why filters and blockers are not enough, how the attention economy exploits vulnerability, and why AI can imitate care but can never actually love us.
We also discuss how marriage and family life teach our children the difference between a tool and a person, between quick answers and real relationships, and between being managed by technology and being formed in love.
To read the full ten points from the encyclical, visit our accompanying article on Substack.
Follow us on Instagram @twobecomefamily.
Looking for some accompaniment when it comes to talk about sex with your spouse?, Check out our book and order Lovemaking: How to talk about sex with your spouse
Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children
Don't forget to visit https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/
Support the show

Send us Fan Mail
What happens when you go into marriage expecting your spouse to make you happy, fix your wounds, or finally give your life the meaning you’ve been looking for?
In this episode, we talk about why your spouse was never meant to be your savior. Marriage is not just two people coexisting, splitting chores, raising kids, and trying to stay comfortable. For Catholics, marriage is a sacramental journey toward Jesus. That means romance, joy, friendship, suffering, healing, sacrifice, and grace all belong inside the story.
We also talk about the “pictures” we carry into marriage, how shows like Boy Meets World shaped our expectations, why marriage can feel disappointing when our picture is wrong, and why Jesus has to be more than an add-on in marriage formation.
Looking for some accompaniment when it comes to talk about sex with your spouse?, Check out our book and order Lovemaking: How to talk about sex with your spouse
Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children
Don't forget to visit https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/
Support the show

Send us Fan Mail
Send share this episode with a priest who walks with couples! Or share it with a young person, engaged couple, or married couple that wishes the Church gave them more guidance. 
We try walking with couples about sex, that's why we wrote this book to help Order Lovemaking: How to talk about sex with your spouse
Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children
Don't forget to visit https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/
Support the show

Send us Fan Mail
On Tuesday 28 April 2026, the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life will hosted a study day asking:
"How can the Church form pastors capable of accompanying young people, engaged couples, and spouses so that they live Christian marriage as an authentic experience of faith in a cultural context marked by secularization? Several speakers addressed that question, including Father Andrea Bozzolo, rector of the Pontifical Salesian University."
No one invited us, BUT we still wanted to add our two cents on how the Church could do a better job accompanying young people, engaged, couples, and married people.
Catholic marriage is not just a beautiful idea. It is a sacrament lived through sex, sacrifice, fertility, exhaustion, money, children, resentment, forgiveness, prayer, and the daily choice to love someone who is also being slowly sanctified by God at the same time. Catholic couples need understanding and guidance, not sentimental language. If the Church wants to really accompany people, they need to shift away from, giving couples a romanticized theology of marriage because, though good and true, it ultimately leaves them feeling alone with the actual work of becoming one flesh.
Send share this episode with a priest who walks with couples! Or share it with a young person, engaged couple, or married couple that wishes the Church gave them more guidance. 
We try walking with couples about sex, that's why we wrote this book to help Order Lovemaking: How to talk about sex with your spouse
Our other books
Go To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. Joseph
Go To Joseph For Children
Don't forget to visit https://twobecomefamily.substack.com/
Support the show