What is most vulnerable about you? Probably what is most vulnerable about me, or any other human. We know each others' weak spots, because we know where we are weak.

We name a fair number of them, though we don't pretend to having the exhaustive list. These are the things we talk about amongst people we trust, and the things we hide from people we don't.

As always, 

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Being human means we stand in relationship with others. In so standing, we are capable of being hurt. That capacity to be hurt is the risk we take in being in a relationship. 

This isn't to say that the reason to be in a relationship is to get hurt, but if we were un-hurt-able, we'd also be untouchable, and ultimately un-love-able.

Here is the link to the Brene Brown TED talk: https://youtu.be/iCvmsMzlF7o

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
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• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph

Every couple has a story, not every couple has a podcast to tell it on. Well, 73 episodes in, we did it-- we told our love story, with approximately 75% of the awkwardness and  ?% of the charm. 

We can't say we lived at every moment by every principle we talked about in  parts 1-7, but we can say that when we made it to the altar, we were free and clear about what we were getting into!

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph

Some popular questions about dating that have come up (or that we made up...) are questions about dating non-Catholics/non-Christians, and dating people with addictions/mental health issues/family of origin issues/relationship baggage. So we took a bit of time and addressed them.  I'd like to stress the 'little bit of time' part here, because these podcasts are meant to be conversation starters, rather than conversation end-all-and-be-alls. 

There's really two things to keep in mind-- we need to treat people as people, and not as labels, and we should be looking to see where people are going, not just where they are or where they have been. If we do those two things, we'll be able to be free and clear with those we date. 

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph

Sometimes, it seems that our culture gets  things out of order. In matters of romance, it seems especially liable to do so. We talk about when and why to get engaged, and a bit about how engagement is not a time for less freedom and clarity, but rather time for even more freedom and clarity.

Also, we make a few bold claims, such as co-habitating prior to marriage makes an engagement nonsensical, and that for the vast majority of cases, when Catholics marry they should be 'ready' to have children. (What 'readiness' really means is somewhat of a mystery-- my son can say he's not ready to go to the park, because he doesn't have shoes on, but he can also say he's not ready to leave the park, and have no answer as to what readiness would look like. We guess most couples are a bit more like the latter than the former when they talk about being 'ready' for kids. Controversial, I know...) 

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph

How many of us have had a messy break-up? How many of us have let the idea of a messy break-up keep us in a relationship longer than we should have been, or kept us from starting a relationship in the first place?

We talk through some of the reasons break-ups are messy, and what to do instead. 

Breaking up is hard, because it involves vulnerability, but so does all of life, so we know you can do it if you have to! And knowing that you can break up is helpful in maintaining freedom while dating.

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph

How do Catholics view Scripture? Where is the best context for hearing the word of God?  Why is Scripture the opposite of dry, boring, sentimental, or irrelevant?

We talk with Dr. Scott Powell, co-host of the Lanky Guys podcast, a weekly podcast in which he and Fr. Peter Mussett discuss the upcoming Sunday readings. Rather than diving into any particular passage with Scott, we talk about a Catholic view of Scripture in general, or rather, his view of Scripture, which has been formed by the Catholic Church over the course of his lifetime. 

It was great fun to record, and we hope it is as good for you as it was for us!

Find his podcast here or on Apple Podcasts: http://www.lankyguys.org/ 

Find his full-time work at the Aquinas Institute for Catholic Thought here: https://www.thomascenter.org/aboutaict

And to find out more about his  Catholic outdoor adventure program,  Camp Wojtyla (voy-tee-wa), here: http://www.camp-w.com/

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph

"How far is too far?" some people have asked us. That seems a less-good question, in part because Joseph struggles to see how distance plays into the heart of the question. There are better questions to ask, and we explore one of them in this episode.

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph

We talk about conversations that could happen in order to keep dating someone. There's an expression, 'define the relationship', or DTR-- this episode is sort of about that, except we don't use that term, and think that it's less about defining, and more about describing what is going on from each person's perspective.

Let's say the first date went well, in your estimation. Literally, let's say it. Gentlemen, if it went well, say, "This date went well, in my estimation." Ladies, if you enjoyed your time on a date, you can let him know it, too. It turns out men can't read women's minds, and women can't read men's minds. And there's a weird workaround for that shortcoming-- talking. 

We also talk a bit about meeting each other's families (if families there be), and the move toward exclusive dating. 

We haven't exhausted the topic, for sure, and it's our hope that these episodes begin fruitful conversations with others on the topic of dating. Expect an episode on intimacy whilst dating, as well as an episode on breaking up, in the near future.

And if happy holy marriages result from this series, drop us a line sometime!

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph

Beginning anything can seem intimidating, especially if we don't really know where we're going or how to get there. In our three-part series on Catholic marriage and the apostolic life, we tried to describe where romantic relationships should be leading to. In this series, we're trying to talk about how to get there. And the first step to beginning is, well, in this case, all the work that precedes beginning. We talk about how important it is to be living a full life before we start seeking out a romantic interest. We talk about what to do when romantic interests come up. And then we describe what a first date might look like.

We'll cover more about the actual process of dating in later episodes; in the meanwhile, if you have feedback, please feel free to email us at [email protected], and also feel free to rate, review, and share!

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph