Together in Holiness Conference: Enriching marriages with faith and wisdom
Catholic couples gathered at St. Pius Catholic Church in Redwood City for a day dedicated to enriching their marriage and empowering families in their journey of faith. The annual Together in Holiness Conference, co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the St. John Paul II Foundation, took place this year in the midst of the California bishops’ Radiate Love initiative, encouraging Catholics to reflect God’s love in their families, communities, and beyond.
Together in Holiness provides couples with the inspiration and practical tools to grow in holiness while also equipping parents to nurture their children’s faith. The conference offers a unique space for couples to encounter God’s vision for marriage and family life, combining the spiritual nourishment of an annual, one-day conference with the ongoing support of a year-round formation series. Through these dual channels, Together in Holiness aims to build a natural community of friends committed to deepening their faith and strengthening family bonds.
“We are delighted to offer this opportunity for our couples, especially in light of the California bishops’ current initiative, Radiate Love,” said Ed Hopfner, the director of the Office of Marriage and Family for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. “Our annual Together in Holiness conference is really a day retreat for these couples, a chance for them to re-connect, deepen their faith, and strengthen their love for each other.”
This year’s conference featured Catholic marriage counselor, Dr. Mario Sacasa, PhD. LMFT., host of the Always Hope podcast and Deacon Dominick Peloso and his wife, Mary Ellen, who shared insights from their own journey of living out their faith together as a married couple.
The conference concluded with a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco. In his homily, he underscored the importance of the family as the domestic Church and family as a mirror of the covenant between Christ and the Church.
In chapter five of St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul speaks on the symbolism of the man as the figure of Christ serving the priestly function within the family and the woman as the symbol of the Church receiving the seed of new life, nurturing it and fostering it first within her womb and then within the family. The Archbishop explained that just as Christ died for the Church and the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ, opening up the life-giving holiness of the sacramental life of the Church, so too, the mystical union of husband and wife bring forth new life into the world. Together they form and grow the domestic Church.
“You, my dear brothers and sisters, who have this vocation of marriage to be the domestic Church, you are the antidote to this poison [of loneliness and disconnect in the world today],” said Archbishop Cordileone. “You show others by living your vocation of marriage well that there is a better way. The way to true happiness. And when we live according to God’s plan, and not try to turn it into our own plan, God works through us to make this world a closer representation of the life of Heaven.”
For more information on Together in Holiness and upcoming events, visit sfarch.org or the St. John Paul II Foundation’s website forlifeandfamily.org.
