While recently attending the Lutherans For Life conference here in a suburb of Illinois, I was introduced to an organization dedicated to supporting marriages.

Pastor Gaylen Burow, a facilitator and trainer with Prepare/Enrich, stopped by the FSJ display table. I was intrigued by what he had to say about Prepare/Enrich, especially about the good success rate for helping couples stay married  in Kansas City, Kansas.

According to the Prepare/Enrich brochure:

“You begin by taking an online assessment to identify your current strengths and growth areas as a couple. You then meet with a trained facilitator who provides feedback to help you understand your results as well as teach you important relationship skills.”

If you are planning to be married or have been married for years and would like more tools for better communication, to understand each other better, and to learn how to resolve conflicts,  or you would like to be a facilitator, please visit this website.

Nearly 3 million couples have already taken Prepare/Enrich and improved their chances for a successful relationship.

If you are in the Chicago area, you might want to attend the yearly conference by SpeakOut Illinois, a coalition of  pro-life organizations, on Saturday January 28th from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Doubletree Oak Brook Hotel in Oak Brook, Illinois. Registration is $60.00 and $35.00 for students or clergy. Abby Johnson, formally of Planned Parenthood will be the keynote speaker and Allan Carlson, Touchstone senior editor, will head a workshop. There is also a Teen Workshop during the conference. For details and to register go here.

Touchstone's 25th anniversary issue is published and in the mail!

This longer than usual issue is filled with special editorials by senior editors James Hitchcock, Robert George, and Allan Carlson, columns and views by senior editors Russell Moore, S. M. Hutchens, Anthony Esolen and Patrick Henry Reardon,  features that instruct and encourage such as "Table Manners" by Russell Moore, a special section on Touchstone's 25 years of common witness by James Kushiner, and much more, mark this very special year.

Highlights of the magazine include the cover's feature article on his pilgrimage in Spain, "The Way of St. James" by Leon Podles, and two articles that explore the life of Thomas Merton: "A Many-Storied Monastic" that gives firsthand knowledge of Thomas Merton by Patrick Henry Reardon and "A Friendship of Letters" that explores the correspondence between Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton by Jim Forest.

And to especially mark this issue, James Kushiner gives readers, in a special section on ecumenical orthodoxy, a brief history of Touchstone and its hopes for the future.

If you have hesitated about subscribing, now might be a good time in order to receive this very special edition of Touchstone as the first issue of your new subscription. Please subscribe here.

Help us celebrate and give thanks to God for 25 special years of common witness!

The Fellowship of St. James 2012 Calendar of the Christian Year is now available for pre-ordering. The Calendar will go to print in September.

This unique ecumenical calendar is an inspiring expression and daily reminder of the communion of the saints to which we all belong. It includes prophets, apostles, martyrs, missionaries, monks, children, married and unmarried, peasants and kings, preachers, bishops, and pastors, all members of the mystical Body of Christ, that great cloud of witnesses.  In this way we can remember the saints every day and be encouraged by their witness to Christ, the Lord of all.  Celebrate your Christian heritage!

The Calendar is now available for pre-ordering for only $11.95, plus shipping.  And we do have bulk prices so you can order several calendars–one for yourself and for friends, colleagues, and pastors! Please order online by clicking here or by phone at 877-375-7373.

Note: Orders will be shipped late September 2011

The March/April issue of Touchstone will be going to print soon, so please consider subscribing now to get this thoughtful issue.

Read articles that matter, ones that are sober and yet full of hope, food for the soul and conscience.

There is a feature on inescapable death by Randall B. Smith and one on the perils of pleasure by Daniel Propson.

There is a view on pain and gain by Anthony Esolen and one on the final answer to Christian suffering by Daniel Boerman.

Fr. Patrick Reardon writes a wonderful piece on the only two recorded conversations between Jesus and his mother, and what they tell us about our Lord.

And, in this issue, an interview with Hadley Arkes, highlighting his courage and conversion.

So, don't delay! Sign up for a subscription, either print or digital, to Touchstone today!

Narnia Invaded: The Touchstone issue you wouldn’t want to miss. Sign up by this Thursday and this issue will be the first of your new Touchstone subscription.

This Nov/Dec issue includes:

• Anthony Esolen: Why a state “under God” is NOT a theocracy and why such a state cannot itself be made into an idol.
• S. M. Hutchens: Why loving our enemies AND our country means paying more careful attention to Muslims.
• Steven Boyer on Narnia Invaded: How the Narnia Films (Successfully) Subvert Lewis’s Hierarchical World
• S. M. Hutches reviews A Sword Between the Sexes, the latest (and masterful!) attempt to make C. S. Lewis into a closet egalitarian.
• Trial by Desert by Patrick Henry Reardon
• How Near-Death Experiences Challenge My Faith (and don’t) by Marilyn Prever
• Pagan Despair & Hope in Christ by Anthony Esolen
• Ken Myers on the Triumph of Casual Speech Over, Like, Formal Address
• Robert Hart on the the Incarnation & the Sacred Feminine
• Rebecca Sicree describes “The New Adventures of Baby Jesus”
• Are you dreading sending out Christmas cards and letters this year? Read two views on e-mails and paper communication.
• Logan Gage on the strange marriage of Thomism and Darwinism.

Feed your soul. Transform your mind. Stir your heart. Sign up here today for the award-winning Touchstone magazine that is loaded with thoughtful and edifying articles.

Please join us on Facebook and Twitter!

“I am so indebted to Touchstone for helping me grow as a Christian. You folks have opened up a world of thinking and ideas for me, and through me to my family. I am experiencing the solid reality of that “renewing of the mind” that Paul talks about. More and more I understand that it really matters what I believe and why–and your articles have helped inform that thinking and given me a tool to articulate these thoughts and ideas.” –A reader from California

Join those who have been encouraged and informed by Touchstone. If you subscribe by next Thursday, September 10, you won’t miss the current Sept/Oct issue.

The issue opens with the editorial “Modest and Bold,” on the Gospel and political upheavals, by Patrick Henry Reardon, followed by views, for example, by Robert Hart on John Lennon and the popularity of Jesus, and by Randall B. Smith on what there is to talk about in heaven.

The features include a piece by Eleanor Bourg Donlon on the loss of a Christian understanding of virginity, and ten arguments in defense of marriage (part 2) by Anthony Esolen.

Don’t miss the hard-hitting “Two Murdered in Pakistan” by Peter Riddell and the fascinating “Rock Formation” by Christopher Jackson.

And, as always, there are informative pieces in Quodlibet, inspiring and controversial letters, and book reviews.

So, renew your mind! Subscribe today and receive the first issue of your subscription this fall!

The Fellowship of St. James 2011 Calendar of the

Christian Year is now available for pre-ordering. The Calendar will go to print

in September.

This unique ecumenical calendar is an inspiring expression and daily reminder

of the communion of the saints to which we all belong. It includes prophets,

apostles, martyrs, missionaries, monks, children, married and unmarried,

peasants and kings, preachers, bishops, and pastors, all members of the

mystical Body of Christ, that great cloud of witnesses.  In this way we

can remember the saints every day and be encouraged by their witness to Christ,

the Lord of all.  Celebrate your Christian heritage!

The Calendar is now available for pre-ordering for only $11.95, plus shipping.  And we

do have bulk prices so you can order

several calendars–one for yourself and for friends. colleagues, and pastors!

Please order online by clicking here or by phone at 877-375-7373.

Note: Orders will be shipped late

September 2010.

The Board and Staff of Salvo Magazine will be hosting a luncheon with special guest speaker Casey Luskin, Program Officer in Public Policy & Legal Affairs for the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute, Seattle, Washington, and a Senior Editor and columnist for Salvo Magazine, published by the Fellowship of St. James.  The topic will be "Intelligent Design: Dead Science or the Future of Biology?"  There will be an opportunity following his talk for questions and answers.

The luncheon will be held on August 17, 2010, at the University Club, 76 E. Monroe St., Chicago, IL 60603, at 11:45 a.m. and costs $30.  There is valet parking available and nearby parking at the Grant Park North/Millennium Parking Garage.  The Club is also within walking distance of various public transportation stops.

If you would like to attend please RSVP by August 13. You can RSVP and pay online at www.fsj.org/events, by email at driver@fsj.org, or by phone at 773-481-1090. Ask for Michele Driver.

Required dress for the Club is business casual.

This is a great opportunity for supporters and friends of the Fellowship of St. James to get together for lunch and enjoy a very special talk. The staff and editors of both Salvo and Touchstone look forward to seeing you!

The Fellowship of St. James will have a display table at The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity's annual conference Beyond Therapy: Exploring Enhancement and Human Futures from Thursday, July 15 to Saturday, July 17, at Trinity International University, 2065 Half Day Rd, Deerfield, Ilinois 60015.

The CBHD brochure describes the Center and this year's conference:

"The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity is and an international center of Trinity International University whose purpose is to bring Christian perspectives to bear on contemporary bioethical challenges facing individuals, families, communities, and society by exploring the nexus of biomedicine, biotechnology, and our common humanity."

"A decade into the biotech century, scientific discoveries and technological innovations are transforming the nature of biomedicine and revolutionizing the expectations for biotechnology. A new medicine that moves beyond therapy to enhancement presents both opportunites and perils. Beyond Therapy: Exploring Enhancement and Human Futures probes these possiblities. What do these imply for the future of our individual and common humanity?" A diverse schedule of speakers will address this question.

If you are attending the conference, please stop by the FSJ table. We always enjoy meeting our supporters and friends. This is also a great opportunity to learn more about the ministry of the Fellowship of St. James, subscribe to or renew subscriptions to Touchstone and Salvo magazines, and to tell how we are doing.

See you at the conference!