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The Catholic Guide to Dating After Divorce: Cultivating the 5 Qualities That Free You to Love
In the first book written specifically for the 11 million divorced Catholics in the United States, Lisa Duffy--CatholicMatch.com columnist and creator of the "Journey of Hope" divorce recovery program--combines personal experience, Church teaching, and more than twenty years of ministering to those wounded by divorce to offer a guide that shows how faith can be a catalyst for healthy dating and relationships.
Encouraging yet forthright, The Catholic Guide to Dating After Divorce offers sound advice to anyone who has experienced the deflating effects of divorce, but is not ready to give up on love. Affirming the universal need for intimacy, Duffy--a relationship expert, CatholicMatch.com columnist, and creator of the "Journey of Hope" divorce recovery program--shows how faith can be a catalyst for healthy relationships, helping to identify and uproot emotionally harmful habits and boosting authenticity and confidence. Duffy identifies five essential characteristics of spiritually healthy people--being available, affectionate, communicative, faithful, and magnanimous--and shows how cultivating these qualities can bring out the best, most confident, and most attractive version of anyone.
Quizzes, journaling questions, and action steps will help the reader grow in these areas. The book concludes with an appendix on resources for those who need help working through an annulment or who are in need of other post-divorce resources.
Encouraging yet forthright, The Catholic Guide to Dating After Divorce offers sound advice to anyone who has experienced the deflating effects of divorce, but is not ready to give up on love. Affirming the universal need for intimacy, Duffy--a relationship expert, CatholicMatch.com columnist, and creator of the "Journey of Hope" divorce recovery program--shows how faith can be a catalyst for healthy relationships, helping to identify and uproot emotionally harmful habits and boosting authenticity and confidence. Duffy identifies five essential characteristics of spiritually healthy people--being available, affectionate, communicative, faithful, and magnanimous--and shows how cultivating these qualities can bring out the best, most confident, and most attractive version of anyone.
Quizzes, journaling questions, and action steps will help the reader grow in these areas. The book concludes with an appendix on resources for those who need help working through an annulment or who are in need of other post-divorce resources.
172 pages, Paperback
First published May 5, 2015
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12 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Duffy
6 booksLisa Duffy is a Catholic author, speaker, and blogger for CatholicMatch Institute and has more than twenty years of experience ministering to those who have been wounded by divorce. She is the coauthor of Divorced. Catholic. Now What? and producer of the Voices of Hope divorce support video.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 22, 2025
Lots of helpful little quizzes and reflections to help you heal and assess.
February 20, 2017
A divorce is hard. But there is a life after divorce, they say. But what to do if you are a Catholic? And what to do if you are a Catholic AND want to date afterwards?
Lisa Duffy, a relationship expert, CatholicMatch.com columnist, and creator of the "Journey of Hope" divorce recovery program - and Catholic woman remarried in the Church - offers a guide to a healthy relationship through faith. The authoress identifies five characteristics of attractive people (to available, affectionate, communicative, faithful, and magnanimous) and how to cultivate them.
All in all, this is a healthy, good book (it even has "imprimatur") and offers really concise tips on how to deepen your faith and to develop your personality after a hurting experience of divorce (or not, because this book works well for the single people as me, too). The personality growth program can really help you to work on your heart regardless of whether or not you seek a (next) relationship. After all, being available, affectionate, communicative, faithful, and magnanimous truly IS attractive.
And there also lies my problem - the book concentrates a bit much on the attractivity factor and the factor of the possibility of dating again. Well, I am European from a conservative Catholic country, so my view of the points can differ (I don´t know how is to be divorced/"annulated" in the US), but my view of the order is this - go for the annulment process of your (previous) marriage first, think about the next marriage afterwards. First know IF you are available, think about dating later (because if you are not available, then you are married, still). And if you are divorced AND not available, then this book is not for you (or only partly, as a way of deepening your personality).
Sure, the authoress does a good work in explaining the availabity factor - but in my opinion the availability should go before thinking about any attractivity factors, as it is a necessity, not one of the many factors.
Also, the attractivity should NOT be a goal - a living heart should be a goal. The authoress is truly working on deepening the hearts of her readers, but using a mimicry of attractivity of a kind - like if you are magnanimous, then you are attractive. But you should seek magnanimity for what the magnanimity is (worth of), not for the (a bit superficial) goal of being attractive for the opposite sex.
Having said all that (am I am saying it with a heavy heart, as I truly think the authoress has had the best intentions), I must also say that the practical tips are quite good. Especially the "Life Program" offered at the last chapter is a truly good idea and I think I will try it. The book has also encouraged me in deepening my sacramental life.
I recommend the book as one of the good, healthy sources for anyone thinking about their (next) marriage.
Lisa Duffy, a relationship expert, CatholicMatch.com columnist, and creator of the "Journey of Hope" divorce recovery program - and Catholic woman remarried in the Church - offers a guide to a healthy relationship through faith. The authoress identifies five characteristics of attractive people (to available, affectionate, communicative, faithful, and magnanimous) and how to cultivate them.
All in all, this is a healthy, good book (it even has "imprimatur") and offers really concise tips on how to deepen your faith and to develop your personality after a hurting experience of divorce (or not, because this book works well for the single people as me, too). The personality growth program can really help you to work on your heart regardless of whether or not you seek a (next) relationship. After all, being available, affectionate, communicative, faithful, and magnanimous truly IS attractive.
And there also lies my problem - the book concentrates a bit much on the attractivity factor and the factor of the possibility of dating again. Well, I am European from a conservative Catholic country, so my view of the points can differ (I don´t know how is to be divorced/"annulated" in the US), but my view of the order is this - go for the annulment process of your (previous) marriage first, think about the next marriage afterwards. First know IF you are available, think about dating later (because if you are not available, then you are married, still). And if you are divorced AND not available, then this book is not for you (or only partly, as a way of deepening your personality).
Sure, the authoress does a good work in explaining the availabity factor - but in my opinion the availability should go before thinking about any attractivity factors, as it is a necessity, not one of the many factors.
Also, the attractivity should NOT be a goal - a living heart should be a goal. The authoress is truly working on deepening the hearts of her readers, but using a mimicry of attractivity of a kind - like if you are magnanimous, then you are attractive. But you should seek magnanimity for what the magnanimity is (worth of), not for the (a bit superficial) goal of being attractive for the opposite sex.
Having said all that (am I am saying it with a heavy heart, as I truly think the authoress has had the best intentions), I must also say that the practical tips are quite good. Especially the "Life Program" offered at the last chapter is a truly good idea and I think I will try it. The book has also encouraged me in deepening my sacramental life.
I recommend the book as one of the good, healthy sources for anyone thinking about their (next) marriage.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews