Dr. Drain is available for 90-minute single presentations or multiple in one day at your faith formation or marriage enrichment event. Topics include but are not limited to the following:
Kickstarting Family Ministry
Interested in starting a group for families at your parish but don’t know how to start? In this talk, Dr. Drain will shed light on the importance of family ministry through insights from Pope St. John Paul II’s Familiaris Consortio (“Letter to Families”). He will also give practical advice on what is needed in a Family Ministry group as well as available resources and events that can help bolster participation.
The Domestic Church in the Apostolic Age
St. John Paul II taught that: “The sacrament of marriage is the specific source and original means of sanctification for Christian married couples and families.” In marriage, building up your spouse and your children is the original means of sanctification for you, and thus the primary way you contribute to the life of the Church. To do so in today’s civil and ecclesial culture presents enormous challenges, particularly if it is true that we are living in a new age of apostolic mission. In From Christendom to Apostolic Mission, it is argued that “young, serious-minded Christians who marry” are those who “will need to raise their children differently from how they themselves were raised, not necessarily because their parents did a bad job, but because the surrounding environment has so radically changed. They are consciously moving from a Christendom mode of thinking and acting to an apostolic one. They know that their family life, if properly established, will not only provide a good environment for their children but will also be a source of intrigue and hope to many around them looking for a better way to live. Raising a Christian family has always been a serious task; in an apostolic age, it is a missionary adventure.” In this talk, Dr. Drain will spell out both some of the “radical changes” in our surrounding culture and how to think about them. He will offer suggestions and ways of approaching family life that hold to both the beauty of the Church’s vision of the family as domestic church and the radical need to find a “better way to live” than the surrounding environment.
God’s Plan For Sexuality in The Context of Marriage
In today’s culture, cohabiting with your significant other before marriage has become the norm. To many, it is absurd to think that you would get married before a “trial period” of living together, having premarital sex, and having all the benefits of marriage without actually making any vows. This kind of attitude cheats couples of true and lasting love. In this talk, Dr. Drain will draw from Church documents such as JPII’s Catechesis on Human Love to explain why the Church is against cohabitation and premarital sex, and what God’s plan for sexuality is for us. This talk is best suited for an adult audience.
The Meaning of Spousal Love
The popular media has created a narrative of what it means to be “in love”, what it means to have a romantic partner, and the ensuing timeline of a modern relationship. This relationship is based on feelings, pleasure, and self-satisfaction. It says nothing of the true meaning of love, the redemptive value of suffering, or the parallel between earthly marriage and Christ, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His bride. In this talk, Dr. Drain offers the meaning of spousal love that contrasts drastically with how it is portrayed today. Loving your spouse requires self-denial, sacrifice, and dying to yourself. It requires following in the footsteps of Jesus on His way to Calvary. This is the way to true love and harmony in your marriage.
Gender Ideology and True Pastoral Accompaniment
This talk addresses homosexuality and transgender issues. Discussion will center on the Church’s view on these topics and will advise pastors and laypeople how to lovingly accompany those who experience confusion about the goodness of who God made them to be. This talk is best suited for an adult audience.
Pro-Life At All Stages: Church Teaching on End of Life Care
With practices such as euthanasia, assisted suicide and other immoral means of ending life, the elderly are often a forgotten victim in the culture of death. In Pope St. John Paul’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae, he writes “The first to be harmed are women, children, the sick or suffering, and the elderly. The criterion of personal dignity-which demands respect, generosity and service-is replaced by the criterion of efficiency, functionality and usefulness: others are considered not for what they “are”, but for what they “have, do and produce”. This is the supremacy of the strong over the weak.” In this talk, Dr. Drain will explore the harmful practices present in our medical systems today in light of the inherent dignity, respect, and compassion the elderly deserve.
IVF and the Language of Gift: A Theological Commentary on a Growing Industry
This talk explores the rapidly expanding fertility industry through the lens of Catholic theology, focusing on the Church’s understanding of human life as a gift rather than a product. Drawing on Scripture and moral tradition this talk examines how in vitro fertilization reshapes the meaning of procreation, parenthood, and human dignity. Participants will be invited to reflect on the ethical and spiritual implications of assisted reproductive technologies, while gaining a deeper appreciation for the Church’s compassionate and life-affirming vision for marriage, family, and the creation of new life.
Technology and The Family
Explores the ever-present and sometimes all-consuming power of technology in today’s culture, especially in the hands of the youth. Dr. Drain dives into the effects of technology over-consumption and how families can set boundaries in the use of technology within their domestic church.
Pope St. John Paul II’s Letter to Families
On November 22, 1981, Pope John Paul II gave the world the apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio, his “Letter to Families”. In this talk, Dr. Drain will explore key points of this document and share how to joyfully live the calling for our families to be the “domestic church”.
Please submit the inquiry form below for more information. If you would be interested in Dr. Drain talking on a specific topic, please submit the form below with the topic and a brief description: