Currently, ministry to adult children of divorce and separation is a glaring pastoral need in the Catholic Church. Very little dedicated outreach or pastoral care exists for adults whose parents are divorced or separated, despite well-established evidence that the break-up of one’s parents can cause deep, lasting wounds that affect a person’s well-being on multiple levels. These men and women deserve the Church’s comfort, assistance, and love, not silence and avoidance. Life-Giving Wounds has the programs and vision that can help bring healing to these precious sons and daughters of God.

The nationwide presence of a dedicated retreat for adult children of divorce or separation, and follow-up support groups, will offer life-giving Catholic community for adult children of divorce or separation, and will help remedy the glaring pastoral need referenced above. Dioceses, parishes, and colleges can all be home bases for this ministry.

It’s not uncommon for adult children of divorce – especially young adults – to abandon their faith or distance themselves from the Church in part because they feel the Church has been too silent about their wounds and hasn’t helped them enough. (For example, see “How Decades of Divorce Helped Erode Religion” in the Washington Post.) Life-Giving Wounds provides an invitation back to the Church by sharing the Father’s look of love and a practical way forward to deeper healing.

Statistically, adult children of divorce are more likely themselves to divorce; we want to change that. Discovering God’s deep healing impacts not only individuals but also whole families and future generations. Our groundbreaking Perfect Love Casts Out Fear project will develop online course targeting young adults from broken homes, and we’ll strategically partner with existing marriage mentorship networks to connect individuals, especially young adults and engaged couples, to mentor couples so that they can receive authentic witnesses of inspiring, faith-filled marriages.

Adult children of divorce or separation who have found healing are tremendous witnesses to love in suffering and uniquely helpful to others on the same path. By proactively inviting some past participants to become leaders in their dioceses and parishes, in collaboration with local leaders, we hope to grow local ministries and provide witnesses to God’s healing power and love. (Our volunteer team of 70+ are largely LGW alumni!)

Healing is attractive to others, and parishes that meet these needs will have many individuals able to witness, befriend, and support others on their pathway of spiritual healing.  

Just like with marriage, adult children of divorce or separation are less likely than their intact peers to enter into or finish seminary or formation with a religious order. We want to change that by helping them heal and to give them the tools necessary to handle ongoing difficult wounds in their family lives so they can thrive in their vocations to consecrated life or priesthood through targeted intervention during their formative years and after.