Helpful resources from presentations I have done

Dio Date Night: Embracing Your Family Mission (July 2025)

Notes and slides from a presentation by Dean and Julie at the annual Christchurch Diocesan Date Night, hosted by the John Paul II Centre for Life. The talk was about embracing your mission as parents of a Catholic family: building a flourishing mrriage, supporting your family's Catholic identity, and helping your kids to stay Catholic.

Embracing your Family Mission - talk notes (pdf)
Embracing your Family Mission - presentation slides (pdf)
Laura Berquist: Character Formation (external link) - Laura Berquist is an experienced home educator and founder of Mother of Divine Grace distance learning school. We used the Mother of Divine Grace curriculum for part of the homeschooling of our kids. This article of hers uses Plato, Aristotle and common sense to explain the importance of character formation in young children, beginning with obedience. She draws from David Isaacs' book, Character Formation, to show a correspondence between the virtues that are appropriate for each age and the intellectual development of the child.
Raising Resilient Minds: Guarding Your Child Against Pornography Addiction (Amazon Kindle ebook) - a brief guidebook by Matthew Mischewski for parents and future-parents worried about navigating the modern challenges of raising children in a digital age.

Life Teen Aotearoa Summer Camp: Apologetics (Jan 2025)

Supplementary notes and resources for an Apologetics workshop at the 2025 Life Teen summer camp.

Introduction to Apologetics (pdf)
The Existence of God (pdf)
Is there a Conflict between Faith and Science? (pdf)
Why Be Catholic? (pdf)

Hearts Aflame: Talking to our Protestant Friends (Jan 2025)

Notes from a lecture series at Hearts Aflame 2025, a Catholic summer school for young adults, discussing some of the key issues that separate Protestants and Catholics, and exploring areas where perhaps the differences aren't as great as many people think.