«The 8 Columns of Courtship»  is the title of the recently published book by Father Fernando Durán, LC, a text that addresses various questions about courtship and affective relationships.

Father Fernando shares a bit of the work he has been developing over the past years and the process he undertook to create this project:

From 2011 to 2016, I worked as director of the ECYD in Mexico City, where I understood that the best way to accompany teenagers was by helping their parents. For this reason, at the end of 2016, I moved to Rome to begin a Master’s in Family Sciences at the John Paul II Institute for Family and Human Life. In 2018, I returned to Mexico to work with family groups within our schools and support the programs of Familia Unida, as well as teaching at the John Paul II Institute.

During the pandemic, together with the Familia Unida team, we realized the need for material to accompany young people in the courtship stage as a preparation path for marriage.

Last summer, on the occasion of the World Meeting of Families, the Holy Father presented the catechumenal itineraries for marriage preparation, highlighting the need to offer engaged couples a broader path in preparing for marriage. In the last meeting held in Rome by the international branches of the John Paul II Institutes, the Mexico branch gifted the Holy Father my book as a response to the invitation being extended through the catechumenal itineraries.

This is a workbook that young people can use personally or with their partner. Through the maieutic method, continuous questions are posed to help young people touch on the deepest desires of their hearts. The book offers a path to build human love. Recognizing that we already offer many courses on the theology of the body, this book aims to be a tool for many young people to better understand the theology of the body and also helps to connect with other young people who perhaps do not want or are not yet prepared at the faith level to understand love from the theology of the body. That is why I consider it a book that is called to reach the peripheries of our schools and universities.

The book can be purchased on various digital publishing platforms.