About School of Love

School of Love was founded by Mike & Kristi Dennihan with Archbishop Joseph Naumann to build an initiative that would strengthen people’s spiritual lives, marriages, and family lives. Their specialized education and experience in the realm of Catholic marriage and family is a fit for the current needs of the culture and the Church. Mike holds an M.A. in Sacred Scripture (from the Augustine Institute, Denver). Kristi holds a M.A. in Marriage and Family Studies (from the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, Rome) and is a Creighton Model Fertility Care Instructor. They live in Kansas City with their five children.

At the very heart of all the work of School of Love is a real desire to make couples and families truly happy & fulfilled… (both now, and ultimately in heaven). For couples and families to experience this true happiness, they must prioritize their faith, their marriage, and their family. The mission of School of Love is designed to help them to better live out, and ultimately to thrive at, this vital work. Our formation emphasizes two main things: continual growth in the interior life, and the intentional living out of the marriage and family state of life.

Our formative spiritual, intellectual, and relational resources for couples and their children provide ways to grow deeper in the faith while simultaneously growing deeper together in marriage and family. We offer a variety of dynamic materials, courses, events, and writings all of which are geared to form couples and their children spiritually in the life of prayer, intellectually in the teachings of the Church, and relationally in the human bonds they have together.

We developed a collection of totally unique courses, events, and at-home materials. Ideally they’d continue from engagement, into marriage, and into family life. We geared all of them to foster learning, prayer, and relationships at home. And it’s worked. Besides our live in-person programs in Kansas City, now thousands of people from dioceses around the country have participated (and/or continue to participate) in our programs digitally.

School of Love has a small but mighty staff and group of contractors. We have a canonical responsibility to faithfully teach sound doctrine in the name of the Church (canon 301). Our instructors and writers are specifically formed and trained according to this privileged obligation. Instructors and writers hold advanced degrees in the realm of Theology or Catholic Marriage and Family Studies, a handful from the world renowned John Paul II Institute for Marriage & Family Studies (Rome).

Members are at the heart of School of Love. Our Members are Catholic married couples of all ages who personally live out the aspects of the Marriage and Family “Spirituality” set forth by the Church. Both as a community together and also alone in their own homes, SL’s Members receive ongoing formation on the subjects of the Catholic faith, marriage, and family life. Members as well may help provide formation for others participating in SL programs or events.

SL’s chaplain offers: various spiritual and human formation, Sacraments for specified events and courses, spiritual direction and Confession for Members.

School of Love, Inc. has a status in both civil & canon (Church) law. Canonically it is a “Public Association of the Christian Faithful” under Archbishop Joseph Naumann. Public associations are essentially groups of Catholics living a certain way or doing a certain work (in our case, learning & living a marriage & family spirituality). School of Love belongs to the public Church, is part of the Archbishop’s mission to marriages and families, and has an obligation (and privilege) to teach in the name of the Church (canon 301). It is independent of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. // Civilly, School of Love is a KS non-profit and a 501(c)3 organization (Tax ID 45-3461872).