Ss. Philip and James Parish supports marriage and family ministry
"As a newlywed couple, we wanted to be a part of a community, to build a holy life for ourselves rooted in the Trinity,” said Chelsea McAllister. “Because there was nothing in place, we had to be the solution to our own problem.”
According to Chelsea McAllister, Catholic home life is a communion of persons, just like the Holy Trinity. The married couples and family ministry at Ss. Philip and James aims to help couples mirror that communion and to grow in holiness in marriage and family...
"We talk about how to live among the distractions of the world – modern secular influences like cell phones, the internet and pop culture – that take us away from our family core values... We have frank, open discussions and share insights and solutions. Couples come away with practical and easy-to-apply adjustments.”
Heaven In your Your Home
Families across the diocese and beyond are finding heaven in their beautifully messy homes thanks to the Trinity House Community program, created by husband and wife Soren and Ever Johnson.
“The best way to solve the crisis of faith is in the family, the domestic church,” Soren said.
The Johnsons are members of St. John the Apostle Church in Leesburg, where they started their program. Last May, they had two groups at their parish and at St. Philip Church in Falls Church. Now they have 15 Trinity House Community Group subscribers in six states. They offer the core documents in English and Spanish, and have two active Hispanic communities in the program. The bilingual offerings have helped the program move off-shore.
Yes, you really can have ‘Heaven in Your Home’
Is it truly possible to model your home on the Holy Trinity? The authors of ‘Heaven in Your Home’ show us how to make that Trinitarian vision a reality.
If you’ve ever wished you could pick up the phone and call a more experienced set of Catholic parents and ask for their advice, here’s your chance. Soren and Ever Johnson are the spiritual older brother and sister you wish you had as you strive for holiness in the trenches of parenthood.
Their new book Heaven in Your Home Letters & Guide is beautiful to look at, but it’s not a lifestyle magazine, nor is it a self-help book. Instead, it gives real insight into Catholic family life, what they call “your Trinity House.”
A Plan and Vision for Family Life
One Way to Bring Heaven Into Your Home
Today, after years of learning—often the hard way—we believe with every fiber of our being that any family can take steps that will help them thrive. It happens as we learn better how to love and be loved, how to forgive and be forgiven. Bit by bit, we can pattern our family’s daily life after the model of love we see in the Holy Trinity, and that pattern can transform our relationships over time. We believe this so strongly that we founded a ministry intended to help families bring heaven into their homes, both for their own sake and for the sake of the broader culture.
A powerful way to prepare for the Feast of the Holy Family
With just 200 words, your family can be set apart for 2024 and beyond.
Consider this: If your family is not “set apart” from our culture in some fundamental way ... then your family is more vulnerable to these destructive forces.
So consider whether now is a good time to set apart or consecrate your family — apart from things like the evil one’s desire to weaken and destroy your marriage and family life; apart from sin; apart from anxiety; apart from putting the many good things of life in first place, before God.
What If?
It’s above our theological pay grade, but let’s imagine that in God’s plan to save us and invite us to eternal life, he never became man. No incarnation, no Christmas. No journeying among us. No entering into the marrow of first-century Nazareth. No God-Man who wept over his friend Lazarus. No cross, death or resurrection.
And yet, in actuality, we are just days from marking and celebrating the Incarnation of the Son of God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. As parents, how are we doing with conveying this astonishing news to our kids, the reality that God is with us in every way?
Soren Interviewed on the Homeschooling Saints Podcast
Soren was interviewed by Lisa Mladich, of the Homeschooling Saints Podcast, about the Trinity House vision of evangelization through hospitality.
At Home with Mary
Fostering Marian devotions, such as a family rosary, gives space for Our Lady to enter the domestic church.
Each of our kids deserve to grow up in a home where space is provided to develop a unique relationship with our Blessed Mother... St. Teresa of Calcutta often spoke of doing “something beautiful for God,” and my in-laws undoubtedly did that through their daily faithfulness to the rosary. Each family’s ways of welcoming Mary may differ — whether they include a consecration to the Blessed Mother, a pilgrimage to a Marian shrine or other Marian devotions. The point is that every family can do “something beautiful for God” by honoring his mother, whom he gave also as our mother (Jn 19:27).
Soren Shares his Journey to the Catholic Church on EWTN
Soren sat down with EWTN's JonMarc Grodi on the April 17, 2023 episode of The Journey Home
Soren & Ever Interviewed on EWTN at #WMOF22
Soren and Ever sat down with EWTN's Catherine Hadro on the first full day of the World Meeting of Families in Rome, June 23, 2022. From St. Peter's Square, the interview begins at 1:52:30 in this clip.
O, Jerusalem, If I Forget You!
“My dwelling place will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Ez 37:27)
Ever Johnson writes about the challenges and joys of ministry. "It was one of countless days like it. The older kids were at school, my husband Soren was at work at the chancery in Arlington, and I was on my way in, preschooler in tow, to Trinity House Café + Market, our non-profit’s outpost of the new evangelization in Leesburg, Virginia."
Discernment in Daily Family Life
Several members of the Knights of Columbus and their families participated in the 10th World Meeting of Families in Rome, which gathered under the theme “Family Life: A Vocation and a Path to Holiness” June 22-26. Here is an excerpt of the presentation by Soren Johnson, a member of Holy Family Council 6831 in Leesburg, Va., and his wife, Ever, on June 25, 2022
At Leesburg’s Trinity House Café, You Can Get a Latte with a Side of Books
The cafe, in a historic yellow house dating to the 1820s, is an initiative of the Trinity House Community, a nonprofit founded by Soren and Ever Johnson to inspire families to better live out their Catholic faith. And because great books are integral to a vibrant and faith-filled family culture, the café includes what Johnson calls an informal “apostolate of books,” supported by donors such as Bill Klimon, an Ashburn attorney who is a prolific book collector and donor to Trinity House.
US Couple to Share Advice for Catholic Family Life at World Meeting of Families
A few years after getting married in the early 2000s, Soren and Ever Johnson were reflecting on Pope John Paul II’s call for the laity to play a greater role in the new evangelization and wondering how they could contribute.
John Paul II “was constantly saying, ‘if the laity take their obligation to spread the Good News seriously, there will be a new springtime for the Church in the third millennium,’” Ever said. “And he said it over and over and over again in so many different contexts it was hard not to feel responsible to do something.”
This was the origin of their ministries Trinity House Community and Trinity House Cafe + Market, based in Leesburg, Virginia. The mission, they say, “is to inspire families to make home a taste of heaven for the renewal of faith and culture.”
One Virginia Family Evangelizes One Cup of Coffee at a Time
Ever and Soren Johnson want people to feel the love of God, one cup of coffee at a time.
Since 2006, the Leesburg, Virginia couple has been leading the Trinity House Community, “a non-profit inspiring families to make their home a taste of heaven for the renewal of faith and culture,” according to its website.
What the World Meeting of Families Means for Your Family
We get it. Big events come and go, while daily family life is relentlessly pushing you forward. It can be challenging to remember what your spouse said one minute ago, let alone translate last Sunday’s homily into a meaningful takeaway for your family’s pursuit of holiness. But an event taking place far away from all that? Forget about it.
Given that reality, why should any family care about the Year of the Family’s culminating event — the 10th Annual World Meeting of Families in Rome happening this month?
Leesburg Couple to Speak at the World Meeting of Families in Rome
Soren and Ever Johnson have a mission — “to inspire families to make their homes a little taste of heaven for the renewal of faith and culture.” The hub of that mission is the Trinity House Café, their kid-friendly coffeehouse in downtown Leesburg that sells lattes, sandwiches and pastries, often named in honor of a saint or Christian thinker, as well as religious books, art and trinkets. Their ministry, Trinity House Community, hosts “Heaven in Your Home” workshops and gatherings to encourage families to put their ideals into action. On top of all that, the couple has five children.
This summer, Soren and Ever, parishioners of St. John the Apostle Church in Leesburg, will share what they’ve learned about family life with a global audience at the Tenth World Meeting of Families in Rome.
These 4 Small Habits Will Help Your Family's Spiritual Growth
With Pentecost upon us, it’s an opportune moment to ask: How is your family experiencing the descent of the Holy Spirit?
To be clear, we’re not wondering if tongues of fire have fallen into your living room or a white dove has landed on your windowsill. These types of Holy Spirit moments found in Scripture—while stunning and powerful—are a different topic for another day.
Instead, we’re talking about your family’s living awareness of the Holy Spirit’s power within the four walls of your home—about intentionally inviting the Holy Spirit into your daily life. We’re talking about small habits that can lead to an extraordinary new chapter in your home.
To do this, we invite you to consider trying one or more of the following habits as a family.
The Month of May, the Virgin Mary and Your Family's Future
“Bring flowers of the rarest, bring blossoms the fairest,” the cathedral choir sang each spring of my childhood for the annual May Crowning of the Mary statue. In white dresses with blue ribbons, the young girls of St. Patrick’s in Fort Worth, Texas, would process up to the statue and place a crown of flowers on her head. I treasure these memories to this day.
But even if your parish doesn’t do a May Crowning, your family has a host of options in the month of May to honor the Blessed Mother and deepen your devotion to her.
National Marriage Week 2022: Called to the Joy of Love
Building Up the Domestic Church: A Conversation on Fortifying Couples and Families with Soren and Ever Johnson of Trinity House Community.
5 Takeaways for Families on the 40th Anniversary of John Paul II’s ‘Familiaris Consortio’
It’s not a stretch to say that the writings of Pope St. John Paul II can fill a library.
But for us, one slender volume stands out in a sweeping 26-year pontificate that saw 14 encyclicals, 16 books and thousands of homilies, speeches and addresses. Celebrating 40 years this Nov. 22, the apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio (“The Community of the Family”) was characterized by papal biographer George Weigel as one of St. John Paul II’s “personal favorites.”
Familiaris Consortio, issued Nov. 22, 1981, has been called a plan of action, a road map and strategy for the Christian family; it is also a forerunner to Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia (“The Joy of Love”). This quick read (three hours, give or take) is not only our personal favorite from the saint; it’s a bracing vision that explodes with insights and strategies for the challenges every Christian family faces today.
Parental Authority and Families Under Fire, The Case for the Domestic Church
We’re happy to share with you a 30-min. video-podcast interview we recorded with the Diocese of Arlington’s Billy Atwell, Chief Communications Officer, for the Searching for More Podcast. Soren says if you only have 3 minutes, listen to Ever’s answer to the last question (at 29:50) and be encouraged!
Why Trinity Sunday Should Mean Everything to Your Family
“Families,” St. John Paul II famously exhorted us, “become what you are!”
As newlyweds 20 years ago, we spent zero time thinking about what the Holy Trinity—whom the Church celebrates on today’s Solemnity—meant for our marriage or dreams of starting a family. Whatever the doctrine of the Trinity had to say about the dynamics of the inner life of God, we left that to the theologians. For us, each day became a blur of diapers, dishes, commutes, and bills.
Five kids later, every aspect of our lives seems shot through—illumined, blessed, ennobled—by the Trinity.
The Day Every Family Should Celebrate Right After Christmas
Trinity House: Bringing People Into Conversation
Trinity House with Soren & Ever
Lisa Hendey and Friends podcast host Lisa Hendey interviews Ever and Soren. Topics discussed:
- How they met and how their vision for Trinity House developed
- How your family can reflect the inner life of the Holy Trinity
- The five levels and "cornerstones" of a Trinity House...from "date night" to the "life meeting," and more
Restoring Culture, One Latte at a Time
Called and Caffeinated podcast host Stacey Sumereau interviews Ever and Soren. Topics discussed:
- Moving from a cerebral faith into a familial, communal, cultural, “lived” faith.
- What does “heaven in your home” look like?
- The five levels of interpersonal communion
- Finding our identity in our relationship with each person of the Trinity
The Jennifer Fulwiler Show
Ever and Soren were featured as guests on The Jennifer Fulwiler Show, where they discussed the mission and history of Trinity House Café and tasted food and beverage selections live on the air.
These timely free workshops show you how to have “Heaven in your home” (Aleteia)
Correspondent Theresa Civantos Barber writes, “Husband and wife team Soren and Ever Johnson have a brilliant plan for making your home a place of lasting happiness.” En Español
Vibrant Family Culture from the Trinity House Café
Resolutions podcast interview with Soren. Podcast hosts Chris and Michael discuss the challenges of Christian family life, including attachment issues, technology, and the dwindling faith of America. Chris interviews Soren Johnson of Trinity House Community & Trinity House Café.
Dad’s Big Day — and Influence
In this Columbia magazine feature, Soren reflects on his own dad and encourages fellow fathers to step up their spiritual leadership while sheltering at home.
How Can Spouses Cultivate Hospitality?
In this U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Made for Love podcast interview, host Sara Perla talks with Soren and Ever about hospitality, Trinity House Café, and the Trinity House Community ministry. Catholic families are called to be missionary disciples, reaching out to others with the love of Jesus. How can spouses cultivate hospitality?
Rediscovering What Really Matters
In this Arlington Catholic Herald column, Ever and Soren encourage families to “seize this unrepeatable moment to strengthen their home—their domestic church or ‘Trinity house’ in which they dwell with the Lord: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
The American Coffeehouse Straight Out of Krakow
In this National Catholic Register blog post, Ever and Soren share the origins and vision for Trinity House Café, founded in 2014 at the corner of Church & Market Streets in Leesburg.
Trinity House Community Launches New Platform to Serve Families
Trinity House Community—a Catholic 501(c)(3) ministry with a mission “to inspire families to make home a little taste of heaven for the renewal of faith and culture” and which founded and oversees Trinity House Café + Market in Leesburg, Va.—today launched www.trinityhousecommunity.org as a tool to inspire and equip parents and families in their sacred calling.
Soren & Ever Johnson Online
Married for 20 years and the proud parents of five children, Soren and Ever are co-founders of Trinity House Café + Market and Trinity House Community, a Catholic nonprofit with a mission to inspire families to make home a taste of heaven for the renewal of faith and culture. Sign up for their weekly e-letter at trinityhousecommunity.org/elist/
Soren Johnson is co-founder with his wife, Ever, of Trinity House Community, a ministry dedicated to inspiring and equipping families—through workshops, talks, gatherings, and a weekly e-letter—to make home a taste of heaven for the renewal of faith and culture. As part of the ministry’s outreach, they founded Trinity House Cafe + Market in the heart of historic Leesburg, VA, in 2014. Since 2013, Soren has written a monthly column for the Catholic Herald on family, fatherhood, and culture. Soren and Ever have five children and are parishioners at St. John the Apostle in Leesburg, Virginia.
Married for 20 years and the proud parents of five children, Soren and Ever Johnson are co-founders of Trinity House Community, a Catholic nonprofit with a mission to inspire families to make home a small taste of heaven for the renewal of faith and culture. The ministry engages the public at the award-winning Trinity House Café + Market in Leesburg, equips parents with the Heaven in Your Home Workshop and inspiring weekly e-letter, and encourages families with monthly Heaven in Your Home Gatherings. Ever formerly worked as Research Assistant to papal biographer George Weigel. Before joining Ever as a full-time co-director, Soren served as Director of Evangelization for the Diocese of Arlington. They both have master’s degrees in theology and have written extensively for publications including the Arlington Catholic Herald, Aleteia, Magnificat, Humanum, Our Sunday Visitor, and the National Catholic Register.
