Genuine Friendship

The Foundation for All Personal Relationships,
Including Marriage and the Relationship with God

Genuine friendship, and certainly marriage, is not fundamentally a matter of seeking a positive experience, but of committing oneself to a person and to the good that will come from the relationship.

– Msgr. Halfacre

Friendship is the foundation of all personal relationships, including marriage and our relationship with God. In all interpersonal relationships-especially in the family-there is an environment or a culture. Ideally, we are to foster a culture of love–one where each person can truly experience acceptance, forgiveness, and being loved. Sustaining such relationships and fulfilling the expectations that occur naturally requires real strength of character, especially to persevere through the years.

In Genuine Friendship, Monsignor Halfacre discusses the qualities of true friendship and also includes the writings of popular saints and authors such as Aristotle, St. Augustine, and C.S. Lewis. Even those who relate well with others can see a need to improve from time to time. Genuine Friendship offers practical suggestions to further strengthen or repair our friendships.

The author has done his work in a very competent and imaginative way. I have been studying relationships all my life, and I learned a number of things from this book. The underlying message of the book is that we can indeed grow in the ability to relate well and communicate love. It is full of stories and examples that will inspire you to do just that.

–Fr. Benedict J.Groeschel, C.F.R.