How it started

Life-Giving Wounds founders Dr. Daniel and Bethany Meola met at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, DC, where they both received master’s degrees, and Dan a Ph.D. While at the Institute, Dan participated in a pastoral research project focused on children of divorce. As an adult child of divorce himself – Dan’s parents separated when he was 11, and divorced when he was 26 (the year he married Bethany) – this project sparked a desire to do something.

Dan wanted to help the millions of adult children of divorce like himself looking for more support and guidance from the Church. This passion, coupled with the Meolas’ shared love of the Church’s teachings on marriage and the family, and Bethany’s work in national-level family life ministry at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, inspired Dan and Bethany to start an apostolate for adult children of divorce, a vast but underserved group in need of attention. 

Life-Giving Wounds began as a simple retreat ministry in Washington, D.C. in 2015, expanded to a regional ministry in the Diocese of Arlington in 2018, and then launched into a national, traveling retreat team in 2019. On July 14, 2020, Life-Giving Wounds became an official, national 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Since 2020, Life-Giving Wounds has continued to expand all over the United States and then expanded internationally to Canada in 2023. The current list of Life-Giving Wounds chapters can be seen here. The Life-Giving Wounds team has grown as well, including our main team members and board members (whom you can meet here), as well as over 150 volunteers throughout the country and beyond.

Looking to the future, we hope to continue expanding the Life-Giving Wounds ministry. We have many programs and products in development to continue to be the pioneer and leader in this area of pastoral ministry.