Voice of Virtue International is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt lay apostolate that works to increase — among people of all ages and faiths — awareness of the need for virtue in our lives and society. We focus primarily but not exclusively on reaching adolescents and young adults.
Voice of Virtue provides educator inservice training, retreats, talks, keynote presentations, conferences, leadership training and seminars that affirm the indispensable nature of moral and religious principles in making decisions.
The timeless virtues that the Catholic Faith upholds — Faith, Hope and Charity, as well as Justice, Fortitude, Temperance and Prudence — provide the formal structure that supports all of Voice of Virtue’s programs and projects. We have designed our outreaches to encourage virtuous living, to battle vice (the opposite of virtue), and to build up what is good, true and holy in our own lives and in the world around us.
Our history
Founded in 2001, decades in the making
Inspired by the clear, unchanging teachings of the Catholic Faith about the human person and our purpose in life, and motivated by love of young people, Barbara McGuigan founded Voice of Virtue International in 2001. But her work with youth began long before this. For more than 23 years, Barbara has delivered the message of virtuous living and loving to countless teens in high schools, youth groups, retreats, teen leadership seminars, and conferences, as well as to countless educators and parents at conferences, speaking engagements, leadership and teacher seminars, and many other venues.
Barbara has trained more than 1000 teachers, spoken to more than 30,000 teens and young adults, and given more than 200 retreats and more than 700 keynotes, talks and presentations, in North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. And her audiences always beg for more!
Voice of Virtue International received its 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status on March 14, 2002.
A message from Barbara
To rehabilitate chastity among our youth
It’s tough for teens to be virtuous today, but with your help, we can save them from the Culture of Death.
In his landmark encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II declares:
The trivialization of sexuality is among the principal factors which have led to contempt for new life. Only a true love is able to protect life. There can be no avoiding the duty to offer, especially to adolescents and young adults, an authentic education in sexuality and in love, an education which involves training in chastity as a virtue which fosters personal maturity and makes one capable of respecting the “spousal” meaning of the body. (Evangelium Vitae, no. 97)
John Paul the Great goes on to say,
Chastity, more than any other, seems to be the virtue which resentment has tended to outlaw from the soul, the will and the heart of man.
So we must find some way to “rehabilitate chastity.”
This is my calling, and this is why Voice of Virtue came into being — to rehabilitate chastity among our youth.
Confronting the deceptions and temptations of our times
Young people today are being deceived! St. Augustine said, “To avoid evil because it is evil is good. To avoid evil because you understand why it is evil is better.”
How can we expect our teens to make good, holy decisions in life, if we haven’t given them the benefit of crystal-clear formation in virtue and grace?
Voice of Virtue International talks straight with teens about the incomparable dignity of the human person as a child of God and the sanctity and integrity of the “marriage act.”
Armed with this knowledge, with the voluntary commitment to live it, and with God’s grace, when the temptations and pressures of the world appear, our young people can not only recognize the deceptions, but also have the strength to defeat these assaults on their dignity with courage and confidence.
Opening young hearts to promptings of the Holy Spirit
Hundreds of thousands of teens in the Church have drifted from the Faith because adults never adequately equipped them with the spiritual formation they needed to withstand the destructive influences of the “Culture of Death,” as Pope John Paul II calls the milieu in which we live.
For many teens, the loving, gentle voice of the Holy Spirit has been drowned out by the enticing clamor of all of today’s pagan sex-pushers.
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God.” (1 Thess. 4:3-5)
At Voice of Virtue, we’re on a mission to help teens defeat the temptations, rekindle what is good, true and holy in their own lives, and live each day as Jesus Christ wants them to.
Barbara McGuigan
Our leadership
Voice of Virtue is guided by clergy, educators and professionals from around the world.
Meet our leadershipHelp carry this message of love and life
Barbara’s radio monologues remain here to read, and your support helps Voice of Virtue continue its mission.