Marriage Formation

As soon as you are ready to begin preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage, and before setting a date, call your parish to schedule a meeting with your marriage formation minister (typically your priest or deacon), who may also serve as the celebrant for your wedding.

FOCCUS (Facilitate Open Caring Communication Understanding & Study) is meant to facilitate communication and conflict-resolution skills before marriage. A REFOCCUS inventory is available to couples who have been civilly married for at least a few years. Your parish/formation minister will provide directions for completing the questionnaire.

Couples will choose a mentor couple who can support, encourage, and pray for them throughout—and beyond— the marriage preparation process. Marriage formation ministers can help engaged couples select a mentor couple. Witness to Love is the recommended diocesan process for guiding the couple-to-couple encounter.

What makes Witness to Love unique is that the engaged couples choose their own mentor couple. This is a couple they both admire and see as a source of faith formation. This mentor couple gives them a concrete connection and integration into the parish. Through the sharing of the mentor couple’s own journey of love, the engaged couple inherits a “lifeline“ of support in their commitment to Jesus and his church.

Celebrating Your Love (CYL) Diocesan Day A one-day retreat held on Saturdays at locations throughout the Diocese. Explores Catholic teaching on marriage and provides an overview of practical and valuable skills for marriage. Go to sdcatholic.org/cyl for dates and registration.

Catholic Engaged Encounter This inspirational weekend retreat provides engaged couples valuable space and time to explore the depth of marriage. Married teams, partnered with a priest, guide couples on a journey of preparation for their upcoming sacrament. Through personal sharing and Catholic theology, the weekend challenges couples. They explore essential topics such as: communication, understanding “love” as a decision, true intimacy, forgiveness, and living as a sacrament in order to build a strong marriage foundation. Young civilly married couples (married less than 2-3 years) are encouraged to attend to explore the sacrament they will become with their marriage in the Catholic faith.”
Go to sandiego.engagedencounter.com for dates and registration. For Spanish, visit enoviossandiego.com

A New Beginning For couples entering a second marriage after the divorce or death of a former spouse (only one party needs to have been previously married). Topics of discussion are geared towards blended families, children of a previous marriage and grieving loss.
For retreat dates and locations, visit sdcatholic.org/cyl

Worldwide Marriage Encounter Similar to Engaged Encounter, but for couples who have already been civilly married for more than a few years. Go to wwme-sandiego.org for dates and registration.

Parish-Based Program Parishes may offer local and applicable parish-based formation programming for couples. Check with your marriage formation minister.

Know that Jesus loves you and cannot wait to share God’s mercy through this beautiful sacrament of Reconciliation. Go together – make it a date. If you attend the Catholic Engaged Encounter Retreat or Celebrating Your Love Day, there will also be an opportunity for confession then.

This can be done simultaneously with your marriage prep, but shouldn’t be the forefront of your engagement – JESUS should be!
Remember to pray along the way. God will open doors for you with venues and vendors, etc. If something doesn’t feel right, trust your gut (it’s likely the Holy Spirit stirring inside you!!).