Following the worldwide Synod on the Family in 2016, our own diocese called its own synod, Embracing the Joy of Love. The recommendations from the Synod’s Taskforce on Marriage Prep Best Practices foreshadowed the movement of the Church as a whole towards a more catechumenal model of marriage formation. Our diocesan marriage prep guidelines largely reflect its proposals. Please see below for some resources/suggestions for building the marriage catechumenate in your parish!
Marriage Prep Ministry Resources
- FOCCUS is the recommended pre-marriage inventory in our diocese. To learn more about the FOCCUS pre-marriage inventory, please visit the FOCCUS website.
- Click here for more information on becoming a FOCCUS facilitator. You can also reach out to the Office for Family Life and Spirituality for assistance in helping your parish get set up to offer the FOCCUS inventory.
- Witness to Love is a virtues-based, catechumenate model of marriage renewal and preparation that integrates modern principles of psychology and the virtues to help couples facilitate an authentic dialogue about their relationship. It is built upon the foundation of helping engaged couples to discern their choice of a mentor couple/Marriage Godparents that can act as a lifeline and help couples invest themselves more fully in parish life. We highly recommend it as a foundation for building a parish-based marriage catechumenate.
- Online marriage preparation programs can be a great option for supplementing in-person programming, however they should not be seen as an alternative to in-person programming except for couples for whom attending in-person is impossible (ie. military or immigration reasons). Our recommended online option is Witness to Love’s Be More Retreat.
- Our diocesan marriage preparation guidelines pertain to all couples preparing for marriage in the Church, including couples already been civilly married or living in common law marriages. The benefit of meeting initially with their marriage formation minister is that adaptations can be made at the outset in response to any particular circumstances. For example, both FOCCUS and Witness to Love have adapted materials for civilly married couples. Some parishes may have their own marriage prep retreats for civilly married couples, often in coordination with the O.C.I.A. process.
- One of the proposals of the Synod was to “welcome and accompany engaged and newly-married couples into full participation of church life.” As such, we strongly encourage engaged couples to prepare for marriage at their home parish. If couples are reaching out to schedule their wedding at your parish but reside elsewhere, please remind them of the need to connect asap with their home parish to begin marriage preparation!
- A Rite of Entry can mark the beginning of the Marriage Catechumenate, giving engaged couples the chance to publicly declare their intention to commit to this journey of marriage formation. It also becomes an opportunity for the parish community to commit to praying for the couple. Here is a Rite of Entry sample. Feel free to download and adapt.
- Click here for our updated diocesan marriage prep guidelines.
- Click here for pdf’s of canonical documents associated with marriage prep.
- Click here to download our Journey of Your Love marriage prep brochure.
Important Church Documents on Marriage Prep
- Catechumenal Pathways for Married Life provides pastoral guidelines for dioceses and parishes in strengthening preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage. Originally published in May 2023 by the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, with an introduction by Pope Francis. Available here as a free download and can also be purchased through Our Sunday Visitor.
- Amoris Laetitia is the post-synodal apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis addressing the pastoral care of families published in 2016.
- Familiaris Consortio is an apostolic exhortation by St. Pope John Paul II on the role of the Christian family in the modern world.
Contact Information
Staff
- Director: John Prust
- Associate Director: Janelle Peregoy
- Associate Director: Wendy Baez
- Administrative Assistant: Angie Rosario