1. CATECHETICAL SEGMENT FOR MARRIAGE PREPARATION
June 2019

2. Prayer to the Holy Family
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in you we contemplate the splendour of true love, to you we turn with trust. Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that our families too may be places of communion and prayer, authentic schools of the Gospel and small domestic Churches.

3. Holy Family of Nazareth, may families never again experience violence, rejection and division; may all who have been hurt or scandalized find ready comfort and healing.
Holy Family of Nazareth, make us once more mindful of the sacredness and inviolability of the family, and its beauty in God’s plan.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, graciously hear our prayer.
Amen. 

4. QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION
What are your biggest concerns when preparing a couple for marriage? What are the two or three most important things couples need to know before entering Catholic marriage?

5. The Need for a Catechetical Segment
The Plan for Strengthening Marriage:
Objective 4: To improve the effectiveness of marriage preparation so that it is more responsive and relevant to the needs of today’s young adults.
(4.D) Integrate a comprehensive catechetical segment on sacramental marriage into instructional sessions for engaged couples.

6. Why do we Prepare Couples for Marriage?
“So that the ‘I do’ of the spouses may be a free and responsible act … preparation for marriage is of prime importance.
The role of pastors and of the Christian community is indispensable for the transmission of the human and Christian values of marriage and family…
It is imperative to give suitable and timely instruction to young people…about the dignity of married love…”
CCC #1632

7. The Goals of Pre-Cana Divorce Prevention/Life Skills
The witness of married couples
A positive experience of Church
Insight into the spirituality of marriage
-- How the sacrament is
lived each day
-- Inviting Christ into the
fray
-- Part of something greater
than themselves

8. Pope Francis on Marriage Preparation
There is a need for “A new catechumenate in preparation for marriage, …an appropriate path of preparation geared to rediscover marriage and the family in keeping with God’s design.” 
  “…preparation for marriage (is an) antidote that impedes the multiplication of null and inconsistent marriage celebrations.”

9. The Challenge
The Church has declared many marriages invalid due to inadequate consent
Incapacity: Lack of due discretion of judgment about rights and duties of marriage (c. 1095)
Ignorance: Lack of understanding that marriage is permanent and ordered to procreation (c. 1096)
Error about marriage: mistaken about unity, indissolubility, or sacramental dignity (c. 1099)
Simulation: Despite words spoken, party/parties do not intend some essential element of marriage (c. 1101)
The Church has declared many marriages invalid because of inadequate consent:

10. The Goods of Marriage Permanence Exclusivity/Fidelity
Fruitfulness of the union
Marriage is unitive – for the good of the spouses, and procreative – open to life.

11. Essential Elements of Catholic Marriage
Marriage as Covenant
Permanence in Marriage
Marriage as Partnership
Marriage as Sacrament
Marriage Continues Creation

12. Catechetical Segment – Determining the Format
Another mandatory Pre-Marriage workshop may seem a burden.
A resource document format allows for adaptability to parish situation.
Customized preparation for each couple – meet them where they are.
Can be integrated into FOCCUS or PNI meetings.
Can be done with a mentor/sponsor couple or in group setting.

13. FORMAT OF CATECHETICAL SEGMENT
Key Points – compressed version
Tutorial – expanding the topics
Practical Applications for Couples
Couple Reflection Questions

14. MARRIAGE AS COVENANT Key Points, pg. 2; Tutorial, pgs. 3-5
Begin by explaining who God is (Key Points, p. 2)
Explain the nature of God’s covenant
Explain why marriage is a covenant sealed by Jesus Christ

15. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS FOR COUPLES, pg. 5
Knowing that their lifelong promise to love and honor each other is given before God, couples can see the sacred and serious nature of their marital commitment.

16. COUPLE REFLECTION QUESTIONS pg. 6
What are necessary qualities to live out the promises of a marriage covenant?
What are some things you might do that could strengthen your covenant?
Where would you turn for help when you experience difficulties?
Why are prayer and the sacraments necessary to keep your marriage strong?

17. PERMANENCE IN MARRIAGE – KEY POINTS, p. 7
Marriage is a permanent, lifelong commitment
Marriage reflects God’s love for creation
Marriage signifies Christ’s self emptying love for the Church
The consent exchanged by the couple is sealed by God
A sacramental marriage is a sign of the New Covenant established by Christ

18. Tutorial on Permanence
“Are you prepared, as you follow the path of Marriage, to love and honor each other for as long as you both shall live?”  

19. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS FOR COUPLES, pg. 10
Daily prayer enables couples to invite God into their relationship so that their marriage and family life can become holy.
With the grace to forgive and be forgiven, couples can grow from conflict.
When couples unite their inevitable struggles with the cross, their suffering is redemptive and their marriage is strengthened.

20. COUPLE REFLECTION QUESTIONS pg. 10
How does the modern, secular view of marriage affect your understanding of the permanence of your own relationship?
What support for your relationship are you receiving (will you receive) from relatives, friends and your parish?
What help can you or your parish provide for other couples struggling with permanence?

21. Question for Consideration
How can we help couples to understand that a valid sacramental marriage is indissoluble according to God’s action, and therefore divorce is not an option?

22. MARRIAGE AS PARTNERSHIP -KEY POINTS, pg. 11
Marriage is a “partnership of the whole of life.” (CCC #1601)
The marital partnership is a union of body, heart and soul.
Partnership in marriage presupposes a deep friendship between the spouses.

23. MARRIAGE AS PARTNERSHIP – KEY POINTS, p. 11
Husband and wife are equal in dignity. Partnership implies mutual submission to Christ and mutual authority.
True unity in marriage requires sexual difference (complementarity).

24. MARRIAGE AS PARTNERSHIP, TUTORIAL, pgs. 11-14
Couples share the deepest intimacies of marital communication in words, deeds and the sacred body language of sexual union.
The “staying power” of true friendship assists spouses to live in that union intended by God.
Successful marriages involve dying to self, sacrificial love, forgiveness and a daily decision to love.

25. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS FOR COUPLES, p. 14
Every marriage is tested daily… a true partnership enables couples to determine goals together.
Household tasks must be handled equally.
Despite busy schedules, couples should go out on dates.
Couples should keep their marriage private…arguments are best kept within the home.

26. COUPLE REFLECTION QUESTIONS pg. 15
In what specific ways will you ensure your marriage is a true partnership?
How would you describe the best kind of marital friendship?
Have you discussed sharing of household chores?

27. MARRIAGE AS SACRAMENT – KEY POINTS, pg. 16
Marriage is one of the seven sacraments.
It is the couples themselves who are ministers of the sacrament.
Marriage is a path toward holiness.
Couples receive the grace to “do” the work of marriage.
Sacramental marriage implies the practice of faith…

28. TUTORIAL ON MARRIAGE AS SACRAMENT, pgs. 17-21
In the sacrament of marriage a baptized man and woman vow their love in a permanent, exclusive, permanent, sexual partnership.
Christian marriage is an extraordinary sign of God working through and in the ordinary.
Spouses are consecrated for the duties and of their state by a special sacrament.

29. THE THREE C’S OF VALID CATHOLIC MARRIAGE
Capacity
Consent
Canonical Form
“Catechetical Segment,” page 19

30. CAPACITY, pg. 19
Psychological capacity – emotional maturity and stability
Physical capacity – ability to fulfill duties of marriage
Freedom from impediments

31. CONSENT, pg. 19 “Consent makes the marriage” (c. 1057)
Consent to a marriage that is…
Lifelong (permanent)
Exclusive (forsaking all others)
Open to children

32. CANONICAL FORM, pg. 19
To be married in the presence of a Catholic bishop, or a priest or deacon delegated by either the pastor or bishop, and two witnesses according to the Order of Celebrating Matrimony (c. 1108)

33. MARRIAGE AS SACRAMENT
Outward sign
Instituted by Christ
To give grace

34. GRACE
The sacrament of marriage is the imprint of God on the souls of the married couple…a seed sown in the soul bearing fruit through the whole of married life. Through the divine action of sacramental grace, they have something in their souls that truly unites them. (Catechetical Segment, #42)

35. GRACE
Grace: The free and undeserved gift that God gives us to respond to our vocation to become His adopted children.
As sanctifying grace, God shares His divine life with us in a habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition.
As actual grace, God gives us the help to conform our lives to His will (CCC, Glossary.)

36. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS FOR COUPLES, pgs. 21-22
When couples understand the sacramental nature of marriage, they can trust that God has a plan.
No one can go it alone; a support system (such as the parish) for daily life is essential.
Couples can turn to experienced couples to accompany them through challenges.
The grace of marriage is essential for happy marriage.
Sacramental marriages have a mission.

37. MARRIAGE CONTINUES CREATION – KEY POINTS, p. 23
The unitive and procreative aspects of marriage are inseparable.
Children, the crowning glory of creation, are a gift from God.
The Church calls parents to exercise responsible parenthood.
Families have a duty to the Church and society. They make God’s love present in service to others.

38. MARRIAGE CONTINUES CREATION, TUTORIAL, pgs. 23-27
Significance of the sexual encounter in marriage (pgs )
Responsible parenthood (pgs )
The family as domestic church (pgs )

39. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS FOR COUPLES, pgs. 27-28
Appreciating the sacredness of sex, a couple’s lovemaking reaches new level of fulfillment.
Pornography is an absolute form of infidelity
When children are regarded as a gift, generosity increases.
Responsible parenthood is a couple’s right and duty.

40. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS FOR COUPLES, pgs. 27-28
With concerns of infertility and side effects of contraception, and new methods in fertility awareness, couples are more open to Natural Family planning.
Families who are active in the parish find support to sustain them, and turn to the sacraments and daily prayer.
Families are called to care for society and protect the earth.

41. AREAS FOR CONSIDERATION – COMMON PASTORAL ISSUES
Sex outside of marriage is considered a “grave sin” in the Catholic Church. Such grave sins cannot co-exist with sanctifying grace in the soul.
Grave sin also blocks the specific sanctifying grace of Matrimony.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation before marriage restores sanctifying grace.
Encouraging couples to learn a method of NFP helps ensure the availability of sanctifying grace.

42. QUESTION TO CONSIDER/ Q AND A
How might the catechetical segment be used effectively in your parish?

43. CATECHETICAL SEGMENT FOR MARRIAGE PREPARATION
Peg Hensler, Associate Director for Marriage Ministries and NFP,
Rev. James Grogan, Pastor, Nativity Parish, Fair Haven, Diocesan Marriage Ministry Team Member,
Deacon Dennis Slavin, Our Lady of Sorrows-SA Parish, Diocesan Marriage Ministry Team Member,