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Marriage Preparation Tools

wed-5.gif · 1) Give couples an outstanding "marriage prep packet".
· 2) Set out a table with additional resources.
· 3) Build a powerful Marriage Preparation Curriculum.
· 4) Create a library for couples, presenters, and mentors.
· 5) Provide resources for Hispanic couples as needed.


There is now an online marriage preparation service that works with local Marriage support personal and allows couples in unusual situations (such as one partner being overseas for the time being) to complete a full featured marriage preparation program.


Why Marriage Preparation Matters

The goal of Marriage Preparation is to bring about superb marriages, the kind of marriages where people say, "Aren’t they a wonderful couple!" and mean it. The realities of our culture make this extremely challenging. Nearly all of the couples who come to the Church for marriage are already sexually active with one another; nearly all of them are using contraceptives* to avoid pregnancy before marriage, and half to three quarters of them are already living together. By their lifestyle choices, they have already convinced themselves that the Church has nothing to tell them about male-female relationships or fertility management, and certainly nothing worthwhile to say about sexuality.

So why do they come? Plainly they are looking for something more than they can get from cohabitation. They know from observation of other couples (and possibly their own bitter experience) just how fragile sexual relationships outside of marriage can be. They want something better for themselves and hope that a gorgeous public ceremony or maybe some mysterious "blessing" from the Church can give them that extra something.

So what can the Church do for them? Well, Jesus gave us the best teaching on marriage and relationships ever delivered, and John Paul II has taken that teaching and packaged it so well that we now know more about what makes a marriage work (and what doesn’t) than ever before, and this knowledge is mostly available only through the Catholic Church.

Marriage is a fine-tuned, extremely powerful biological/psychological/spiritual package. Marriage moves couples to create the very best setting for bringing up resourceful, contributing members of society.
That setting is the human family with two highly involved parents. The family, however, revolves around the wholehearted sexual donation of each spouse to the other. Anything that attacks that relationship is highly destructive to marriage and the family. Pornography, for example, involves the husband with imaginary sexual images instead of his wife. Both partners are clearly aware of this disconnection, and sexual activity becomes divisive instead of unitive, with typically disastrous consequences. Birth control is even worse. Contracepted sex is the individual pursuit of physical/emotional gratification instead of a mutual pursuit of greater love and family involvement. This self-centered sex, unlike family-oriented sex, has devastating effects, for example, the huge increase in divorce that has come about as our culture has become saturated with birth control.

Marriage preparation programs can now clearly teach what factors, such as birth control, attack the marriage bond and what factors, such as accepting children, support and enhance it. We owe a great debt to John Paul II, because now we can tell couples not only what to do (and avoid) for a life-long, excellent relationship, but we can also tell them why these practices make such a remarkable difference. Effective marriage preparation, however, calls for a thorough re-education of the trainers as well as the trainees, since all of us are immersed in a culture where sexual values are highly distorted.

This is absolutely worth the effort. Healthy marriages lead to loving families. Loving families lead to functional, productive communities—a culture of life, a Civilization of Love. Anything we can do to foster this society will have an enormous payoff!

Four steps to take:



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A version of Donum Vitae (the Vatican statement on the rights and dignity of newly conceived humans). The authors discuss numerous reproductive issues: in vitro fertilization, cloning, use of embryonic stem cells, embryo adoption, and much more.

Sexual Wisdom challenges false sexual ideas with truth based on medical fact, established research, and the author's own wise thinking.

20 couples, who chose sterilization, tell how they received the grace to get sterilization reversals.
The Dignity of a Person (Dignitatis Personae)
CODE: BDOP
Sexual Wisdom
CODE: BSWG
Sterilization Reversal - A Generous Act of Love [PDF] 2003 edition
CODE: BSRApdf
Price: $5.95


Price: $6.00


Price: $6.00
[this product is electronically distributed]



Gives a couple what they need to start a happy and holy marriage

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9 chastity pamphlets
20 bookmarkers and cards with messages on chastity.
Until Death Do Us Part
CODE: BUDP
English Pamphlet Packet
CODE: SPPP
Youth bookmarks & Pamphlets
CODE: SYMP
Price: $6.95


Price: $7.00


Price: $7.00



The testimonies of couples who have suffered anguish, grief, and guilt after realizing that they aborted some of their own children through use of contraception.

Describes the concept of NaproTechnology as a natural technique for solving the problem of infertility while remaining faithful to Catholic social teaching.

Recursos básicos para ayudar a la comunidad hispana evitan el daño de la anticoncepción y se apropian las bendiciónes de la vida casada totalmente abierta a la vida y al amor.
The Contraception of Grief
CODE: BCOG
NaProTechnology as an Authentic Treatment for Infertility
CODE: CNTI
Paquete en español
CODE: SSPA
Price: $8.00


Price: $8.00


Price: $8.95



A clear and engaging summary of the reasons for the Catholic Church's opposition to contraception

Renowned speaker and author Jason Evert says the time has come for a sexual revolution that embraces the beauty and wonder of sex in its untainted, God-given fullness.

A Catholic perspective on how and why God makes babies. Ages 9 & up. It was given the Nihil Obstat from Msgr Brian Branford and the Imprimatur from Most Rev. Charles Chaput OFM, Cap
Contraception and the Family
CODE: BCAF
Life-Giving Love
CODE: CLGL
Wonderfully Made! Babies
CODE: BWMB
Price: $8.95


Price: $9.00


Price: $9.00



Christopher West digs deep into Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body and into the connection between marriage and the Eucharist.

 The Theology of the Body is a Biblical message that is intended for all Christians. This teaching, originally presented by John Paul II, draws on over 1000 scripture versus concerning God’s original plan for marriage & sexuality, and how an understanding of this plan gives meaning to our lives. In this talk given at an Evangelical church, Theology of the Body expert Christopher West delivers this life-changing message to an enthusiastic Protestant audience. Catholics and Protestants alike will benefit from this teaching as we strive to live out God’s plan for our lives

A wonderful compilation of St Josemaria Escriva's teaching on the glory and holiness of marriage,
And the Two Become One
CODE: CTBO
Theology of the Body: A Bold, biblical response to the Sexual Revolution (CD
CODE: CTOP
Sexuality and Sanctity, The Christian Doctrine on Sex
CODE: BCSS
Price: $9.95


Price: $9.95


Price: $9.95



Testimonies from a group of clergy who have preached on contraception and Natural Family Planning, with a number of added resources: sample homilies, Scripture texts from various Sundays that readily lead to these topics, and more.

A companion volume for The Princess and the Kiss.

Reflections on the spirituality and practice of breastfeeding.
A Preachable Message
CODE: CAPM
Life Lessons from "The Princess and the Kiss"
CODE: BLLP
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood
CODE: BBCM
Price: $10.00


Price: $10.49


Price: $10.95


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