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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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9 chastity pamphlets
20 bookmarkers and cards with messages on chastity.

Many couples are realizing that contraception is not a good choice for them. The big question is, "What next?"

Los obispos de los E.E.U.U. explican cómo es el plan de Dios para el amor matrimonial, " es más rico y más satisfactorio" que el enfoque general tomado por nuestra cultura.
Youth bookmarks & Pamphlets
CODE: SYMP
What Do We Do Now?
CODE: PWDW
El amor matrimonial
CODE: KMLGsp
Price: $7.00


Price: $0.35


Price: $2.00



John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, presented  in a simple, comprehensive way for young people. This book would be very helpful for educators and youth ministers who teach the Theology of the Body. Each chapter has questions for reflection and Catechism references for further reading.

This book not only provides answers to many questions troubling Catholics, it also supplies fundamental principles of Catholic thought to help readers arrive at morally sound decisions in those areas that have yet to be settled.

Professor Janet Smith takes a close look at the way contraception harms relationships, families, and societies, and gives great ideas for a healthier way of life.
God's Plan for You
CODE: BGPY
Life Issues, Medical Choices
CODE: BLIM
Contraception: Why Not (mp3)
CODE: CCWNm
Price: $16.95


Price: $14.95


Price: $0.00
[this product is electronically distributed]



Reflections on the spirituality and practice of breastfeeding.

Married persons live longer, have less physical and mental health problems, have higher incomes, and accumulate more wealth than their unmarried counterparts. They experience many other benefits.

Christopher West illuminates love’s two dimensions—eros (human) and agape (divine), using key passages from Benedict XVI’s first encyclical, God Is Love. He helps us appreciate the interplay, distinctiveness, and relationship of these dimensions of love. West succeeds as probably no other author could in marrying John Paul II’s Theology of the Body with Benedict’s God Is Love. This is one of those rare books that makes you wish the end would not come so soon.
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood
CODE: BBCM
The Case for Marriage
CODE: BCFM
The Love That Satisfies
CODE: BTLS
Price: $10.95


Price: $15.95


Price: $19.95



This wonderful biography on St Gianna tells her life's story, from her childhood, through her professional and family life, and up until the giving of her life for her child. Much of the book is in the form of an interview with Gianna's husband Pietro, and it also includes a section entitled "Gianna's Virtues," the testimony of Pietro for the process of his wife's beatification.

An introduction to Natural Family Planning, including medical background, spiritual context, and experiences of NFP users.

In NFP Theology and Morals two catholic priests detail the sin of contraception and God's plan for sexuality.
Saint Gianna Molla
CODE: BSGM
Introduction to Natural Family Planning (DVD)
CODE: DINF
NFP Theology and Morals (podcast)
CODE: CNOAm
Price: $11.95


Price: $14.95


[this product is electronically distributed]



In "Prove it God" a Catholic woman and mother speaks on her conversion from contraception and her journey to Natural Family Planning.

A Catholic wife and mother describes the wonderful outcomes when she switched from "picking and choosing" among the Church's teachings to wholehearted acceptance. She also gives practical pointers for helping other people in her situation.

Testimony of Healing: Sterilization Reversal - An Act of Love is the story of one couples experience of the harm of sterilization and the blessings of sterilization reversal.
"Prove It, God" ...And He Did (podcast)
CODE: CPHDm
Reaching the Cafeteria Catholic (podcast)
CODE: CRCCm
Testimony of Healing: Sterilization Reversal - An Act of Love (mp3)
CODE: CTHSm
[this product is electronically distributed]


[this product is electronically distributed]


Price: $1.00
[this product is electronically distributed]



How to find love that is Free, Faithful, Total, and Fruitful.

Chris West gives an overview of John Paul II's Theology of the Body, a groundbreaking synthesis of Scripture with modern understanding of the human person and human sexuality.

Esta exhortación apostólica proporciona el mapa para el matrimonio y la vida familiar cristianos en sus dimensiones moral, espiritual y evangélica. Da las estrategias detalladas para que las familias  logren su gran destino como la fuente de la civilización verdadera, la Civilización del Amor.
True Love. . . How Will I Know? (Podcast)
CODE: CTLHm
John Paul II's Theology of the Body (mp3)
CODE: CTOBm
La familia cristiana en el mundo moderno (Familiaris Consortio)
CODE: BEFCsp
[this product is electronically distributed]


Price: $1.00
[this product is electronically distributed]


Price: $4.95


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