To bear witness to the inestimable value of the indissolubility and fidelity of marriage is one of the most precious and most urgent tasks of Christian couples in our time.[1] St. John Paul II
More often than not, the engaged couples we meet in our marriage preparation ministry were raised in broken families. They witnessed dysfunctional family dynamics growing up. Consequently, they have no idea what a good marriage looks like.
In his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, St. John Paul II said, “Marriage preparation has to be seen and put into practice as a gradual and continuous process. It includes three main stages: remote, proximate and immediate preparation.”[2] Marriage preparation starts in the family through the example of the mother and father to their children, continues through adolescence right up to the actual marriage. The Pope stressed that this training is “more urgently needed for engaged couples that still manifest shortcomings or difficulties in Christian doctrine and practice.” This is even more critical today when young engaged couples’ marriage preparation was the emotional trauma of their parents’ divorce.
