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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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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.

Teaching of the Church in light of our culture regarding sexual behavior.

20 couples, who chose sterilization, tell how they received the grace to get sterilization reversals.
Saint Gianna Molla
CODE: BSGM
Humanae Vitae On the Regulation of Birth Pope Paul Vl
CODE: CHVB
Sterilization Reversal - A Generous Act of Love
CODE: BSRA
Price: $11.95


Price: $12.00


Price: $12.00



Humanae Vitae proclaimed the beauty of marital sex unburdened by obstacles opposing fertility. This book explains and defends that teaching.

Navigating through the "desert" of infertility is an especially painful experience. It can lead to a sense of failure and a feeling of hopelessness. This spiritual companion and resource offers the direction, nourishment, and faith to find the way out of the "desert." Infertile Catholic couples, family members, friends, family life offices, and support groups will find this book to be both informative and comforting.

This book will tug at your heart strings and lift the fog that surrounds imperfection according to today’s standards. We all are imperfect and no one has the right to label, neglect, or dictate who is “compatible or incompatible with life”. This book is inspirational and is an eloquent picture of the love a family shares in response to life.
Sex Au Naturel
CODE: BSAN
Facing Infertility A Catholic Approach
CODE: BFIA
I Am Not a Syndrome – My Name is Simon
CODE: BINS
Price: $12.95


Price: $12.95


Price: $12.97



An awesome book for teenagers on chastity. The authors share their  testimony of how they spiraled down the pathway of sexual sin but then found the grace and strength to return to chastity. Contains practical advice and straight answers and is a very enjoyable read.

A lively and involving presentation supporting teen chastity, with many personal stories.

50 women (and their husbands) whose lives have been enriched by the medical care, education, and research efforts of the Pope Raul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction
Not Ready For Marriage, Not Ready For Sex: One Couple's Return to Chastity
CODE: BNMS
A Case For Chastity
CODE: BCFC
Women Healed
CODE: BWHH
Price: $12.99


Price: $13.95


Price: $13.95



If You Really Loved Me

Hope and inspiration for those who are struggling in their marriages

The pope's warm, deeply biblical understanding of God's original plan for men and women
If You Really Loved Me
CODE: BIYR
Amazing Grace for Married Couples
CODE: BAGC
Men & Women Are from Eden
CODE: BMAW
Price: $13.95


Price: $13.99


Price: $13.99



BFRE.jpg

The basic human questions: Why are we here, what does our life mean, how can I get the best out of life.

Christian purity? More than likely, it is not what you think. Purity is not Puritanism. Nor is it prudishness. Christian purity is the ability to see the mystery of God revealed through the body and sexuality.
Freedom: 12 Lives Transformed by the Theology of the Body
CODE: BFRE
God, Sex and the Meaning of Life
CODE: CGSM
Purity in an Impure Age
CODE: CPIA
Price: $13.99


Price: $14.95


Price: $14.95
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Notes that woman’s true greatness lies in her ability to bring new life into the world

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

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.
Woman: God's Masterpiece (2 CD set)
CODE: CWGM
True Love. . . How Will I Know? DVD
CODE: DTLH
Life Issues, Medical Choices
CODE: BLIM
Price: $14.95


Price: $14.95


Price: $14.95


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