For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

(Mark 10:7-9)

At St. Joseph Church, we take seriously our role in preparing couples for holy matrimony. The sacrament of marriage is a grace-filled encounter with God, and a way to holiness. As such, preparing for marriage is about more than planning the wedding. 

While the planning of the wedding liturgy is an important part, most of our efforts in marriage preparation go toward preparing a couple to live their vocation well.  One way we do this is to teach couples how to embrace certain ideals and build skills which foster marital harmony:

• The spirituality of marriage
• Having an openness to life
• Relationship dynamics
• Communication
• Conflict management
• An understanding of the various stages of marriage
• An exploration of differences and potential areas of conflict
• Insights into the importance of faith and a faith community

All of these ingredients are built into our marriage preparation program here at St. Joseph.  Couples meet with a priest or deacon to begin the process and set the date, and then periodically afterward.  A PMI (Pre-Marriage Inventory) is done to help the couple identify areas of strength and areas of potential conflict, so that issues can be addressed early.  Couples attend a local Pre-Marriage seminar that features talks and discussion on aspects of sacramental marriage.  And couples meet with an assigned married “sponsor couple” three times for some further discussion about the practical aspects of living Christian marriage.  Further information about these components is available when you contact Fr. Mike, Fr. Anthony, Deacon Steve, or our pastoral associate, Kathy Hasty at 248.693.0440.

Our prayer is that this preparation helps our couples to be a light and an example to the world, and not a future divorce statistic.  It’s an intensive approach, but one that we believe makes a difference.