Order code: MTLF | 978-1-61671-581-6 | Saddlestitched | 8 1/2 x 11 | 80 pages | Language: English | Copyright Year: 2021
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Preparing couples for marriage is an important—and evangelizing—ministry of the Church. In your role as a minister in the marriage formation process, you will accompany couples and invite them to discover the dignity and beauty of marriage with Christ as the center and foundation of their union.
Marriage in the Lord: Forming Couples for a Sacramental Marriage provides marriage ministers with fully prepared formation sessions in order to facilitate discussion with engaged couples preparing to be married in the Catholic Church. Designed to be used along with the couple’s booklet, Marriage in the Lord: A Catholic Formation Resource, this facilitator’s guide will help you to enrich the couple’s spiritual life and to encourage their active participation in the life of the Church. This resource includes:
Facilitators and Couples may access a password protected website that includes supplemental materials that will help couples prepare for marriage formation and their wedding liturgy. This set of ten videos may be used during formation sessions and the liturgy preparation workshop or sent to couples. The videos include interviews with other married couples who share insights about their own marriage, their wedding celebration, and address the following topics:
This resource may be used in a variety of ways from day-long formation events and weekend retreats to meetings with sponsor couples. Suggestions for adapting the material to your diocesan or parish needs are included, and additional materials and videos are provided on a supplemental website.
Liturgists, music directors, pastors, and wedding coordinators will appreciate the appendix with session guides, preparation forms, and videos which will help them lead wedding liturgy workshops with couples. This worshop presents best practice according to the Order of Celebrating Matrimony. It will help parish communities and couples prepare wedding celebrations that engage the whole community.
Marriage in the Lord: Forming Couples for a Sacramental Marriage provides you with all the tools needed to facilitate a dynamic and meaningful formation experience for all those preparing to be married in the Catholic Church.
Permission to share digital materials with couples is limited to the facilitator who purchased the resource. Dioceses and parishes will need to purchase a facilitator’s guide for each leader to legally share digital materials with couples in marriage formation.
The authors include Leisa Anslinger, Corinna Laughlin, Danielle A. Noe, and Michael Ruzicki.
"Marriage in the Lord is an excellent and thorough resource to prepare couples for the sacrament of marriage. The comprehensive facilitator’s guide not only provides a flexible structure to work within a multitude of resources, but its modelling on the catechumenal process and an emphasis on liturgical life allows for a deeper enrichment and encounter with couples who are preparing for marriage. This is an invaluable tool for assisting with connecting engaged couples to parish life where they can grow in service not only to one another, but the parish family as well."
—Aaron Kohl, Director of Liturgy, Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Winter Park, FL
"Formation for the sacrament of marriage tends to focus on communication skills, economics, and reflecting on family life. This process tends to treat the liturgical celebration of marriage as simply another topic to address. In Marriage in the Lord: Forming Couples for a Sacramental Marriage, the liturgical formation of the couples receives prominence. Departing from a catechumenal model, the couple is invited to ask the great questions about love, children, and conversion to Christ in the context of a contemplative reflection on the rite. At the same time, the authors of this work are aware of the needs of young adults to engage in conversation around these themes rather than receiving endless instruction. This resource is theologically sound, liturgically insightful, and pedagogically astute. It's rare to see a resource for marriage formation that checks all these boxes. "
—Timothy P. O'Malley, Academic Director, Notre Dame Center for Liturgy
"The liturgical approach used in this resource is indispensable for today’s Catholic couple. It lays the foundation for the meaning of sacraments and gives profound meaning to what it means to be a married Christian in the world. . . .The emphasis on formation and the use of the principles of adult faith formation, especially reflection and interaction, demonstrates that this resource not only evangelizes, but is a key opportunity to minister to participants in a unique way. The rich connection to Pope Francis’ Amoris laetitia, illustrates a resource that is pastoral to the core, and, in turn, will enhance marriage formation and ultimately revitalize parish life."
—Donna Eschenauer, PhD; St. Joseph’s (Inter-diocesan) Seminary and College; Yonkers, New York
"This facilitator’s guide has integrated the marriage rite into a formation opportunity for couples. Engaged couples are eager to listen to their peers who are on the journey to marriage and with this resource couples are invited to share in the excitement, joy, and trials of preparing for a lifetime sacramental life together. This guide assists the facilitator/s with materials, questions, and suggestions giving participants a comprehensive marriage preparation experience."
—Elizabeth Reha, Director of Family Life, Diocese of Little Rock, AK
This supplement will be available soon.
