Marriage Preparation Course -- Parish of St. Mark the Evangelist, Gatineau (Aylmer Sector), Quebec CANADA

The Catholic Church requires that couples go through a process of preparation before marrying in the church...

It doesn't matter how long you have been engaged! Whether you have already set a wedding date, or not! Whether you have been living together for a long while and/or are just newly exploring the idea of getting married, these MARRIAGE PREPARATION SESSIONS - suitable for people with or without a church background.- are based on Christian principles for relationships and are run by fellow Christians (Parishioners).

These sessions are for any engaged couple who want to work at having the best possible start to their marriage.

A MARRIAGE PREPARATION COURSE provides an opportunity to identify your hopes and dreams and get into the habit of keeping the lines of communication open and effective. Not only does it give you the chance to uncover important issues that may be uncomfortable to discuss, it provides ways of addressing these issues effectively before they become a problem. Not addressing critical issues such as finance, religion, family, etc., can cause serious disagreements and derail your lifelong journey. In addition, the marriage preparation course provides time for you to spend together to reflect on what you want, where you are going and how you see your future lives together.

The goal of the course is to get you to shift from the engagement stage to being ready to build a successful marriage. Marriage preparation courses put you through exercises and challenges to get a sense of whether you have what it takes to make the relationship work.

Our facilitators use 'tried-and-tested' techniques to give you a “fighting chance” when you hit the inevitable roadblocks that married life presents. And when you do hit those roadblocks, a marriage preparation course will ideally have trained you to shift the focus from “who did what to whom” to “how we can draw upon our resources and work through the issue together.” It is not the problems you face, but rather how you tackle them that determines how well you will negotiate marriage.

Successful marriages are ones in which both partners take responsibility for their actions and they contribute fully to make their relationship work.

Topics include Personality Differences, Family of Origin, Expectations of Marriage, Spirituality of Marriage, Sharing Finances and Household Maintenance, Sexuality & Intimacy, Couple and Family Spirituality, Communication, and Parenting.