February 2024  (Office of Matrimonial Concerns)

Marriage Policy Handbook (English)

The Office of Family Life is excited about your engagement and wants to help you have the best marriage possible!  We recommend the following steps as a great start to your future together.

Step 1: Contact Your Parish before making any other plans.

Step 2: Complete an Inventory (see below for options)

Step 3: Attend a Natural Family Planning (NFP) intro course or full course.

Step 4: Complete a Marriage Preparation Course or Retreat

There are several Inventories available, but only ONE of these is needed to be completed. Your facilitator will select the Inventory for you. After completed, a trained facilitator will go over your results in person or via ZOOM.

Prepare/Enrich Inventory: Cost is $35 and can help identify the areas of agreement or disagreement in your relationship. It includes options for Catholic and non-Catholic couples, Spanish-speaking couples, and those with or without children. Please contact the Office of Family Life,  if you are interested in doing this Inventory.

Click here to learn more: prepare-enrich.com/couples.

Fully Engaged Inventory is a Catholic catechetical premarital inventory designed to help engaged couples solidify the foundation upon which they, together with Christ, will build their Sacrament of Marriage. Grounded in Church teaching and loaded with catechetical content, this dynamic premarital inventory is a trustworthy guide that meets the real challenges today’s couples face. Visit the website for information on https://getfullyengaged.com/

The FOCCUS© Pre-Marriage Inventory is a comprehensive, user-friendly tool for use by lay individuals, couples or professionals who are helping couples prepare for marriage, and who become trained as FOCCUS Facilitators.The FOCCUS© Inventory is designed to help engaged couples appreciate their unique relationship, learn more about themselves, and discuss topics important to their lifelong marriage. Visit the website for information on https://www.foccusinc.com/Foccus-Inventory.aspx

Plan to attend at least an Introduction Class for NFP.

Couple to Couple League: New Introduction to NFP methods called Natural Plan. Current introductory cost is $15: http://www.learnnfp.org

Diocesan Intro Classes: Multiple classes are offered each month in-person and ZOOM. Please visit Natural Family Planning for the most up-to-date class offerings and explanations of the different models.

Full classes are HIGHLY beneficial, but not required.

This is often an area of confusion for engaged couples.  Which marriage prep course is best suited for your relationship?  Every couple is different and you have multiple options.  Mentorship is the most comprehensive and many find it so helpful and life-giving.  One-day or Weekend courses are condensed and provide necessary talking points for the couple to review on their own.  Online options allow a couple to go at their own pace and are best suited for engaged couples who live in different areas of the country.

One-Day or Weekend Options

Joy Filled Marriage 

January 18, 2025 | St. Finbar Hall, Charleston

$100/couple. For more information, please contact Deacon Gary Ludlam: ludlam@gmail.com  or 8430860-0292

Mentorship Programs (In-Person/Online)

Witness to Love, online and in person, builds communities that connect couples to Christ in the Church.

https://witnesstolove.org

Online Options

For information on the In-Home Marriage Preparation program, please contact the Office of Family Life.

CatholicMarriagePrep.com’s program invites couples into a deeper relationship with each other and with Christ, one couple at a time, with a personalized mentoring couple. Scholarships available from Catholic Marriage Prep.

catholicmarriageprep.com.

Online

Engaged

For couples either needing or preferring an online marriage prep option, please look into Engaged by Paul and Gretchen George. By registering for their series, you and your fiancé will watch a set of online videos at your pace. Once you have completed the videos, you will schedule a ZOOM meeting with Paul and Gretchen.

discovertheartofliving.com/engaged

Smart Loving

SmartLoving provides quality marriage preparation online. The resources are grounded in the wisdom of the Church and provide practical skills to heal, enrich and protect marriages so that couples can become the effective agents of evangelization to which they are called.

https://smartloving.org/charleston

CatholicMarriagePrep

Catholic Marriage Prep is featured as a valid marriage preparation resource on For Your Marriage, an initiative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

catholicmarriageprep.com.

For engaged women only! Really invest in yourself with this 10-part video series on engagement created by Catholic speaker, YouTuber, and author, Emily Wilson Hussem (@emwilss)! This series offers practical guidance, prayerful encouragement, and valuable insight into rarely discussed topics that you will encounter during engagement (e.g. the trap of comparison, the wedding night, discerning a choice, bachelorette parties, etc.) and helps you to manage and prioritize your heart in the process. Go to: Navigating Engagement with Emily Wilson and enjoy a 15% discount courtesy of your friends here at the Office of Family Life, Catholic Diocese of Charleston!