August 12, 2012
Couples teaching Couples
Preparing for a lifetime of married love
We are blessed to have lots of weddings at Saint Brigid; and I hope that all of you hoping to be married (and parents of adult children on the way to marriage) will consider having the wedding here. We do weddings very well!
But there is another aspect of “the wedding” that we do very well…and that is in the preparation we offer for the life-long commitment to the vocation of marriage. The wedding day is such a beautiful day…but…it is only one day. The deacons and priests and couples of Saint Brigid work to prepare brides and grooms…so that they may become husbands and wives, partners in the plan of God….who is the author of married love.
At Saint Brigid, our marriage preparation program is all about couples teaching couples. Yes, the clergy at our parish have a role in the preparation for marriage; but the most important dimension of the preparation offered here involves Sponsor Couples…trained couples of the parish opening up their homes and their marriages to the engaged couples of the parish…hoping to prepare them well for this new way of living.
The Sponsor Couple program offered at Saint Brigid is the best preparation program available. The deacons and priests of the parish are of the same mind…that having couples teaching couples is the best way to prepare the engaged couples for what God is inviting them to…a new way of life…living with and for your spouse.
Deacon Dennis Dorner coordinates our Sponsor Couple marriage preparation program, and he tells me that we need additional couples to join us in this important work of God. We are in need of couples to step forward in faith, agreeing to serve the Lord and the vocation of marriage as a sponsor couple.
I can almost hear your mind working, as you are reading this call for assistance: we’re too busy (join the club!); we’re nowhere close to an ideal couple (who is?); we’ve struggled a bit (who hasn’t?); we’re not devout enough (the Lord will take care of you in that department).
We are in need of additional couples to become part of our program. Please… just contact Deacon Dennis…step out in faith. Ask him your questions. An e-mail costs you nothing. It might just be a way for you to enhance your faith-life andyour marriage. Deacon Dennis is reached at ddorner@saintbrigid.org. .
At Saint Brigid, though a deacon or priest witnesses the exchange of vows in the name of the Church of Christ, it is our couples teaching couples that offer the greatest service. Why not venture out…and become part of this movement of renewal?
The statistics tell us that sadly, the rate of divorce among Roman Catholics is about the same as in the over-all population’s rate of divorce. This is not the will of God; and couples teaching couples is one way we can assist the Lord, in taking care of this great gift! Marriage…like the vocation I have been given…is a commitment for the whole of one’s life. I am hopeful that many of our couples will say yes to this invitation, to teach others about this blessing!
AMDG