Marriage Prep Volunteer Information
-
How the Ministry Works:
- Once one of our priests has met with an engaged couple, and their wedding is booked, information about the engaged couple is sent to the Marriage Prep coordinator who will match them with a “simpatico” sponsor couple.
- The sponsor couple then makes contact with the engaged couple and they mutually work out a schedule of two to four meetings, typically in the sponsor couple’s home. The meetings usually take place in the evening or on weekends. These meetings range from 90 to 180 minutes each.
- When the meetings are completed the sponsor couple informs the coordinator, and then he notifies the priest.
- On average a sponsor couple will work with one or two engaged couples per year.
- The ideal sponsor couple has been married at least 10 years, is living a fully Catholic marriage, and is willing to talk openly about real life challenges, including – but not limited to – financial, social, and sexuality-related concerns. They also must be warm and welcoming in allowing the engaged couple into the intimacy of their home to discuss such private topics. Yet they also have to be “tough” enough to keep the meetings on track and to point out to the engaged couple things in their relationship that need further addressing between them.
- New sponsor couples will receive training from the Marriage Preparation Coordinator couple and/or other veteran sponsor couples. The training varies based on the number of new sponsor couples and the time of year. In total, the training commitment is to attend two or three meetings and to thoroughly study the printed materials used in the program.
- Sometime during a new sponsor couple’s first year in this ministry, they are also expected to attend the full-day diocesan program, “Engaged Couples Conference” so that they will be able to conduct their private meetings knowing what the engaged couple has experienced at the diocesan conference.
- Requires good interpersonal, phone, and email communications skills.