A MINISTRY THAT STRENGTHENS PARISH LIFE

Marriage preparation is one of the most important moments in the life of a parish, yet it is often one of the most missed opportunities for deep formation, relationship, and long-term discipleship.

In Home Catholic Marriage Prep helps parishes establish a trusted, repeatable, and fully supported process for forming engaged couples for the Sacrament of Marriage—one that leads not only to a wedding day, but to lasting sacramental unity, stronger families, and a more vibrant parish life.

This is not an additional burden placed on parishes. It is a fully supported ministry designed to equip your community with everything needed to form mentor couples, accompany engaged couples well, and build a lasting culture of marriage formation rooted in the Church.

BRING THIS TO YOUR PARISH
SCHEDULE A CONVERSATION

PARISH SUPPORT AND FORMATION

Parishes are not asked to build this alone. We provide everything needed to establish and sustain this ministry, including:

  • Comprehensive mentor couple formation and training

  • A clear structure for implementing the 6-session journey

  • Guided materials rooted in Scripture and the Catechism

  • Practical tools for hosting, conversation, and accompaniment

  • Ongoing support for parish implementation and sustainability

This ensures consistency, fidelity, and confidence in how couples are formed.

A SIMPLE, INTENTIONAL MODEL

1. Identify Mentor Couples | Your parish discerns faithful, stable, sacramentally living couples who are willing to accompany engaged couples.

2. Form and Equip | Mentor couples are formed in intentional accompaniment, hospitality, communication, and the theology of marriage and unity.

We provide thorough training so mentor couples are fully prepared in:

  • Catholic theology of marriage and unity

  • intentional mentorship and accompaniment

  • hospitality as evangelization

  • facilitating meaningful, guided conversation

  • living and witnessing sacramental marriage

They are not simply volunteers. They are formed witnesses equipped for real pastoral impact.

3. Match Engaged Couples | Each engaged couple is paired with a mentor couple who walks with them through the full preparation journey.

4. Journey in the Home | Meetings take place in Catholic homes, where conversation, prayer, and lived witness shape formation over time.

5. Continue Beyond the Wedding | These relationships often continue into the early years of marriage, strengthening family life and deepening parish community.

Mentor couples are at the heart of this ministry.

Mentor couples are not instructors. They are witnesses.

They are formed and equipped to accompany engaged couples with clarity, humility, and confidence in the Church’s vision for sacramental marriage.

Their role is not to deliver information, but to help couples encounter the lived reality of Catholic marriage through relationship and conversation.

Because of this, mentor couples become one of the most powerful instruments of evangelization in parish life, often serving as the first real, lived encounter many engaged couples have with the beauty of Catholic marriage.

Parish Support and Formation

Parishes are not asked to build this alone. We provide everything needed to establish and sustain this ministry, including:

  • Comprehensive mentor couple formation and training

  • A clear structure for implementing the 6-session journey

  • Guided materials rooted in Scripture and the Catechism

  • Practical tools for hosting, conversation, and accompaniment

  • Ongoing support for parish implementation and sustainability

This ensures consistency, fidelity, and confidence in how couples are formed.

The Impact on Parish Life

When marriage preparation is lived through relationship, hospitality, and sacramental witness, it becomes more than a requirement, it becomes a form of evangelization.

This ministry strengthens parish life by:

  • forming stronger sacramental marriages

  • increasing long-term engagement in parish community

  • building intergenerational mentorship and friendship

  • supporting vocations within families

  • creating a culture of accompaniment, not isolation

The impact extends far beyond the wedding day. It shapes the future of family life in the Church.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • While group retreats provide valuable instruction, the in-home model offers personalized mentorship and organic witness. Engaged couples learn directly from a married couple who model real-world sacramental living, hospitality, and vulnerable discussion. It also builds lasting relationships and integrates young couples into parish life.

  • Connect with us to review curriculum materials and program structure.

    Select mentor couples in your parish who demonstrate a healthy, active marriage and a heart for ministry.

    Train mentor couples using our step-by-step leader guides and video training resources.

    Begin pairing mentor couples with engaged couples preparing for Marriage in your parish.

  • We provide complete mentor leader guides, mentor training materials, engaged couple workbooks, and ongoing support to ensure your marriage ministry runs smoothly and sustainably without putting extra administrative strain on parish staff.

  • Implementation is flat and transparent:

    One-Time Implementation Fee: $175 (covers initial training setup, mentor couple materials, and engaged couple workbooks).

    No Mandatory Subscriptions: There are no ongoing mandatory annual software or licensing fees.

    Optional Support: Parishes and Dioceses are welcome to make an voluntary annual donation to Art of Living: In Home Catholic Marriage to support ministry operations, ongoing updates, and expansion efforts.

  • The $175 fee per mentor couple covers everything needed to equip your parish or diocese for marriage preparation:

    • Complete training materials for mentor couples.

    • Leader guides and facilitation resources.

    • Comprehensive participant worksheets for engaged couples.

  • The mission of In Home Marriage Prep is a path to authentic discipleship. We introduce engaged couples to Christ, the Church, and the Sacrament of Marriage through intentional, relational mentorship. We believe that having trained mentors who are deeply committed to their own sacramental marriage—and who hold firm to the Catholic faith—creates the most fruitful and transformative experience possible for couples preparing for holy matrimony.

  • The curriculum walks couples through six targeted, interactive sessions designed to cover both the practical and spiritual foundations of Catholic married life:

    Session 1: Introduction, Vision of Marriage, & Family of Origin — Setting expectations, getting acquainted, and examining how our upbringing shapes our relationship dynamics.

    Session 2: Marriage Expectations — Aligning daily goals, roles, lifestyle preferences, and long-term priorities as a team.

    Session 3: Communication — Building healthy conflict resolution tools, active listening skills, and emotional intimacy.

    Session 4: Sex and Sexuality — Exploring God’s design for marital love, intimacy, openness to life, and Natural Family Planning (NFP).

    Session 5: Moral Decision Making — Navigating financial management, ethical choices, culture, and shared values through a faith-centered lens.

    Session 6: The Sacrament of Marriage — Deepening understanding of sacramental grace, prayer, the wedding liturgy, and living as a holy domestic church.

Build a Culture of Sacramental Marriage

When marriage preparation is rooted in relationship, hospitality, and Christ-centered formation, it does more than prepare couples for a wedding day.

It strengthens marriages. It strengthens families. It strengthens vocations. And it strengthens the life of the parish for generations to come.

We would be honored to walk with your parish in building a ministry of accompaniment rooted in the heart of the Church.