Marriage and Family Life

TO MARRY FOR LIFE is a Catholic retreat which aims to enrich the preparation process for sacramental marriage. In addition to being a civil contract, marriage is also a covenant of unconditional love. Living out this covenant is a grace bearing sign to each other and to society of the love of Christ for us. Marriage is, thus, a sacrament and a calling from God to a holy state in life.

Preparation for the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is essential to your journey to the altar and to the rest of your lives. When employment, education, or the demands of life conflict with the traditional, in-person opportunities for formation it is important for each couple to speak with their pastor or clergy-celebrant about alternative options. CatholicMarriagePrep.com is the only one-on-one, interactive, mentor-led, on-demand, online pre-cana program. Anchored in John Paul II's Theology of the Body and the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a great resource to enhance your marriage preparation or improve your marriage.

Witness to Love is a virtues-based, Catechumenate model of marriage renewal and preparation that integrates modern principles of psychology and the virtues to help couples facilitate an authentic dialogue about their relationship. What makes Witness to Love unique is that the engaged couple chooses their own mentor couple. This is a couple they both admire and see as a source of faith formation. This mentor couple gives them a concrete connection and integration into the parish. Through the sharing of the mentor couples’ own marriage journey, the engaged couple inherits a “lifeline” of support in their commitment to Jesus and His Church.
To learn more, click here.
 

The Together in Holiness Conference is a marriage enrichment initiative that inspires spouses to grow together in holiness and empowers parents to form their children in the Catholic faith.

Retrouvaille – A lifeline for marriages in trouble
This program is for couples with marital problems that want marriage help. Those who are considering marriage separation and those who are already separated or divorced are encouraged to consider the Retrouvaille Program. There is always hope of reviving your relationship.

Some couples come to Retrouvaille during the initial signs of a marriage problem. Other couples are in a state of despair and hopelessness when they attend the program.

Many lawyers and judges send couples to Retrouvaille as a prerequisite to filing for a divorce or rendering final decisions. Many marriage counselors and family therapists send their clients to Retrouvaille as a prerequisite to counseling. These professionals know that the tools of communication in marriage taught in the program are often what couples need.

The Retrouvaille program is for husbands and wives and is not designed nor intended for couples in a co-habitating relationship.
Learn More: https://www.helpourmarriage.org/
 

Natural Family Planning (NFP) is an umbrella term for the practice of observing the recognizable signs and symptoms of a woman’s phases of fertility throughout the menstrual cycle. There are several common methods suited for this purpose including the Creighton Model, the Marquette Model, the Billings Ovulation Method, and the Sympto-Thermal Method. 

It is important to remember that NFP is not the Rhythm Method; it is not a mere counting of days, but a practice of observing physical signs which can prove especially useful in cases of irregular cycles or other underlying health issues.

Natural Family Planning allows couples to have open, honest conversations about God’s plan for their family. When practiced correctly and consistently, NFP can help achieve or avoid pregnancy without the use of harmful, artificial contraceptives.

Couples, engaged or married, within the diocese of Beaumont can learn more about Natural Family Planning through online classes offered by the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. To learn more please visit: Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
 

More Information Coming Soon

The Catholic Church teaches that Christian marriage is an exchange of persons in which the parties give and accept each other in a permanent, faithful, fruitful union, which is to mirror Christ's relationship to the Church.
The Second Vatican Council spoke of marriage as an "intimate partnership of life and love," and referred to the marriage covenant rather than the marriage contract. It described marriage as "...a means by which a man and a
woman render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate union of their persons and of their actions; by which they experience the meaning of their oneness and attain to it with perfection day by day; " and by which "they increasingly advance their own perfection, as well as their mutual sanctification and hence contribute jointly to the glory of God" (GS 48).
For this reason the Church views divorce very seriously--a last resort to safeguard rights under civil law.
The Church does not accept that divorce can sever the bond of a valid marriage. Church law, in fact, presumes that a marriage is valid once it is entered, a presumption which remains in force unless and until the contrary is proved.
Learn More: Tribunal - Diocese of Beaumont - Beaumont, TX (dioceseofbmt.org)

More Information Coming Soon.