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Preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage

Contact Mindy McBurney at mindy@stjosephcolumbia.org for more information on weddings at St. Joseph's

Contact Ben Jett at ben@stjosephcolumbia.org, if you have questions about the Marriage Prep program.

Marriage Preparation Course: Living a Joy-filled Marriage

Helping prepare engaged couples to embrace God’s plan for the sacrament of matrimony is an honor and a privilege. In today’s climate, it is also a challenge. Joy-Filled Marriage is a marriage preparation program designed to meet that challenge. The two components of the program—Life Skills for Couples and God’s Plan for Love—are complemented by a beautiful Couple’s Journal. This program offers a comprehensive approach to marriage preparation that covers not only the sacramentality and theology of marriage but the practical life skills necessary to live out the rich Catholic vision of marriage.

This program incorporates a three-stage approach:

Learning Stage: Couples learn sound principles and a fresh, virtue-based approach to life skills, as well as the Catholic vision of marriage and the beautiful and significant gift of sexuality.
Discuss and Discover Stage: Through a variety of focused questions and activities, couples discuss their relationships, learn about themselves, and begin applying what they have learned.
Plan and Build Stage: Couples recognize topics they may need to discuss at a later date, identify shared goals, and set a unified vision to build a joy-filled marriage. All this is captured in one wonderful keepsake, the Couple’s Journal.

This program will help participants:

Appreciate what the Catholic Church teaches about marriage, and why
Embrace the gift of grace that makes a lifelong, joy-filled marriage possible
Explore important topics, identify shared goals, and set concrete plans to build a joy-filled marriage