The revised Marriage Specialization Course is offered to marriage preparation coordinators and their teams. The course content was designed to be taught in four one day, six hour sessions, delivered over the course of four months.

Diocesan certification in marriage ministry is granted to those who complete the marriage specialization course and one day retreat.

The content of the course includes the following topics:

Day 1

• The social and cultural context of Christian marriage in the United States 
• The mission of the church in our social and cultural context and our baptismal call 
• Human sexuality/ morality/ natural family planning

Day 2 

• The biblical and theological foundation of marriage 
• Canon law /the right to marry/pastoral issues/interfaith marriage/interchurch marriage/ cohabitating couples/convalidations/ annulments 

Day 3 

• The 20th century development of marriage preparation 
• The sponsor couple (recruiting, training and sustaining)  
• Adult faith formation 

Day 4 

• The catechesis on the rite of marriage 
• Liturgical celebration of the sacrament 
• Christian marriage as a way of life 
• The domestic church

Dates

Jan. 21, 2017	Feb 18, 2017
March 11, 2017	April 22, 2017