What is Witness to Love?
Witness to Love is an evidence-based renewal movement offering engaged couples a way to witness healthy marital love and family life from the mentor couple whom they choose, while integrating them into their parish through a formation plan for both the engaged couple and their mentor couple. Specifically, it is a marriage prep tool for parishes that want to welcome engaged couples into parish life by building a support system for them. The key component of this program is for the engaged couple to choose a mentor couple to journey with them in preparing for marriage and to remain a source of support after their wedding day. The program lasts around 6 months prior to the wedding date. A virtue-based workbook is used by both the couple to be married as well as the mentor couple to help facilitate the process. There are a variety of opportunities to be completed by the engaged couple during this time of preparation, such as attending a mass and holy hour with their mentor couple. The mentors are not tasked with teaching moral or sacramental theology, rather, serve as powerful witnesses and guides for the engaged couple, while growing in their own marital relationship. Witness to Love enables the parish to expand on this relationship by helping to rebuild trust between the engaged couple and the Church.
How Can We Get Involved?
We know that successful marriages do not ‘just happen,’ and believe this is an honor to be a part of! Your prayers of support for engaged couples, mentor couples, program coordinators and clergy are encouraged and appreciated. Moving forward, we will be doing marriage preparation as a community. If you are a couple who has been married for at least 5 years in the Catholic Church and are active in your faith, you are eligible to be a mentor couple. While most engaged couples will choose a mentor couple they are already familiar with, this is not always possible if they don’t know a couple who meet this criteria. If you would like to be a part of this marriage prep renewal movement and serve as a mentor couple for engaged couples, please contact Laurie Navin, Coordinator of Marriage & Family Life at: [email protected]. More information about Witness to Love can be found at: www.witnesstolove.org. Please keep our parish community in prayer as we seek to renew and support marriage!
