Solutions for Clergy and Leaders in Marriage Ministry

For many couples these days, living together seems like a logical step in their progression towards marriage.

In this section, we address cohabitation by citing studies that have clearly illustrated the pitfalls associated with cohabitation. The presenter, psychologist Dr. James Healy, walks through the steps toward commitment and shares ways for couples to match their actions with theirs beliefs as they enter into Catholic marriage as a couple equal in dignity, authority, and power.

All marriages have challenges, but there are certain very real challenges that are unique to military couples.

Father Matt Foley discusses how military couples can stay strong in the face of deployment, distance, separation, and other dynamics they are likely to face. A priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Father Foley was the U.S. Army chaplain at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and served three deployments in Afghanistan.

This section provides background on how coming from a family of divorce may affect a marriage.

• How your engaged and newly-married couples can make it work
• How your couples can avoid having what happened their parents happen to them as well
• How they can make sure their kids do not have to go through what they experienced as children

Those issues and more are discussed in this section, featuring respected author and researcher, Elizabeth Marquardt, herself a child of divorce.

The divorce rate for second marriages is even higher than the rate for first marriages.

In that light, the preparation process for couples entering into second marriages is of heightened importance. If a person has been married and divorced, they must contact their Tribunal to find out if they need a Declaration of Nullity (commonly called an annulment) before they are free to marry again in the Church.

In this section, our presenting couple offers encouragement as they share their annulment experience and skills learned to help them have a successful second marriage.

Stepfamilies may look just like other families, but the challenges of integrating children into the new marital relationship can be a surprise for unprepared couples.

This section addresses topics of interest to couples whose marriage will form a stepfamily, whether the children will live with them or not.

The length of time it takes for a stepfamily to “gel” together, parenting, and dealing with “exes” are discussed by Elsie Radtke (Archdiocese of Chicago), who is part of a stepfamily.

Social data reveals that African American families are particularly in crisis, having the lowest marriage rate compared to all measured groups, while also having the highest divorce rate.

In this section, Andrew and Terri Lyke offer encouragement and suggestions for having a successful marriage. They have been married nearly 40 years.

Andrew is the Director of the Office for Black Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago. He has been involved in ministry to the Church in a variety of ways over the past 30+ years.

All marriages involve some differences in faith, even for couples that share the same religion.

We are unique individuals with various histories and backgrounds, so our perceptions and understanding about God and our faith experiences will always differ. Couples marrying today, whether they are of the same religious heritage or not, face the same challenge as couples two millennium ago — to combine all the aspects of their lives, especially their religious beliefs, to create that triple braided cord.