Focus on marriage preparation: courses strengthen couples for the future!

Focus on marriage preparation: courses strengthen couples for the future!

Marriage preparation in the Catholic Church is viewed with skepticism by many future married couples. A recent study shows that 25% of those planning to get married feel compelled to attend the courses, while the same number were advised to attend by their pastor. Fears dominate the participants' thoughts: Many fear that religious topics will predominate and that they will be patronized. Some couples, on the other hand, only see the courses as an opportunity to spend a positive day together, but have little expectations of the content. These observations are through ku.de underpinned.

Andreas Dandorfer, pastoral advisor in the diocese of Regensburg, aims to focus on the quality of the couple's relationship in the courses. He wants to prepare couples to deal with possible crises and strengthen their communication. Dandorfer sees the courses as an opportunity to bring people into contact with the church and to give them an insight into the topics of marriage, including the organization of the wedding service and the marriage sacrament.

Marriage preparation as an opportunity for communication

The thematic focus of the courses is on couple issues and the importance of the sacrament of marriage. Markus Reischl explains that the church represents similar values ​​to the couples: stability, loyalty, trust and reliability. The participants are often pleasantly surprised by the encounter with the church and show gratitude for the explanations they receive during the courses. This creates an awareness of faith and the question of how one can live marriage in the Christian sense.

An innovative element of the courses is the use of 20 terms that together symbolize a “marriage home”. The couples select terms that represent their expectations of marriage. At Tanja and Stephan's event, for example, terms such as “forgiving each other for everything” and “praying together” were seen as the cornerstone of their future relationship. Dandorfer plans to modernize the course format and offer hybrid models to better meet couples' needs. Currently, attending weekend courses is a hurdle for many, especially couples with small children who are often drawn to attend.

Quality of marriage preparation and future developments

The quality of marriage preparation is rated as good in Germany, with an average grade of 2.1. In international comparison, the courses perform professionally. The Catholic Church is encouraged to maintain contact with couples beyond the wedding and to provide additional life and parenting advice. Simon Heimerl and Antonio Zierer are also calling for more individual and courageous course formats that take the different needs of couples into account.

The results of this study have been published in the book “Getting married in church: What couples expect and how church can support them”. The editors are Rupert M. Scheule and Klaus Stüwe, available from the Herder Freiburg publishing house, 240 pages, price 45 euros. The investigation was initiated by the bishops Rudolf Voderholzer, Stefan Oster and Gregor Maria Hanke. These findings illustrate the Church's desire to make marriage preparation effective as a preventive measure against relationship crises and thus make a lasting contribution to the stability of partnerships.