In order to reinforce the importance of good marriage preparation in our parishes, The Office of Family and Sanctity of Life for the Eparchy of Saint Maron under the direction of Bishop Gregory Mansour would propose the following for every parish: -Provide engaged couples with a proclamation of the Kerygma – the Good News of God's redeeming love, to call them to a life of holiness through the vocation of marriage. -Help couples develop a better understanding of the Mystery of Crowning; to evaluate and deepen their readiness to live married life; and to gain insights into themselves as individuals and as a couple. -Teach engaged couples the right life skill tools to cope with every aspect of their daily lives: communications, conflict resolution, finances, family of origin, parenting, and much more. -Provide the engaged couples the Christian witness of married people as possible, to present an example of the sacrament of marriage as it is practically lived.
In addition to providing the couples with FOCCUS inventory, the following topics must be discussed while preparing couples for marriage: 1- Sacrament - The Mystery of Crowning (The sacramental nature of married love, and the gift of grace from God, etc. ) 2- The spiritual life of marriage - Christ at the Center of marriage, God’s plan for marriage 3- Communications and relationships (Communication skills, decision-making, conflict resolution, parenting and commitment..), finances and careers 4- Sexuality, intimacy and Natural Family Planning.
Bishop Gregory encourages all priests, deacons, and subdeacons and those helping to prepare married couples to mandate that couples learn Natural Family Planning by attending formal classes, not only to hear about it at the marriage preparation program. For more information about NFP, you can refer to our NFP page or you can contact Marise Frangie, CFCP, who teaches one of the NFP methods (the Creighton Model FertilityCare System).
It is also recommended that the couples have at least three private meetings with the priest. If the above topics cannot be covered in detail in a parish program, Bishop Gregory suggests sending the couples to attend Pre Cana in the local Latin Church in the area.
For more information on detailed contents of the topics, contact Marise Frangie the Director of Office of Family and Sanctity of Life at 914-393-8907 or sanctityoflife@live.com
For more information on FOCCUS, contact : NY - Vivian Akel, FOCCUS Facilitator and Trainer at 917-825-3777 or vivak11209@yahoo.com MA - Deacon Nadim and Marie Christine Daou FOCCUS Facilitator at 978-376-4898 or mcdaou@hotmail.com More to be added.