Marriage Preparation

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robin_viru

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I am aware of the present marriage preparation course conducted in various dioceses. it is done well and is useful.
I would like to know, in which century did the church start preparing her faithful for marriage? are there any historical background, apart from familiaris consortis. was any kind of preparation happening prior to JP II 's time?
or marriage preparation is just a recent phenomenon?
 
robin_viru said:
I am aware of the present marriage preparation course conducted in various dioceses. it is done well and is useful.
I would like to know, in which century did the church start preparing her faithful for marriage? are there any historical background, apart from familiaris consortis. was any kind of preparation happening prior to JP II 's time?
or marriage preparation is just a recent phenomenon?
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Pre-Cana Conferences began at the end of WWII for marriage prep. I’m not sure what was in place prior to that. But this is definitely not a JPII innovation.
 
I would image that there was always pre-Cana between the priest and the couple (even if it wasn’t always called “pre-Cana”). But it became more organized in the 20th century and group based pre-Cana Conferences and retreats are 20th century innovations.

The truth is that we can never have too much sacramental prep. God Bless
 
As phil19034 says I understand there was always some level of sacramental prep, but I don’t know how extensive the prep was. My understanding is that precana became more orginized and intense in the late 1970s and early 1980 in response growing numbers of divorces.
 
20 years ago in Europe, my husband and I just had one time one hour meeting with a priest. He talked to us a bit about the sacrament and helped us pick out readings for the wedding mass, and then said we were ready. Nothing else was required or recommended, and it worked out fine with us. It seems to me that the group classes and retreats that are the norm in the US are by no means universal.
 
In 1956 my fiancé and I had fifteen minutes of talking with a priest. Definitely not enough.
 
Dorothy said:
In 1956 my fiancé and I had fifteen minutes of talking with a priest. Definitely not enough.
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That same year, my parents had a full-blown pre-Cana conference with a priest, a married couple, and other engaged couples. Lots of differences diocese to diocese, and parish to parish.
 
Dorothy said:
In 1956 my fiancé and I had fifteen minutes of talking with a priest. Definitely not enough.
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… and if it wasn’t enough then, when folks still hadn’t lost their collective minds, it certainly isn’t enough today.
 
FonsBonitatis said:
… and if it wasn’t enough then, when folks still hadn’t lost their collective minds, it certainly isn’t enough today.
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And I think it depends more on the individual couple than on the time period. A couple who is serious about their faith and goes to Mass and Confession regularly does not need as much preparation as a couple who is barely practicing or is Catholic only by family tradition, not to mention couples of mixed religions. Our priest said after one hour with us that we were ready and I have to honestly say after 20 years that he was right. Of course, we had to learn a lot along the way, and we are still learning as our family grows and we go through different stages of life, but what ultimately matters is that we are committed to be on this journey together.
 
robin_viru said:
I am aware of the present marriage preparation course conducted in various dioceses. it is done well and is useful.
I would like to know, in which century did the church start preparing her faithful for marriage? are there any historical background, apart from familiaris consortis. was any kind of preparation happening prior to JP II 's time?
or marriage preparation is just a recent phenomenon?
Click to expand...
AFAIK, it is a fairly recent phenomenon to address the problem where pre-nuptial couples do not have enough knowledge about Christian marriage. However, the idea was as old as time memorial because for every Sacrament we have to know what it entails. Thus before a priest performs the rite of Matrimony, he has to explain what it is to the intending couple first.

Even the phrase, ‘till death do we part’, holds a self explanatory meaning but a young couple in love eager to get married may probably do not appreciate in depth what that has in store for them.

The pre-nuptial marriage seminar is really a move of the Holy Spirit this century. Sometimes at the end of the sixties, some Catholics who were involved realized the needs for the deepening and actualizing of the Christian faith in their lives. It is not just something you are born with or a necessary resume to our names, but one that should be actively lived and believed.

Basically that has to start from the family which has its origin in a marriage.

Marriage is not just about marriage between husband and wife, which it is of course, but it encompasses equally important responsibility like bringing up children and not rejecting the idea of having them.

Of course we all are supposed to know this but then again how much do we know? The pre-nuptial seminar covers the important aspect of Christian marriage requirement and when properly appreciated it would make a great deal of difference to the couple’s marriage life.

Thus where this was first experienced, and where the married couples show fruits and became active in their parishes, and started to introduce the seminar to other couples, eventually its benefit was well recognized to become the standard norm for a couple intending to get married.
 
In 1975 I had no marriage preparation. I met with the priest once for the prenuptial investigation and then I saw him again at the church door on the night of the wedding.

My fiancé, OTOH, met with his Padre several times. Not sure if it was preparation for marriage exactly, or more preparation for marriage to a Catholic in the days when the non-Catholic had to promise to allow the children to be raised Catholic. My Pastor didn’t meet my husband until they met at the door of the church. We set our wedding date over the phone and married 3 months later. I didn’t see my fiancé from the time we set the date until a few days before the wedding.
 
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