4 Reasons Why Mentor Couples Are Essential to Today’s Marriage Prep

By Craig Dyke, Director of the Center for Family Life Formation

Marriage preparation is an awesome opportunity for parishes to not only share the Church’s teachings on Christian Marriage with engaged couples, but to also develop strong lasting relationships with them that can bring new life to the parish family. Essential to developing these parish relationships is the irreplaceable role of mentor couples. Below are four reasons for parishes to consider utilizing mentor couples in their efforts to prepare engaged couples for marriage.

1. Witness brings words to life… “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 41). As great as a priest’s explanation of the Sacrament of Matrimony may be, there is nothing more impactful than an authentic, living, breathing expression of Matrimony that married couples in your parish can provide.
   Questions to consider: When thinking about solid, Catholic marriages in your parish, who are the first three couples that come to mind?
2. Engaged couples need a connection … 70% of people under the age of 29 who remain in our church pews feel a strong connection to their church community (“Why Americans Go to Religious Services,” Pew Research, 2018). Mentor couples have the ability to serve as a bridge between engaged couples and the parish family at large through lasting relationships.
   Questions to consider: Do we intentionally introduce engaged couples to married couples of our parish? What is our parish doing to create a community for engaged and newly married couples?
3. Baptized Married Couples Are Called to Witness…God doesn’t call the equipped, but equips the called. (1 Cor. 1:27-29). 6.4% of parishioners are 80% of the people who volunteer for all parish events and programs (4 Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, Matthew Kelly). While many parishioners are neither qualified nor equipped to lead a bible study on the Book of Revelation, a good number of married couples have the ability to walk alongside an engaged couple in friendship. Giving baptized married couples this opportunity will empower parishioners who are not part of our 6.4% to participate in their call to share the Good News through their lived experience of the Sacrament of Matrimony.
   Questions to consider: Do we trust that God can work through the witness of married couples who might not be “card-carrying” Catholic couples? If not, then how do we alleviate this lack of trust?
4. Married Couples Will Be Formed in the Process… Allowing married couples to serve as mentors will double parish efforts to evangelize and disciple couples, as two couples, not one, go through the process of formation in following Jesus in Christian Marriage (CCC 1615). Through the process of mentoring, married couples are given the blessing to be reintroduced to and reflect upon the beauty and gift of the Sacrament of Matrimony as a lived experience.
   Questions to Consider: How do we currently enrich the marriages of your parishioners? Who are three married couples in your parish whose potential as disciples is yet to be tapped into?
   
   

Interested in making this happen in your parish? The Center for Family Life Formation can help. Let’s chat. Contact me by phone at 402.551.9003 ext. 1305 or email at ctdyke@archomaha.org.