Educational Resource
Catechetical Sunday Lesson Plan: A Model for the Immediate Catechesis for the Sacrament of Marriage (2010)
Catechetical Sunday, September 19, 2010
A Model for the Immediate Catechesis for the Sacrament of Marriage by Dominic Lombardi, MA, STL, Director Family Life Office, Archdiocese of Philadelphia
"In his apostolic exhortation On the Family (Familiaris Consortio [FC]), Pope John Paul II made the following statement, which can serve as the mission statement for the immediate catechesis for the Sacrament of Marriage.
- "The very preparation for Christian marriage is itself a journey of faith. It is a special opportunity for the engaged to rediscover and deepen the faith received in baptism and nourished by their Christian upbringing. In this way they come to recognize and freely accept their vocation to follow Christ and to serve the kingdom of God in the married state." (no. 51 [Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 1982])
Several questions quickly surface. How can the Church prepare and accompany the couple along this journey? What is the Church’s responsibility toward the engaged person, and what is the engaged person’s responsibility to the Church? In today’s culture of individualism and the fracturing of the institution of marriage, how does one awaken and strengthen faith? How does the Church help the couple to embrace the fullness of this mystery that is marriage, a mystery that is to be a sign of God’s love to the world?
This brief reflection proposes that the vows themselves provide us with the form that marriage preparation takes in its immediate phase, that is, “the months and weeks immediately preceding the wedding” (FC, no. 66)."