September, 2012
Dear Pastor,
Greetings from the Family and Respect Life Office! Thank you for all you do to support couples’ following a call to holiness in marriage. We offeryou our support and gratitude for all you do to promote healthy family life and marriage. Please do not hesitate to contact us. We are honored to be of assistance to pastors and parish staffs.
In addition to Pre-Cana and Cana II sessions, our office will continue to provide opportunities below to couples who are newly married.
- Provide couples with a free on-line monthly e-newsletter on various marriage topics
- Offer bi-monthly marriage enrichment workshops to couples (in all three areas of Archdiocese)
- Offer an introductory session on NFP to every couple
- Provide a perpetual marriage calendar
Parishes having their own marriage preparation process and/or using Engaged Encounter ( can contact the office about making these resources available to couples.
Research tells us that divorce, no matter how amiable, impacts children into adulthood decisions including marriage. In response, the Cincinnati Pre-Cana will be adding a new workshop (optional) in 2013. The workshop, led by a psychologist, will address specific issues that being a child of divorced parents brings and how they might impact the new relationship.
Marriage Preparation brochures are available on the Archdiocesan website on the Family and Respect web pages ( ). Couples can register and pay for the 2013Pre-Cana sessions online from our website. The Archdiocesan guidelines recommend that couples choose more than one program to meet their specific needs. TheArchdiocese continues to use FOCCUS as the individual assessment for couples. A combination of preparation opportunities will best prepare a couple for the Sacrament of Marriage.
Please regularly return to the Bishop’s web pages on marriage found at this link, . The Bishop’s National Pastoral Initiative for Marriage is a wonderful document that provides us with a vision for Marriage Ministry, but the work of the initiative has not ended. The link above regularly provides new resources for clergy and lay leaders.
Please make sure you have the 2005 version of the Archdiocese Marriage Preparation Guidelines. You can access this from our website at If you want a printed copy of these guidelines, please contact our office (513-421-3131).
The Family and Respect Life Office is here to serve you in having a “Marriage Building Parish and in implementing a Family Perspective in ministry. Please let us know if we can be of any service in areas such as consultation on parish marriage preparation teams, newly-married ministry teams, marriage and family enrichment, interchurch ministry, or respect life issues.
This letter can be accessed through our Family and Respect Life Office web pages (by clicking on “For Clergy and Pastoral Leaders” in the left sidebar) for your convenience to easily access the links in this letter. Please share these materials and information with staff members and volunteers involved in these ministries. Thank you for your support and prayers for all families and those in Family Ministry.
Peace and good,
Colleen Gerke, Director
Family and Respect Life Office
Archdiocese of Cincinnati
100 E. 8th Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
513.421.3131, ext. 2624
Enclosures: 5