The course, organized in partnership with The Department of Family and Life of the Greek Catholic Diocese of Cluj – Gherla, constitute an aid for priests in their pastoral work.
Thus, each couple starts and ends the marriage preparation course with the parish priest, who will revisit with them the basic catechetical notions, then the effective preparation for the celebration of the sacrament of marriage (including receiving the sacrament of confession).
Each couple will have one private meeting with one of the course trainers, for a discussion of the relationship maturity assessment test.
Course topics:
Session 1 – The human person and the Sacrament of Matrimony
The mystery and the dignity of the human person.
Marriage vocation from natural and supernatural perspective.
Marriage as a sacrament, essential properties, purposes and effects of the sacrament of marriage.
Session 2 – Psychology and Communication
The differences between men and women and their implications.
Couple and family.communication.
Development stages of the marital relationship.
Specific family crises.
Session 3 – Vocation and Spirituality
The call and the pilgrimage towards holiness. Marriage as a Christian vocation. Specific aspects of the spirituality of marriage: conjugal and parental spirituality. Stages of spiritual growth and growth in married love. Means for increasing conjugal love.
Session 3+ – Spirituality of the priest’s family
(For candidates to priesthood and their fiancees)
The priestly vocation and the specific elements of priestly spirituality. The relationship between priesthood and marriage.
The vocation of the priest’s wife. The priest family as a model in the community and the Church: prayer, humility, charity, hospitality, dedication, mission, receiving and educating children.
Session 4 – Moral
General moral principles.
Moral aspects of married life (marital and parental).
Sexual Morality (the couple’s fertility – but also responsibility, conjugal chastity) and bioethics
(contraception, abortion, reproduction techniques, natural family planning as radically different alternative).
Session 5 – Medical – Part I
Natural family planning (Rötzer method).
Learning to discover the fertile and infertile periods of the couple.
Session 6 – Civil and canonical legislation:
Church canon law – the sacrament of marriage: form, consent and impediments; canonical rights and obligations of spouses and parents, validation of the marriage and separation of spouses.
Civil law: the rights and obligations of spouses. Legal effects of marriage.
Session 7- Organizing your life
Family priorities.
Organizing your prayer life, your house, your budget, your menu, saving money and other practical issues.
Session 8 – The testimony of a couple
In this session we invite a married couple to tell their own love story, before and after marriage and to share their experience of life.
Session 9 – Medical – Part II
Natural family planning (Rötzer method).
Special situations: after birth, during breastfeeding, the pre-menopause period, after renouncing oral contraception.
