Building and strengthening marriages begins with husbands and wives making time to be with each other, and having fun together.
In a world full of competing demands for our attention: children, work, friends, etc., time for each other is a rare commodity for most married couples. Yet, without this opportunity for staying connected spouses drift apart and marriages suffer. The strength of marriages is a concern of the Catholic Church because marriage is the heart of the family, and families are schools of love.
Understanding this, parishes are offering programs to encourage couples to make time for each other.
"The Church is built on the foundation of marriage and family life," wrote the United States Catholic Bishops in their recent Pastoral Letter, Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan. They urge the entire Catholic community to "a renewed commitment to helping those called to the vocation of married life."
In response to the Bishops' call, John Bosio, author of Happy Together, the Catholic Blueprint for a Loving Marriage and his wife Teri used the materials from his book to develop a program to help couples strengthen their marriage. The program is called SIX DATES for Catholic Couples. This is a ready to use program. It comes with a Coordinator’s Guide, videos and handouts (in PDF format) ready to print.
The six videos inspire spouses to become aware of the gift that they are to each other as husband and wife, and of the preciousness of their relationship. The topics of the six dates are:
1) ONCE UPON A TIME
Each couple’s love story is connected to God’s love story.
2) MARRIAGE IS …
What we believe about marriage as Catholics.
3) WHAT KEEPS YOU TOGETHER?
What keeps spouses in love is the ability to see God’s image in each other.
4) WHAT ABOUT ME?
Learning to love requires overcoming selfishness. God helps us with his graces and teaches us self-giving love.
5) THE BLUEPRINT OF LOVE
Christ’s love for the Church is the blueprint for our loving. Learning to love like Christ loves is the source of our happiness.
6) WHERE DO I FIND THE COURAGE?
Overcoming selfishness through learning to love is difficult. Prayer is the source of strength in our daily challenges. It opens us up to receive God’s graces.
The scripts for the videos are true to Catholic teachings. They received the
“Imprimatur” from Most Reverend David R. Choby, Bishop, Diocese
of Nashville.
To contact John Bosio at JBosio1@aol.com.