Accompaniment of couples as they prepare for marriage : nurturing faith, hope and love in a new society

Abstract

The theme of this dissertation focuses to identify effective and contemporary ways of accompanying couples as they prepare for marriage. Couples at this phase in their life are excited about starting something new and willing to enhance their relationship. Even those who are aware of the need to embark on a lifelong journey lack knowledge or seem unable to do it. Others believe that they are committed because they feel psychologically attached to their fiancé (or fiancée) yet lack significance of their behavioural factors. Some slide into marriage without grasping why their relationship deserves their deepest investment, ongoing maturity and growth in values together. Few couples perceive marriage as a vocation and even less consider it as a means of blessing one another or understand its intrinsic call to transmit human values and faith to future generations. As they approach their wedding, couples start to realise that marriage deserves a deeper commitment because it is greater than they perceived it to be. The marriage preparation course which is done by those getting married in Church, is able to increase this awareness, yet limited in its ability to enhance the couple's commitment and launch them on their lifelong journey. Couples preparing for marriage should invest more and pursue a deeper commitment. The intent of this work is to explore the accompaniment of couple who are preparing for marriage as an integrated approach to enrich them during this crucial stage in their life journey. It considers couple mentoring, ongoing formation and belonging to a companionship group as channels that sustain them as they prepare to embark on their lifelong journey together. Mentoring when enhanced through the use of inventories, highlights problem areas and provides couples with role models. Ongoing formation based on sound teachings enriches them to deepen their commitment as they grasp important intellectual, relational and spiritual issues. Companionship groups that sustain couple formation, offers them a place where they belong, find support and create a network of friends who share similar values.