CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT!
This is an exciting time filled with many blessings and preparations. The steps below will help you in your Catholic Marriage Preparation Process.
1. As soon as possible after your engagement, contact your parish and set up a meeting with either a priest or deacon, or the marriage coordinator/facilitator. This person will walk you through the steps in preparing for a life-long and joy-filled marriage.
2. Participate in meetings with your mentor couple. These meetings will take place over the course of many months before your wedding, and your mentor couple will continue to accompany you throughout the first several years of your married life.
3. Attend Genesis: A Pre-Cana Retreat. See all available dates on the Genesis Retreat here.
4. Complete a course in Natural Family Planning. For a list of courses available in person throughout the archdiocese and online, please visit the NFP webpage:
Recommended activities:
- Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation
- Pray as a couple daily
- Participate in on-going events for married couples at your parishes or neighboring parishes, and consider attending Nazareth: Ordinary Life with Extraordinary Love
Check out these Frequently Asked Questions by Engaged Couples.
Genesis Marriage Retreat
It all begins with GENESIS, the one-day retreat for engaged couples. On the GENESIS retreat, also known as Pre-Cana, you will deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ and one another. You will meet other engaged couples as you begin the journey towards your wedding day where “authentic married love is caught up into divine love.”
Register for a Genesis Retreat
View the complete list of Genesis 2022 Retreats
Just Released! View the complete list of Genesis 2023 Retreats.
Nazareth Newlywed Outreach
Nazareth: Ordinary Life with Extraordinary Love is a new initiative sponsored by the Archdiocese designed to help couples in their first five years of marriage tap into the power of their wedding vows in Christ. Nazareth will include Mass, dynamic presentations and time for conversation and fellowship, along with free baby-sitting for children 5 and under. It will take place over two sessions: May 6, 2023 at St. Luke’s in Beavercreek at 8:30 am and June 6, 2023 at Mary Help of Christians in Fairborn starting at 6:30 pm.
Information for Parish Clergy/Marriage Coordinators
1. Click to view the Chancellor Resource site where the M1 form in English and Spanish are available. Click here to download our new resource sheet with Guidelines for the process for marriages celebrated in another (Arch)diocese.
2. Click to order the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Wedding Liturgy Planning Guide.
3. Click for information about the marriage catechumenate.
