Witness to Love

A Marriage Catechumenate since 2012

Inspired by the baptismal catechumenate, the marriage catechumenate seeks to offer formation and accompaniment to couples that leads to an encounter with Christ. This journey begins long before the celebration of the sacrament and continues as couples grow in their vocation.

Doing Our Part

Our mission is to build and sustain communities of evangelizing spouses to be light in our world. We believe in building communities and not just creating content. We have taken what we've learned to promote the marriage catechumenate in our parishes, in our continent, and abroad!

Evangelization

In Our Parishes

Our Marriage Prep & Enrichment

Witness to Love is unique in that it allows couples seeking the sacrament of Marriage to choose mentors they admire to journey with them as they go through our virtues-based model and beyond. Since 2012, we've helped 500 parishes adopt the Witness to Love marriage catechumenate!

Watch How & Why it Works!

Mentor

In North America

Marriage Catechumenate Summit

Witness to Love gathered with clergy, lay leaders, and marriage champions from the U.S and Canada in 2023 and 2024 to discuss the Catechumenal Pathways for Married Life and how the marriage catechumenate could be applied in North America!

Watch the Highlights

pastor at podium

Abroad

Vatican Presentations & Appointment

The Verrets were invited to speak at the 2021 International Forum: Where do we stand with Amoris Laetitia?, The 2022 World Meeting of Families, and were appointed as Consultants to the Vatican Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life by His Holiness Pope Francis in 2023.

Watch 2021 Presentation

The Marriage Catechumenate Summit

The Catechumenal Pathways for Married Life (CPML) released in 2022 is a "pastoral tool" prepared by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life to offer practical applications for the marriage catechumanate model first proposed in Familiaris Consortio in 1981 and which has been the compass for Witness to Love since it's birth in 2012.

In 2023 and 2024, we gathered with leaders from across the continent at the Marriage Catechumenate Summit to discuss the CPML in the North American context. We're happy to share some of the key takeaways from leaders who joined the conversation in 2023!

Julia Dezelski, Assoc. Director

Marriage and Family Life, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)

Sharon Goh, Director

Marriage & Family Office of the Archdiocese of Vancouver

Fr. Paul Hartman, Assoc. Secretary General

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)

Read

The Road to Family Missionary Discipleship

Following the Synod on the Family and Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, Catholics have looked to put in action the Church’s beautiful vision for marriage and family evangelization. Combining Church teaching, personal testimonies, and the Witness to Love marriage ministry experience and insight, The Road to Family Missionary Discipleship gives churches, ministries, and disciples of Jesus Christ a practical guide to form holy marriages, and accompany families for their mission to share the “joy of the Gospel.”

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Watch

Forever Love: A Mini-Documentary about the Marriage Catechumenate Summit

MAX Studios attended the Marriage Catechumenate Summit that took place at Circle Lake Retreat Center near Houston, Texas in June 2023. This is a mini-documentary about the summit and key takeaways for use by newlyweds, married couples and those preparing couples for marriage in the Catholic Church in North America.

Witness to Love: Answer to a Synod’s Prayer for Marriage Formation?

By National Catholic Register, November 4, 2015

Is Marriage Catechumenate the Church’s Missing ‘Antidote’ for the Marriage Crisis?

By National Catholic Register, February, 14, 2017

Vatican’s New Document Welcomes ‘Marriage Catechumenate’

By National Catholic Register, July 26, 2022

Personal accompaniment key to Vatican’s expanded vision for marriage formation

By OSV News, January 17, 2023

As Marriage Rates Continue to Plunge, How Can the Church Get More People to the Altar?

By National Catholic Register, July 11, 2024

Marriage formation leaders explore catechumenal models for marriage formation backed by Vatican

By OSV News, July 10, 2024

Strengthening Marriages Through Faith & Commitment

Couples

Church Leaders

What is Witness to Love?

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