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What is Witness to Love?

Witness to Love is a virtues-based, catechumenate model of marriage renewal and preparation that integrates modern principles of psychology and the virtues to help couples facilitate an authentic dialogue about their relationship.

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What We Offer

See how Witness to Love is responding to the different needs of couples through our other initiatives and offerings!

Media Center

The Witness to Love Media Center features a diverse range of resources including articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos.

Events

WTL hosts a variety of events ranging from certification trainings for marriage formation leaders to Date Nights for couples!

Strengthening Marriages Through Faith & Commitment

Witness to Love provides a transformative journey for couples, guiding them through faith-based marriage preparation and ongoing support.

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Couples

Through comprehensive resources and ongoing support, Witness to Love equips couples with the tools to navigate challenges and strengthen their bond for a lifetime of love in Christ.

Church Leaders

Witness to Love provides church leaders with comprehensive training and resources to cultivate thriving marriages within their communities, fostering a culture of love, faith, and commitment.

Shop Marriage Formation Courses

Explore faith-based courses and resources designed to prepare couples for marriage and equip church leaders to guide and support them.

Engaged or Civilly Married Couples

(Church / Parish Requirement)

Courses to meet parish requirements and help couples grow in faith, prepare for marriage, and strengthen their relationship.

Engaged Couple Course
Hybrid Experience
Civilly Married Couple Set
Be More Retreat (Diocesan Level Course)

For Church Leaders & Parish Staff

(Courses & Resources for Parishes or Diocese)

Resources to equip parishes and dioceses with tools, training, and support to form couples, mentor families, and foster lasting marriages.

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Building a Culture of Love and Discipleship

Building a Culture of Love and Discipleship

This season has been filled with powerful reminders of how God is renewing marriages and families through authentic relationships and discipleship. From celebrating the Radiate Love “Love IRL” Marriage Summit in California to gathering leaders and mentors at our Annual Marriage Champions Luncheon, Witness to Love has seen firsthand how the Holy Spirit is at work in parishes, dioceses, and communities across the country.

Radiate Love “Love IRL” Panel

Witness to Love was honored to participate in Love IRL: A Radiate Love Marriage Summit for Ministry Leaders, the culminating event of the Radiate Love initiative led by the California bishops. Over 250 ministry leaders from all 14 California (arch)dioceses gathered to celebrate the beauty of marriage and to equip parishes and schools to foster a culture of strong marriages and healthy families.

For more than eight years, Witness to Love has been serving parishes and dioceses across California, introducing mentoring, discipleship, and authentic accompaniment. At Love IRL, it was humbling and inspiring to hear the testimony of leaders who first brought Witness to Love to their parishes years ago — and to see them honored at this event by the California Catholic Conference of Bishops for their dedication to marriage and family life.

We are deeply grateful to the California Catholic Conference of Bishops for utilizing this event to culminate their work to strengthen marriage and for now empowering each diocese to take up this mission in their own communities. The summit’s dynamic keynotes, workshops, and witness stories reminded us all that “man cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of self” (Gaudium et Spes 24). We left encouraged by the fruit of this mission in California and hopeful for what is still to come. 

 

 

 

Witness to Love Roadmap

The Witness to Love Roadmap is a 52 page compelling compilation of our incredible mission and compares traditional marriage prep to the success of WTL. Our model has been transformative because it fosters authenticity, intimacy, and discipleship for the couples involved and for the entire Church community.

Get yours today!

Roadmap Brochure

Annual Marriage Champions Leadership Luncheon

We recently gathered for our Annual Marriage Champions Leadership Luncheon at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Lafayette, Louisiana. The day began with a beautiful Mass celebrated by Bishop Douglas Deshotel, serving as a powerful reminder that Christ, present in the Eucharist, remains at the heart of the mission of Witness to Love. 

After Mass, clergy and friends of Witness to Love came together for a time of fellowship, encouragement, and shared vision. It was an uplifting moment to pause and reflect on how mentoring and authentic discipleship are quietly and steadily renewing marriage formation in parishes across the country.

There was a palpable sense of unity and hope as we listened to testimonies from clergy and couples who have served as mentors, as well as from those who help sustain Witness to Love. Together, so many are seeing the continued impact of Witness to Love and the change taking place in communities through a renewed way of marriage formation and enrichment.

Annual Marriage Champions Leadership Luncheon.
 

Through Witness to Love Many Young Adults are Returning to the Heart of the Church

We also spent time reflecting on the beautiful reality that church attendance among young adults in the U.S. is beginning to rise. The makeup and rhythms of church life are shifting and Witness to Love is seeing and feeling this first hand. Young people today are showing a renewed openness to faith, and many are finding their way home to the Church — not through programs alone, but through the witness.

Through Witness to Love, we see this daily. Engaged Millennial and Gen Z couples are being drawn into parish life through the authentic witness of mentor couples — couples who are living their faith in a way that is real, relational, and deeply personal.

This is a critical moment for us, particularly with the growth that we have already had this year. Together, as families in the Church, we are called to lean in and walk with young people, especially those preparing for the Sacrament of Matrimony. Witness to Love continues to reveal that while churchgoing alone doesn’t form disciples, parishes that offer authentic relationships and clear pathways of discipleship are helping young people build resilient, lasting faith.

This is the work of renewal happening quietly in Witness to Love parish communities — one couple, one friendship, one “yes” at a time.

Witness to Love Recognized at Mount Angel Abbey

Recently, Ryan Verret had the incredible honor of being invited to Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary in Oregon to share the work of Witness to Love as a Marriage Catechumenate with seminarians. His visit coincided with the Abbey’s prestigious Fellowship of Scholars Initiative, led by Abbot Jeremy Driscoll, OSB, and attended by Cardinal Mario Grech of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Synod of Bishops.

The gathering brought together about twenty Church leaders and scholars from across Europe, North America, and South America, engaging in rich discussions on faith, the Eucharist, and the life of the Church. Witness to Love was invited to the table in recognition of its leadership in renewing marriage formation, and the Verrets’ service as consultants to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Marriage, Family, and Laity underscores the ministry’s growing influence on couples, families, and the Church worldwide.

This invitation is a remarkable affirmation of the work Witness to Love is doing to accompany couples, form mentors, and strengthen marriages as a vital path of renewal for the Church, showing that the ministry’s relational and pastoral approach is able to serve globally.

WTL recognized by Mount Angel Abbey.
 

Giving Through Witness to Love

As we enter the final quarter of the year—often one of the busiest seasons in this ministry—we carry with us a deep sense of gratitude and excitement about all that we get to do to help couples encounter Christ through the gift of friendship with other married couples. We invite you to invest today in these couples through Witness to Love.

Witness to Love is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so every dollar you give is tax deductible. Your investment today helps us strengthen marriages, families, parishes, and communities across the country.

We see daily that authentic faith formation is directly tied to the health of marriages and families. By giving to Witness to Love, you are investing in a ministry that is working every day to renew marriage, family life, and the Church — helping to counteract the growing decline of marriage and faith in America today.


 

Your prayers, support, and engagement continue to make all of this possible. Thank you for being an essential part of the Witness to Love family.

In Gratitude for each of you,

RV and MR signature for emails

with the Witness to Love Team & Board

P.S. Share this newsletter with your parish or an engaged couple to spread the joy of the Gospel!

 

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