Marriage & Family Life

Leaders are still unpacking what a “marriage catechumenate” means for the church in the U.S.

Participants of the Marriage Catechumenate Summit gathered at a retreat center near Houston to unpack the contents of “Catechumenal Pathways for Married Life,” a pastoral tool prepared by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life.

Natural family planning, or NFP, provides “a skill set” to help Catholic and Christian couples “live out their beliefs that Christ is involved” in marriage and family life, a national expert told OSV News.

A recent analysis shows 25 percent of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married — a record high — and may indicate “the closing of the American heart,” according to W. Bradford Wilcox, a sociologist at the University of Virginia and director of the National Marriage Project.

Mark Berchem, a parishioner of St. Joseph in West St. Paul, seeks to help dads recognize their power to affect their children’s lives and pass on faith and values.