“Experience has proven the value of the witness of married couples, who live their vocation in light of the Gospel, in preparing couples for marriage. When married couples speak out of their own conviction, …they offer a powerful witness. Married couples who serve in this capacity find that their encounter with the engaged enriches and strengthens their own marriages.”
Diocese of Trenton, NJ
Witness to Love is a virtue and growth-based model of marriage renewal and preparation that integrates modern principles of psychology and virtues to help couples facilitate an authentic dialogue about their relationship.
What makes Witness to Love different?
What makes Witness to Love unique is that the engaged couples choose their own mentor couple. This is a couple they both admire and see as the source of faith formation. This mentor couple gives them a concrete connection and integration into the parish. Through the sharing of the mentor couples’ own journey of love, the engaged couple inherits a “lifeline” of support in their commitment to Jesus and His church.
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Contact:
Ron Medenwald • 619-917-6312 • medenwald@cox.net
Kathy Medenwald • 619-917-6311 • medenwald@cox.net
Witness to Love: A New Vision for Marriage Preparation
Witness to Love Marriage Prep at St. Gregory the Great
Did you know that St. Gregory the Great is a Witness to Love parish?
By this, we mean that each of our Engaged Couples journeys through a six-month-long Marriage Preparation program designed to help them connect to each other, to their Parish, and to the Author of their love story – God!
Witness to Love is a Virtues-Based Marriage Catechumenate model of marriage formation. Through this comprehensive program and with ongoing support from parish mentor couples, Witness to Love equips couples with the tools to discern their vocation of marriage, navigate challenges, and strengthen their bond for a lifetime of love through Jesus Christ.
This program only works through the generosity of Parish Mentor Couples. Engaged Couples are encouraged to choose their own “Marriage God-Parents” from the parish who will accompany them through the six sessions of discussion, in addition to welcoming them into parish life by attending Mass together, double-dating, sharing interests, service projects, etc.
We are always looking for Volunteer Mentor Couples to accompany those Engaged couples who may be new to the parish and do not know anyone to choose. Our mentors consistently report that their marriages are enriched as they take the time to reflect and share on how they have successfully navigated the challenges and joys of married life.
If you have been married over five years and at least one of you is a practicing Catholic at St. Gregory the Great, we invite you to consider enriching your own marriage by volunteering to mentor another young couple through Witness to Love!
Please contact Ron and Kathy Medenwald if interested!
