Abstract

Catholic theology reveals marriage to be a sacrament. As such, marriage is, first and foremost, a sign of faith in Jesus Christ. Yet, current pastoral practices in marriage-preparation give little more than nominal attention to the role of faith in marriage. Worthy as many Church-guided pre-marital programs are for their practical, interpersonal content, none of the programs reviewed for this thesis engages couples in a personal journey with Jesus Christ.

This thesis was undertaken to prompt such a journey by borrowing insight from Cathy Molloy’s and Michael Lawler’s critiques of current marriage-preparation praxis, Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body, and Martin Buber’s personalism. The program resulting from this insight seeks to engage couples in a non-threatening process of faith discernment prior to marriage. Its spiritual reflections focus on Gospel accounts of Jesus prompting the apostle Peter to ever-deeper faith in God’s abiding and sustaining presence.