Guidelines for Facilitators


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FACET Tool Topics, cont'd.:

  1. CATHOLIC SECTION
    As acknowledged in the previous section, two practicing Catholics are not necessarily at the same place in their spiritual journey. This section asks the couple to look at their marriage, given that at least one is Catholic, and therefore having their marriage in the Catholic Church. It is important that they look at this as something each is freely choosing and that it requires from each one a basic understanding about what Catholics really believe, and what they especially believe regarding Catholic/Christian marriage.

    This section is an opportunity to catechize the couple and help them understand the power of the Catholic theology of marriage that regards marriage as a covenant or sacrament. It is more than a contract. Instead, they need to understand that at their wedding they will become the sacramental minister to each other — thus promising that they each will become responsible to provide the other with an experience of being loved by God. This will become a reality based upon how each chooses to love the other in all sorts of unselfish and generous ways. They are saying, "yes" to a future without knowing how it will unfold, but believing that by God's grace each partner promises to live it out. In our culture this is a radical stance, because we live in a world that wants to know up front and that may not subscribe to a vow that involves what has yet to be seen. This is a promise to live a life of extraordinary love. In doing so, the couple expresses to the world a mirroring how God loves us all. The Catholic section is about how we bring all the previous sections together into a vision for the future of a couple married and living out their lives in sacramental love. We invite them into this vocational calling from God and to witness a God who never stops loving us.

    For a clarification of statements 154-160 click here (en español aquí.)

    Additional Questions to assist the conversation:
    • What does being married in the Catholic Church mean to you?
    • Is there anything that surprised you about the Catholic understanding of marriage?
      Anything you'd like to know more about?
    • Will we want to participate in a faith community?
    • How can we help each other grow in our faith?


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