Top 3
Expectations
Evan and Kathie - Archdiocese of Chicago, IL
His impression of the prep: This class was a great way to go through Pre-Cana. Being able to go at our own pace was a life saver. Our instructors were incredible mentors throughout the entire process and their personalized feedback to our questions made learning much easier.
Her impression of the prep: I really appreciated that this class allowed us the flexibility to complete on our own time and also gave us time to digest each lesson instead of cramming everything into one weekend. I also liked that each lesson had a combination of bible passages to read, videos to watch, and experiences from others to learn from. Having a variety of learning mediums made the class feel much more personalized.
Did it meet his expectations: It exceeded my expectations. Great content and well organized.
Did it meet her expectations: Yes, this class met and exceeded my expectations! Having personalized feedback was something I appreciated and did not expect.
Peter and Marcie - Diocese of Allentown, PA
His impression of the prep: I though this course was excellent! This course really gave me a stronger perspective on what marriage truly means as a Catholic. It strengthens my ideas on living according to God’s plan, forgiveness, fidelity, values, love and the sacraments. I feel that I am better prepared to continue to live my life as a Catholic and bring outstanding values into our marriage. The instruction that we were given was very helpful and also rewarding. I feel that I am completely prepared to enter into the sacrament of matrimony and to be a good spouse.
Her impression of the prep: I thought that this course was great, and I learned more about the Catholic faith and about God. I believe that this course also brought us closer together with writing our love letters to each other, and leaning about the sacrament of marriage.
Did it meet his expectations: Absolutely! I feel that this course definitely met my expectations.
Did it meet her expectations: Yes! This course did meet all of my expectations!
Ryan and Anne - Diocese of Owensboro, KY
His impression of the prep: I think that overall, this was a wonderful course that provided a great opportunity to get closer to each other and God through the use of Church teachings and scripture! Annie and I were both Theology Majors from Franciscan University and went into this course thinking that we knew everything and were not going to get that much out of it, but this course really forced us to intentionally and deliberately think about our beliefs and thoughts on many different matters that we may and will encounter in marriage.
Her impression of the prep: I think that this course was beneficial for us to gain a better understanding of the material and each other. We both have been very familiar with the material that we went over but it was great to take time with each other to see how we both really thought about the issues that were presented individually and as a couple.
Did it meet his expectations: I think that this very much exceeded our expectations. As I mentioned in the last answer Annie and I felt that we knew a lot about the faith and had read a lot of different books on a plethora of topics on Theology and Philosophy and have been involved in a lot of different opportunities to learn Theology of the Body. This course however offered us a chance to clarify and talk about and explain to our instructors as well as each other our thoughts and beliefs about certain topics and it gave us the tools and questions to facilitate these conversations.
Did it meet her expectations: This course went above and beyond what we thought that it was going to be. This was a way for us to intentionally talk and walk each other through subjects that we thought we had already known about each other. This course actually made us dive deeper and really discover that there was and is more to find within the other, especially when God is changing us.
Top 3
Parish Life
Kyle and Jessica – Diocese of Norwich, CT
Impacted his Faith: This course revived my desire to get closer to God and His Church because it showed that God is always there and our marriage includes God.
Impacted her Faith: This course revived my desire to get closer to God and His Church because I hope to give Kyle my true, whole self. I plan to do this in God's image and likeness. One day we will show our children, through our actions, how wonderful it is to have God present in our relationships.
His parish life plan: Attending Mass, and getting involved in parish activities.
Her parish life plan: Mass, prayer, adoration, Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Benedict and Kaitlyn – Archdiocese of Atlanta, GA
Impacted his Faith: It revived my faith in the way of holding me accountable. There are a lot of practices I have been wanting to get into but haven't, and this helped me come to some much-needed realizations.
Impacted her Faith: It definitely revived my faith. I have been having a difficult time in my season of faith because of some family issues, and this really helped me work through a lot of that, and helped push me to have some of the raw prayer time with the Lord that I have been needing.
His parish life plan: Attend mass, tithe, get involved in the church more, pray together, do our devotionals.
Her parish life plan: Go to mass, tithe, volunteer to help at church or with missions (once COVID is over), intentional time praying together and dialoguing about our faith and how we can best support each other in our faith journeys.
Santino and Teresa – Diocese of Detroit, MI
Impacted his Faith: I think this course showed me that if Teresa and I have God to be in our lives and marriage moving forward, it will ease us. As we get older, we all get busy. And sometimes it can be easy to miss mass or not think to say a prayer. As Teresa and I went through this course, we continued looking at each other inspired to make conscious efforts to start praying together and go through this beautiful process of getting married. As we complete this process, I know it's important for us to keep a strong faith and do it together!
Impacted her Faith: This course revived my faith in the best way. It made clear what God expects from our marriage and, in turn, what we expect from each other. Our faith is the glue to our marriage and it is what will get us through good and bad days. God does not promise the perfect marriage or life, but we have to continue having faith in his promises.
His parish life plan:Teresa and I became parishioners at St. Paul. As mentioned above, we do not make it to Church as often as we would hope. Currently, Teresa works retail and is scheduled on weekends very often. One thing we often discussions about is life once married and the rest of our future/next steps. Soon after our wedding, we are hoping to have a family and scale Teresa back. With that, we are hoping to be able to spend that family time together on weekends. Along with that is attending more mass as we grow together.
Her parish life plan: Santino and I are so excited to continue our faith at St. Paul Church. This will be a place for us to grow together in a new parish and get to know other young couples who also plan to grow their family. It is important to us to surround ourselves with other parishioners who can guide us on our journey of faith. We hope to attend Church more regularly to strengthen our bond with God and our St. Paul community.
Top 3
Communication and Comments
Jason and Kaelyn – Archdiocese of Atlanta, GA
How did it better your commutation: Taught us how to have a deeper conversation and share our feelings. Before this we would like to keep things light and joked around a lot but now, we have had deeper conversations and we have been expressing our feelings more.
Appreciated most by him: The instructors - Great feedback that drove more deeper conversations and the way they explained everything made sense.
Appreciated most by her: The instructors for sure! They were very kind and relatable!
Joakim and Natalie – Diocese of Trenton, NJ
How did it better your commutation: We think it improved our communication by forcing us to talk about topics that might not be the most comfortable to talk about. It really forced us to open up even more to one another and talk about how we see our lives together once we are married and when we have children in the future. The course definitely helped improve our communication skills with each other and it is one of the biggest things we think that we can take away from this course.
Appreciated most by him: What I appreciated most was reading our instructor’s personal stories and experiences about how all of these different teachings have helped them in the real world and with their family. It gave us a more personal connection to the course and I appreciated how open and honest they were with us, even though we have never met in person. Thank you again for being so open and vulnerable with us!
Appreciated most by her: I appreciated how this course was designed, and having great instructors was a bonus! Our instructors took the time to read our assignments, and share personal stories to relate with us. Life is not always perfect, but as long as you have each other, your family, and God to count on and trust, the rest will fall into place.
Angel and Yessika – Diocese of San Francisco, CA
How did it better your commutation: It encouraged a lot more dialogue about religion / faith itself - things that we have not really discussed as a couple since we were not consistent practicing Catholics. It restored our faith and made us look forward even more to putting God first in our marriage and in our lives.
Appreciated most by him: I appreciated our instructors, sharing their own troubles and overcoming everything by having faith in God and in each other.
Appreciated most by her: The personal accounts of other couples, such as our instructors, who shared their own struggles. It's comforting to know that even though they are experienced in and extremely knowledgeable of the relationship between marriage and God, they too faced obstacles in their relationship but were able to work through them together. Great examples of how God loves us, even when we're not perfect.
