• If you have a Marriage Prep Coordinator or a good prospect for one,send them to be trained in Witness to Love. Put an announcement in the bulletin introducing them and their role, and have them introduce themselves at all the Masses. Update your marriage guidelines on your website. The next couple to come through for marriage prep will use this new model. All current couples in the process do not have their process changed, HOWEVER, you can ask them to find a “sponsor” couple and have a similar Witness to Love model that continues after the wedding more in the style of marriage enrichment
• If you are new to a parish and do not have a marriage prep coordinator or even a potential one, then for the first year  combine the roles and the meetings for Marriage prep coordinator and clergy. Choose one of the mentor couples who comes through and see if they would be a great fit. Send them to be trained. It is great because you know that they know the process and the benefits of it.
• If you already have trained mentor couples in your parish whom you want to continue to involve in marriage prep, have one former mentor couple be the “team leader.” We suggest an assessment of gifts be given to your team. Based on the results, assign certain couples to follow up with engaged couples and their chosen Witness to Love mentors after the wedding and be part of a marriage enrichment team or small group leaders.
• If you are worried about the ability of couples in your parish to be mentors or you find that due to location dynamics that your parish is too disconnected or large, have potential mentor couples that you have selected on your church website. Ideally these would be a diverse group of mentors. The engaged couples could choose from these if they are not part of the parish or able to find a mentor from among their married friends. Make their contact information available to engaged couples who need it, but always require the engaged couple to choose their mentor and ask them to mentor.

Basic guidelines for choosing a mentor couple:

1. Married 5 years or more
2. Active in the Church
3. Have a marriage the engaged couple admires
4. Preferably go to the same church as the engaged couple

Questionnaire Reviewed by Marriage Prep Coordinator (or in some cases the priest or deacon):

1. Reviews the results of the pre-marital questionnaire (Prepare-Enrich or FOCCUS)
2. Decides which issues and exercises the engaged couple will need to complete
3. Designs “Scavenger Hunt” of activities to be completed by both the engaged and mentor couples
4. Helps to secure the cooperation of the mentor couple that has been chosen
5. Establishes a meeting with both the engaged and mentor couples

Meeting with Marriage Prep Coordinator, engaged and mentor couples.

1. Marriage Prep Coordinator invites the engaged couple into their home to briefly review the results of the pre-marital questionnaire
2. Mentor couple arrives a little later and receives the materials and instructions from the MPC for the follow-up sessions and Scavenger Hunt

On-going sessions between engaged and mentor couples

1. Two couples decide on a schedule of meetings and the activities outlined in the Scavenger Hunt
2. Meetings follow the outline for the sessions presented in the “Witness to Love: Couple’s Workbook” along with the materials that correspond to the strength and growth areas identified in the pre-marital Inventory.

Theology meeting with Priest/Deacon

1. Prior to the 5th session with the mentor couple, the engaged couple will have attended the “Theology Day” provided by the Diocese with the instructions to return with at least 5 questions they would like answered in more depth.
2. Mentor couple then arranges for a meeting in their home with the priest/deacon, the engaged couple, and the mentor couple to explore the answers to the questions that the engaged couple raised.
3. Purpose of this meeting is two-fold: 1)  deepen the understanding of the Church’s theology of marriage for the engaged couple and 2) reawaken an appreciation for the Church’s understanding of marriage for the mentor couple.

Follow-up Meetings:

1. After the wedding, the now newly married couple and their mentor couple are urged to continue meeting at least once every two months to continue their discussions of marriage and marital spirituality (mystagogia).
2. The engaged couple is encouraged to turn to their mentor couple whenever the need arises to address any struggles or disagreements they may have.
3. The relationship between the couples can continue indefinitely.

View the available online certification courses.