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Marriage and Family LifeMarriage is about God and serving God’s purposes. It is a vocation just as the priesthood of a priest is a vocation. Marriage is a covenant relationship wherein a man and a woman establish themselves in a partnership for life. God is present in this relationship to bless, assist and guide you. This relationship is ordered for the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of children. Through Matrimony, God raises up the “Domestic Church” where faith is planted in the hearts of children and radiated to the surrounding world.
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"The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws. . . . God himself is the author of marriage. The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator.”
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ANNULMENTS
The process for an annulment is initiated at your parish with your priest. If you are new to our diocese please use our parish finder to contact your nearest parish.
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Important Contacts
- DIRECTOR
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Deacon Justin Mitchelljmitchellbiloxidiocese.orgDirector of Marriage and Family Life - MARRIAGE PREP
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Deacon Norm Cantrellencantrellebiloxidiocese.orgCo-Marriage Preparation Director, Most Holy Trinity, Pass Christian -
Deacon Jerry Dubuissonjdubuissonbiloxidiocese.orgCo-Marriage Preparation Director, St. Thomas The Apostle, Long Beach - NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING
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Mary Harris, NPnursemarybellsouth.netNFP Coordinator
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Deacon Sean FinkSt. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Hattiesburg
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Rachel's Vineyardrachelsvineyardbiloxidiocese.org
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Walking with Moms in Needwalkingwithmomsbiloxidiocese.org
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For Married CouplesBelow, are resources and questions for and about married
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Every relationship needs attention and care to thrive, and marriage is no different. Couples sometimes run on autopilot for months or even years, caught up in the daily tasks of creating a home together, working, caring for children, and serving others.
There are a million and one ways to nurture your relationship: intentional couple-time, learning more about your mission as a married couple, growing in communication skills, etc. No effort is wasted; your love is worth investing in! We've compiled some resources, materials and contacts below to help you on your journey.
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National Marriage Week USA seeks to mobilize individuals, organizations, and businesses in common purpose to strengthen marriage in communities and convey what the social science clearly tells us: marriage leads to greater wealth, health, longevity and happiness.
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Resources and Answers
- How do I get started on an Annulment?
- Is My Marriage Valid in The Catholic Church?
- Where can I Find Catholic Counseling?
- What is Natural Family Planning?
- Retreats for Married Couples? Retrouvaille
- Worldwide Marriage Encounter
- For Your Marriage
- What are Love Languages?
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The process for an annulment is initated at your parish with your priest.
If you are new to our diocese please use our parish finder to contact your nearest parish.
PARISH FINDER
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What is Convalidation?
Colloquially known as "Blessing our Marriage;" “Convalidation” comes from two Latin words and means that a couple is getting married “with validity.” A convalidation celebrated by two baptized Christians is a celebration of the sacrament of marriage, one of the Church’s seven sacraments, all of which are gifts given to us by Jesus Christ so that we can share in God’s life and grow closer to Him.
Anyone with questions about or interest in convalidation should speak with his or her parish priest, deacon or lay minister. This should be a good and grace-filled experience for couples, and a time to grow closer to the God Who loves us more than we can imagine. Parish pastoral teams are happy to serve couples by preparing them to become one with God and with each other in the holy covenant of marriage.
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The Catholic Church cares about marriage. The Second Vatican Council said, “The well-being of the individual person and of human and Christian society is intimately linked with the healthy condition of that community produced by marriage and family” (Gaudium et Spes, no. 48). Marriage is a gift to society.Local, LMFTs (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists) with Christian backgrounds and values are available by clicking the banner below.
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The Catholic Church supports the methods of Natural Family Planning (NFP) because they respect God's design for married love. In fact, NFP represents the only authentic approach to family planning available to husbands and wives because these methods can be used to both attempt or avoid pregnancy. When learning about NFP, it is important to know that:
Natural Family Planning is an umbrella term for certain methods used to achieve and avoid conception. These methods are based on the observation of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman's menstrual cycle. Some natural methods include use of fertility monitors to better understand the time of the wife's fertility. Married couples using NFP to postpone conception abstain from intercourse and genital contact during the fertile phase of the wife's cycle. No drugs, devices, or surgical procedures are used to avoid pregnancy. Married couples who use NFP to attempt a pregnancy, make use of the fertile window--the optimum time when conception is likely.Learn more about the methods available to you in our diocese
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- Retrouvaille is a marriage program that helps couples restore their marriage and rebuild a loving relationship.
- A Christian marriage program, Catholic in origin, where couples of all faiths or no faith background are encouraged to attend.
- Primarily a practical program to improve communication, build stronger marriages, and help couples reconnect.
- Presenters are not trained marriage counselors, but rather couples sharing their personal stories of marital struggles and the tools they used to rediscover their love.
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Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME) is the largest faith-based marriage enrichment organization in the world. Their programs have enriched and transformed the lives of married couples and priests for generations. They offer a peer-to-peer experience, typically over a weekend, where married couples and priests can pause and reflect privately on the meaning of their vocations and are given the tools for nurturing their love. Their mission is to proclaim the value of marriage and holy orders in the Church and in the world.
Established in 1968, WWME is still the most popular marriage enrichment program in the world, annually presenting 2,000 experiences in nearly 100 countries. In North America, more than 1,600 couples and priests (known as “presenting teams”) hold Marriage Encounter experiences in English, Spanish, French, and Korean. WWME’s support groups exist in virtually every diocese of the US and Canada.
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ForYourMarriage.org is an initiative of the Catholic Church to help couples at all stages of life to understand and live God's plan for happy, holy marriages. The website was launched in 2007 as part of the National Pastoral Initiative for Marriage, an initiative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to communicate the meaning and value of married life for the Church and for society.
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What Are the 5 Love Languages®?
The premise of The 5 Love Languages™ book is quite simple: different people with different personalities give and receive love in different ways. By learning to recognize these preferences in yourself and in your loved ones, you can learn to identify the root of your conflicts, connect more profoundly, and truly begin to grow closer.
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