On March 23rd, St. John Vianney parish in Kirkland hosted its first annual Couples Dinner led by a committed team of volunteers. It was a huge success!
After celebrating the 5:00 pm Mass, volunteer leaders led the couples into the social hall for a four course Italian dinner served by the Youth Group. Each couple sat at their own 2 person table. This helped to ensure that the conversation happened between couples.
As each of the four courses was brought to the couples, an organizing couple would explain and model the conversation that accompanied each course. The conversation starters were informed by research done by organizations like the Gottman Institute into the type of conversation that helps strengthen marriages. See below for the conversation starters.
The parish provided child care for the couplese who attended this event, which is very helpful in enabling couples to attend. While this event benefited from volunteers who lead the discussion, a parish could do a very similar event using one of the speakers from the Office of Marriage and Family Life. We encourage other parishes to use this night as a model for other couple date nights!
Marriage Encounter is a weekend for married Christian couples who value their relationship and desire a richer, fuller life together. Attend a Marriage Encounter weekend and learn the tools needed to keep your marriage strong.
To learn more about Marriage Encounter in Seattle
https://www.seattlewwme.org/
Marriage Encounter weekend schedule
https://seattlewwme.org/schedule
World Wide Marriage Encounter- An international marriage prganization that promotes weekend experiences for couples who want to take their marriage to the next step!
http://www.wwme.org/
For Your Marriage
For Your Marriage helps couples at all stages of life to understand and live God’s plan for happy, holy marriages by providing educational and spiritual resources.
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.
http://www.foryourmarriage.org/
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.
http://unitedmarriage.org/