Promoted by the USCCB

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)

What is the USCCB or United States Conference of Catholic Bishops?

The USCCB is the governing body of the Catholic Church in the United States. It is a conference or gathering of bishops who have been selected to work together to promote Catholic doctrine and ministry in the U.S. The USCCB works with governing bodies of the Catholic Church in other countries and is subordinate to the Roman Pontiff.

What Does the USCCB Say About Marriage?

The USCCB has both a Department and Programmatic Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth. The bishops that lead and serve in those areas are devoted to the growth of lay Catholics in the parishes around the U.S. This includes communicating and promoting the Church’s views on marriage and family life along with Natural Family Planning.

The Marriage Group and the USCCB

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The USCCB set up a website called For Your Marriage to help Catholics better understand the spiritual, practical, and logistical aspects of getting married in the Catholic Church. The site shares a variety of information and accepted resources for dating, engagement, marriage, and family life.

The Marriage Group’s courses are listed in multiple sections of Marriage Prep Resources. Find “The Marriage Group” named under Complete Marriage Preparation Programs, Premarital Inventories, and Supplemental Curriculum.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales is made up of Catholic Bishops and Personal Ordinaries and serves a similar function as the USCCB in England and Wales.

A FRUITFUL ORIENTATION AT THE USCCB

A Fruitful Orientation at the USCCB

Claudio Mora, Director of Catholic Programs at the New Director of Family Life Orientation at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

In 2019, The Marriage Group attended the Washington Retreat House in Washington, DC for an orientation that was put together by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and its Secretariat for Laity, Marriage, Family and Youth.

The goal of the orientation was to introduce the Diocesan Family Life Directors to the different offices and ministries that the USCCB provides, but also to expose the attendees to best practices, resources and networking.

Read More: A Fruitful Orientation at the USCCB

Why Ministry Leaders Love Us

“We do mostly ‘destination weddings’ and the fact that our couples can do the program from the comfort of their own homes is very compelling. It still allows for our interaction with them throughout the process but the online program lets us know they are in good hands.”

“Our engaged couples love the programs from The Marriage Group. We have included information about The Marriage Group in the follow-up email to our couples. We are a parish and Catholic Student Center and, it may be that your format and approach are particularly appealing to our couples.”

“Content is very good and there is accountability.”

“All of my couples told me they enjoyed the content and it truly engaged them in deeper conversations with one another.”

Why Couples Love Us

It brought up important issues, many of which we hadn’t thought about previously and provoked good conversation regarding these important topics.

We found the videos to be informative and it allowed us to have open discussions in the privacy of our own home and allowed us to take as much time as we needed for each session.

We really enjoyed the course and all the topics. It really helped both of us open up and discuss these topics with no restraints and with better understanding of our views on our future.

My fiancé and I truly loved being able to do Pre Cana online. We felt that we could share and speak more feely with each other in the comfort of our own home. We also felt that it was a more intimate setting, so we felt more comfortable.

Informative and essential content. In addition to the online learning experience that supports our schedule and is easy to use, we would recommend it.

My fiancé and I work completely different schedules and he works weekends. It was not possible for us to attend an in person class. This online version made it possible for us to still enjoy Pre-Cana while working around our schedules.