One year before promulgation it is important to prepare, schedule, and conduct a series of required training sessions to various constituencies in the diocese. The primary purpose of this training is to inform these groups of the necessity of adequate marriage preparation.
Ideas for training groups and opportunities are:
- Presbyteral Council
- Deanery Meetings
- Diaconate
- Marriage Preparation Lay leaders
- Parish Staff
- Priests – Clergy Days
- Pastors
- Catholic School Faculty
- Parish Catechetical Leadership
Example PowerPoint presentations are available for download at ourcovenantoflovephx.org.
There are also opportunities to evangelize all in your diocese through such events as Mens’ Conferences, Womens’ Conferences, and Theology of the Body talks in parishes. Examples of such conferences and talks in the Diocese of Phoenix are:
- Catholic Men’s Fellowship of Phoenix
- Phoenix Catholic Women’s Conference
- John Paul II Resource Center for Theology of the Body and Culture
Also, one year before promulgation make a strong marketing plan for your campaign. Advertise, teach, train, show the Marriage Preparation video at all Masses. Keep doing this for at least a year! Include evaluations at each step. Then, analyze the data and re-train where necessary.