By Jennifer Mauro | Associate Editor
Recognizing the needs that are unique to couples looking to remarry in the Church, the diocesan Department of Evangelization and Family Life is holding a marriage preparation workshop April 29.
The “To Trust Again” remarriage workshop will feature a day of witness, prayer, time for reflection and small-group discussions and be facilitated by clergy and diocesan staff, as well as remarried couples who can personally relate to the unique circumstances couples who have experienced divorce, annulment or death of a spouse face.
For example, Peg Hensler, diocesan associate director for marriage ministries and Natural Family Planning, said that oftentimes, the issues facing couples in a subsequent marriage tend to be more complex. Those issues can include blending families together; raising children as stepparents; lessons learned after divorce and annulment; unresolved unhealthy habits from a previous relationship, dealing with ex-spouses and more.
Some topics of discussion at the workshop will include communication, conflict resolution, family life, sexual intimacy, Natural Family Planning and the Sacrament of Marriage as a vocation.
“All couples must make their marriage the priority before they can make good parents and stepparents,” Hensler said. “This is not a, ‘You complete me,’ situation. When couples come together, it’s two people complete through Jesus coming together. We have to be as whole as we can be, and this marriage program is a resource. This is the sacramental preparation.”
Hensler said one of the benefits of the workshop is the possibility that those couples looking to remarry in the Church will one day return as workshop facilitators themselves.
“Couples who have been through the annulment process have done so much work,” she said. “We’re always looking for mentors. After this experience, maybe they will be able to help another couple.”
The workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. April 29 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, a worship site of Our Lady of Sorrows -St. Anthony Parish, Hamilton. Cost is $125 per couple. To register, visit https://dioceseoftrenton.org/precana. For questions, contact Hensler at phensler@dioceseoftrenton.org or 609-403-7156. Our Lady of Sorrows Church is located at 3816 E. State St., Hamilton.