June 2006 Stewardship Tips

Hidden Treasure

Your parish has hidden treasure!  It’s those faithful, long-married couples who, year in and year out, demonstrate the gift and the blessings of Christian marriage.  Have you invited these good stewards to share the gift of their relationship with others in the parish?  Consider starting a “Mentor Couple” or “Sponsor Couple” program as an option in your marriage preparation process.  The first necessary ingredient is loving couples in happy marriages, willing to share themselves and the story of their relationship with young engaged couples.  That sharing is good stewardship!  Most programs begin with some sort of pre-marital inventory completed by the engaged couple – and sometimes the mentor/sponsor couple, too – the results of which become the basis of subsequent conversations about communication, dealing with conflict, family finances, the effect of the couple’s families of origin, intimacy and sexuality, and any number of other topics that may arise.  These conversations – usually 4 to 6 in all – take place in the more comfortable, relaxed setting of the mentor/sponsor couple’s home.  And because these sessions usually happen as wedding preparations are being made, sponsoring couples are often invited to be part of the wedding – as lectors or Eucharistic ministers or greeters for out-of-town guests.  Often the friendships that grow out of the 2-couple sharing sessions last a lifetime, becoming yet another blessing for which to be grateful and of which to be good stewards!

In addition to assisting in the preparation of couples for marriage, the sponsor couples themselves often become a small faith community of sorts, meeting several times a year to share their stories and support each other in this important and often personally-enriching ministry.  People who are good stewards of the gift of Christian marriage are a true treasure to the parish and to each other.  If you already have couples serving the parish in this way, don’t forget to thank them in this traditional wedding month!  And if you don’t, your diocese may have training programs for sponsor/mentor couples and additional resources to get you started.  Call your Family Life Office or check out www.marriagepreparation.com to see one commercially-available program that has been used successfully in many dioceses.