Witness to Love

What is it?

Witness to Love is a virtues-based, Catechumenate model for marriage renewal and preparation Our program integrates modern principles of psychology and the virtues to help couples facilitate an authentic dialogue about their relationship.  Our mission is to provide local churches with the tools needed to transform existing programs of marriage preparation into wellsprings of dynamic marriage discipleship that foster both parish connection and nurture authentic accompaniment before and after the wedding day.

How does it help?

Witness to Love offers engaged and civilly-married couples and their chosen mentors formation in the virtues needed for living out the life-long covenant of marriage. Witness to Love takes a catechumenate approach to marriage preparation and formation and encourages mentors to live more fully their Sacrament of Service by accompanying another couple on their journey to a sacramental marriage.

Why is it important?

Witness to Love believes that every sacramental marriage has something to offer the world. Couples are not just meant to love one another in private – this mutual love is meant to be a sign to the world of Christ’s love for the Church. That is why we want to complement the theological formation couples are receiving from our clergy with tangible, lived-out examples through the witness of their chosen mentor couple. Our country has been deeply wounded by scandals in the Church. A relationship with mentors of their choice that are not necessarily seen as “leaders” in the Church makes it so that trust is rebuilt and the beautiful teachings of the Church on marriage and family are more openly received.

How did it start

Ryan and Mary Rose Verret, founders of Witness to Love, worked with engaged couples and formed mentors for many years both at the diocesan and parish level. After surveying over 400 engaged couples and mentors they had worked with throughout the years, they realized that their efforts to develop solid content and train marriage mentors was not bearing the desired fruit of a lower divorce-rate and greater integration of the newlyweds into the life of the parish. Through careful discernment they realized that TRUST was the missing piece. The engaged couples largely didn’t trust the Church or the mentors assigned to them. The Verrets felt the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to allow the engaged couples to choose their own mentors– ones they trusted, had an attraction to, and desired a relationship with– and thus Witness to Love was born in 2012.

Benefits

On a local level, it empowers married couples to live out more fully their sacrament of service, by sharing the witness of their love with engaged or civilly married couples in preparation for the Sacrament of Matrimony. As they give of their time to these couples, the mentors also receive ongoing formation in the virtues and the Church’s teaching on marriage and family. As of 2021, our program is used in over 400 parishes and 75 dioceses in North America. We also see the powerful effects of the Witness to Love movement at the national level.

Means and funding

The Witness to Love movement is largely funded by generous donors that see the fruits and choose to partner with us to support the Witness to Love vision. The parishes and dioceses that adopt the Witness to Love model purchase their own materials– a small cost that can be folded into the standard marriage prep fee.

Learn more

https://witnesstolove.org/

Countries involved

Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, England, España, France, Guam, Guatemala, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain, United States of America, Venezuela

How to start?

Witness to Love offers online training in English, Spanish, and French. The marriage enrichment resources are completely digital (and free) which makes international implementation very easy.

Programs are available in English, Spanish, French and Vietnamese.