Marriage is a life-long vocation and embraces all members of the family. The church understands that while marriage is a truly human and social institution it is also a sacrament. This means that when a woman and a man choose to consecrate their lives to each other before God, Christ is present. At its deepest level and in all the realities of married life, a couple can seek and to hope find Christ and his love in each other. They are become ‘ministers of grace to one another’ and together they participate in the mission of the church.
Parish marriage and family life ministry initiatives bear witness to the critical importance of healthy marriage and family life for couples, for families, for society and for the Church. This relatively new area of ministry was first defined by the bishops attending the 1980 Family Synod, who wrote: ‘Family ministry is of very special interest to the church. By this we mean efforts made by the whole people of God through local communities, especially through the help of pastors and lay people devoted to pastoral work with families.’
Marriage and family life ministry encompasses a range of coordinated activities at diocesan and parish level which are geared towards supporting and affirming families at every stage of their life together, in order to strengthen the love between them, their relationship with God and their service to the wider community.