Starting Saturday, February 1, 2025, the Pastoral Centre for English-speakers will be conducting a 6-session marriage-preparation course for English-speaking couples (planned dates: Saturdays, 1, 8, 15, and 22 February; 1 and 8 March, 2025). The cost of the course is 400 zloties per couple. The course will be conducted entirely in English, by a native-speaker, using materials from the United States. Participants should be proficient in English, and at least one person must be a non-Polish-speaker. If you are preparing for the Sacrament of Matrimony in the coming year and you need a course in English, please send us an email (for contact details, see below).
The Pastoral Centre for English-speakers cannot organize marriage preparation ad hoc or individually as an alternative to this course; we only offer one course per year. This course will never be conducted online.
Please read the full description of the course below before emailing us, to make sure it is the right course for you.
Who Can Participate
Our Marriage Preparation Course is open to English-speaking couples who, for linguistic reasons, are unable to participate in a course in Polish (non-Polish-speakers or couples in which only one person speaks Polish and both speak English). All those who wish to attend should be proficient speakers of English, since the video presentations and course workbook are in English and the teacher is a native-speaker of English. This course is not appropriate for people who are unable to follow a lecture, enter into a discussion, answer questions or watch a film entirely in English without translations, interpreters or subtitles. You can watch a preview of the video part of the course here: Beloved – Trailer HD to be sure that you are comfortable with the level of English used and to get a sense of what the films are like.
This course prepares couples for the Sacrament of Matrimony in the Roman Catholic Church. Participating couples should be open to Church teaching about marriage and should have the desire to understand and live out the requirements of Catholic marriage, whether or not both participants are Catholic.
Course Requirements
Participants will be required to complete a pre-marital survey (questionnaire). The questionnaire is entirely confidential – read only by the priest – and is designed to help the couple discuss issues related to marriage, as well as helping the priest get a sense of particular areas of marriage preparation that each couple may need to work on or discuss in depth.
Participants will be provided with a course book. The book has readings and quizzes based on the topics in the course. During the week, between sessions, participants should read the assigned readings for the week, individually do any quizzes or answer any questions in the book, and then together discuss what they have read, their answers to the quizzes and the questions. The book is designed to inform the couple about important aspects of marriage and to spark discussion of these topics in the privacy of the couple’s relationship. A commitment to getting together during the week and discussing what you’re learning about marriage and about yourselves is a crucial part of the course, since the ability to talk about all aspects of life is key to a successful marriage.
The course itself consists of six meetings, held on Saturdays (be prepared to be present from 9:30-13:00, though we often end earlier than 13:00). Attendance at all meetings is required for couples to complete the course. Meetings will consist of video presentations and short talks before and after the films. There will be two presentations per meeting, with a break between the two presentations, when you can meet the other couples, chat to the priest or instructor, have a snack, etc. Each presentation takes about 90-120 minutes, so assume you’ll spend about 4-5 hours per week at each meeting. If you register for this course, please clear your schedule and do not plan any other events or activities during the scheduled hours for the sessions. Your willingness to take the course seriously and to commit to attending it is an indication to us of your seriousness about Catholic marriage.
Besides participation in the weekly meetings, participants will meet with the priest in charge of the course at least once and possibly more times as needed. These private meetings will be devoted to review of the pre-marital survey, and answering the questions and particular needs of each couple as they prepare for the Sacrament of Matrimony. If a couple will be married in our parish, this meeting may also include the necessary ‘protocol’ required by the Church. These meetings are arranged individually to suit the couples’ and the priest’s schedule. The priest normally attends as many sessions as he can, so it should be easy to speak to him and arrange meetings, to ask him questions or discuss any problems you are having.
After completing the course and having a meeting with the priest, the couple will be provided with a certificate of completion in Polish and English. The certificate outlines the content of the course and indicates the number of hours participants have spent in the course. Our course is very thorough and lasts longer than most courses available in Poland and other countries, so the certificate we give has been accepted by priests both within Poland and in various countries around the world.
A course in Natural Family Planning (NFP) is required by the Church, but not provided by the Pastoral Centre for English-speakers. We may be able to help you find an instructor who speaks English. For self-directed learners, the Couple-to-Couple League provides excellent and thorough online courses in Natural Family Planning. Their course results in a certificate which is accepted in the Catholic Church (previous participants in our course have chosen this option and their certificates have been accepted by priests in Poland and abroad). Couple-to-Couple League course offerings can be found here: https://ccli.org/ It is not necessary to wait until after you’ve completed the Marriage Preparation Course to start a course in Natural Family Planning. Indeed, it is recommended that women, especially, have this information well in advance of marriage (6 months or more), because the charting of their cycles often alerts women to health and fertility issues that they may want to address before getting married and attempting to start a family.
If you think the course is for you, feel free to get in touch. You can correspond with the instructor before the course begins if you have any questions. People who ask to be put on the list will be contacted again in early February to receive materials and further information about the room where the course will be held within St Karol Parish.
Interested? Get in touch!
You must email us (contact.pastoralcentre@yahoo.com) to be placed on the list of interested couples (texts or FB messaging or chatting with the priest will not enroll you in the course). When you email, we need the following information:
- full names of the engaged man and woman (as they appear on your legal identification cards or passport);
- what country or countries you are from;
- what religion each person is (at least one person should be Catholic);
- if you are Catholic, whether you have completed your sacraments of initiation (baptism, first communion and confirmation).
When your email is received, you should receive a response within from the course instructor within three days. If you do not receive a response three days after you emailed us, your email probably went to spam and you can speak directly to Fr Szymon or the instructor after the English Mass (Sundays at 16:00), or use messaging on our Facebook page to alert us that your email might have been lost.
Also useful: Our text about the steps involved in organizing the Sacrament of Marriage in our parish.