The Family Life Office of the Diocese of Little Rock offers the following for engaged and married couples, parents and children, singles and seniors.
For engaged couples:
Pre-Cana Day is a one-day retreat for engaged couples to spend time together reflecting on their relationship and future marriage. Married couples present talks on topics such as the sacrament of marriage, communication, finances, love and sexuality, parenting and Natural Family Planning.
The Sponsor Couple program offers couple-to-couple ministry between married and engaged couples. The sponsor couple or mentor couple assists the engaged couple in reflecting on the reality of married life. Topics covered include the sacrament of marriage, family of origin, communication, finances, love and sexuality, parenting and Natural Family Planning.
Convalidation classes are offered for couples who are married civilly and wish to transition to a sacramental marriage.
Natural Family Planning is an effective, proven method of family planning and is the only one approved for couples to plan their families within the teachings of the Catholic Church. (Classes offered in English and Spanish)
For married couples:
National and World Wide Marriage Encounters are weekend experiences for couples with good marriages who want to make their marriage better. Currently, National Marriage Encounter is held at parishes and World Wide Marriage Encounter is held at a retreat setting. (Offered in English and Spanish)
The Retrouvaille program is a weekend experience with follow-up sessions, that is designed to help heal and renew troubled and hurting marriages through relationship building and communication. Separated and divorced couples are also encouraged to attend. (Offered in English and Spanish)
Marriage Anniversary Masses are celebrated each year in the diocese to honor couples who have been married 25 or 50 years or more.
For families:
The Father/Son Chastity and Mother/Daughter events are single session fertility appreciation and chastity programs designed to provide an atmosphere of love and learning, to discuss the important topic of growing up, to learn about God's gift of human fertility, and to establish a foundation for continued communication between fathers and their sons or mothers and their daughters.
For singles:
Singles ministries are available in the Central, Northwestern and Western Deaneries and in some parishes in Arkansas. The objectives for these organizations are to encourage a spiritual belonging with the Catholic Church, to instill an attitude of public service, and to develop Catholic social contacts.
For seniors:
The Senior Resource Ministry is a resource group for those involved in parish senior ministry. A Senior Day and Mass is offered annually in the fall and a newsletter highlighting ministries and stories about seniors is distributed four times a year.
Additional ministries provided in parishes are also promoted and assisted by the Family Life Office. These include programs for the divorced, widowed and separated, bereaved and for parenting and other family related issues.
For more information about any of these programs, call the Family Life Office at (501) 664-0340 or visit the diocesan Web site at http://www.dolr.org .
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