Preparing to Say “I Do”

Abstract

Since its beginning in the postwar era, marriage preparation has enabled parishes to mediate both Catholic theology and broader cultural messages surrounding marriage. Drawing on archival research on two important Catholic family movements from the postwar era and ethnographic observation of marriage preparation in several contemporary parishes in Western Washington, this chapter highlights parish efforts to collectively engage in meaning-making by transmitting a Catholic vision of marriage to individual parishioners. While the vision of a “good” family has changed little from the postwar era to today, therapeutic cultural discourses about self-development and changing marital norms have entered into marriage preparation. Moreover, shifts in the structure of religious authority mean that who does the speaking has changed drastically. Lay persons are increasingly empowered to produce local Catholic culture and make sense of Catholic teachings through the marriage preparation process.