St Charles Church .org   News & Events Faith & Sacraments Ministries Volunteer Search/Help Contact Us

Pre-Cana Marriage Preparation Program
Letter From The Pastor

To the Engaged Couple:

The St. Charles Pre-Cana Marriage Preparation Program will provide you both with a spiritual journey of increasing love—for each other and for the God who unites us all.

Registration must occur in person at the Parish Office. A payment of $50 is required to begin the registration process. Upon registration you will receive a booklet containing details on the information below as well as other guidelines for the Pre-Cana process as summarized below:

Step #1. – Register for church membership and the Pre-Cana program. Either individual must be a member of St. Charles and baptized Catholic to register for the program. Registration for church membership and Pre-Cana may occur together. Important: The Diocese of Arlington requires at least six months of marriage preparation prior to your wedding date. If you have been previously married, you must have both your divorce decree and final annulment before beginning the Pre-Cana process.

Step #2. – Attend the Marriage Information Night. An orientation meeting will be held once a month. Please call parish office, 703-527-5500, to learn the date, time and location as this varies. Attendance by both individuals is mandatory. Review all materials and come equipped with questions. You will also be asked to complete the Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding & Study (FOCCUS) questionnaire, an important part of the marriage preparation process.

Step #3. – Register or sign up for an in-depth pre-marriage program. To assure a sound and spiritually healthy life together after the wedding, you must select one of three options that help highlight important marital issues: St. Charles’s Couple Mentoring Program; Catholic Engaged Encounter; or The Diocese of Arlington Conferences for the Engaged. I strongly urge you to register for one of the programs far enough in advance of your wedding date; they all fill up very quickly. See the chart containing information on each of these programs, plus you will hear more at the Marriage Information Night to help you in your decision making.

Step #4. – Collect required documentation. You must collect all required paperwork within a given timeframe. The best advice I can give you is to listen, read, and set your own early deadlines for getting in hand the required documents (please refer to the guidebook for additional details). The sooner you collect all documentation the better: it will then give you more time to focus on the Sacrament of Marriage that you are entering into.

Step #5. – Meet with the priest. The Parish Office will call you to arrange an appointment to meet with the priest as soon as the results of the FOCCUS questionnaire have been received. At this time you will provide the required documentation to the priest. In addition, the priest will guide and discuss with you about some of the practical and spiritual issues facing couples to be united to each other in Christ.

Thank you for considering St. Charles as a place to begin your new married life together. Again, please contact the Parish Office for details.

Rev. Gerard Creedon, Pastor

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one flesh. —Genesis 2:24