Hispanic Couples Trained for Marriage Preparation

In response to the growing Hispanic population within the Diocese of Baton Rouge, the Office of Marriage & Family Life, in cooperation with the Hispanic Apostolate, recently offered a training session in Spanish for sponsor couples who are dedicated to preparing engaged couples for marriage the Hispanic community.

Approximately 20 sponsor couples took part in the training, which was conducted by Teresita Johnson from Galveston Texas. The daylong session dealt with the administration of a pre-marital inventory entitled “Prepare/Enrich” which measures an engaged couple’s relationship strengths as well as their needed areas of growth.

Based on the findings of this inventory, the sponsor couple can support the engaged couple’s areas of strength and use dialogue and couple exercises to strengthen their areas of needed growth.

“The sponsor couples who participated in the training seemed to really appreciate the tools they were given to work with engaged couples. At the same time, they were especially grateful for the fact that the Diocese is trying to address their specific needs,” said Darryl Ducote, director of the Office of Marriage & Family Life of the Diocese of Baton Rouge.

Participants Dr. Rocio and Juan Coto said couples attending the Prepare & Enrich Facilitators Workshop in Spanish received the opportunity to acquire the theory and tools necessary to adequately accompany Hispanic couples in their parishes who wish to obtain the sacrament of marriage for their lives.

“It has been very beautiful to see the participation and interest of our Hispanic community in donating their time to be facilitators for couples who wish to embark on a path of holiness by consecrating their marriage to Our Lord Jesus Christ." – Julia Scarnato

“The facilitator Teresita Johnson, thanks to her vast experience in her communities using the program, made this all-day workshop an excellent way to motivate all of us participants to want to collaborate with our parish priests in this mission,” said Rocio Coto. “Juan and I were very excited to see that with this program we will be able to share our 35-year experience of married life always hand in hand with the Holy Family and in community for the Glory of God. We are grateful for the invitation from the Diocese Hispanic Ministry.”

Julia Scarnato, director of the Hispanic Apostolate for the Diocese of Baton Rouge said, “It has been very beautiful to see the participation and interest of our Hispanic community in donating their time to be facilitators for couples who wish to embark on a path of holiness by consecrating their marriage to Our Lord Jesus Christ. No couple is perfect, and we all always have some area to grow. We have discovered this essential greatness to recognize that love and generous dedication and our constant search for God enables us to strengthen the ‘Yes’ to this vocation.”

She added, “The workshop was an invitation first to the facilitators to strengthen their relationship, living a life of deep prayer and mutual closeness and second to facilitate this encounter with others through mentorship and prayers. We are very grateful to the marriage department of our diocese, especially to my colleague Darryl Ducote for his patience, expertise and collaborative ability. We will continue to carry out these diocesan efforts on an ongoing basis next year."