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From the Manual of Marriage & Family Life Ministry for Parishes:

“The family, like the Church, ought to be a place where the Gospel is transmitted and from which the Gospel radiates” Pope Paul VI

  • VISION: To build happy, stable, and Christ-centered families
  • MISSION: Empowerment of families through sacraments, seminars, family celebrations, counselling, and temporal support ”

The Marriage & Family Life Ministry at St Charles exists because we believe the family is the heart of both society and the Church. It is in families that faith is first lived, love is learned, and values are passed from one generation to the next. Our vision is simple: to help build happy, stable, Christ-centred families — because when families flourish, the parish and the wider community flourish too.

Core Goals

  1. Education: Forming Families in Their Vocation

We support couples and families in understanding marriage and family life as a calling and try to help  families live Gospel values in everyday life.

  1. Prevention: Strengthening Families Before Crisis

Healthy relationships need ongoing care. Marriage preparation, enrichment opportunities, parenting workshops, and faith-sharing gatherings help couples grow communication skills, resilience, and a deeper spiritual connection.

  1. Healing:  Supporting Families in Difficulty

Many families carry real challenges. The ministry offers compassionate accompaniment through pastoral care, counselling referrals, and support groups so that no family feels alone.

Why This Ministry in Our Parish

We see clear pastoral needs:

  • Couples preparing for marriage often feel underprepared for the realities of married life.
  • Families navigating separation, blended families, or single parenting benefit from support.
  • Parents are concerned about raising children amid digital pressures and changing cultural values.
  • Illness, grief, addiction, infidelity, abortion healing, divorce stigmatisation,  and financial stress impact family stability.
  • Some couples desire sacramental marriage but need encouragement and guidance.
  • Many families simply long for deeper community — spaces to meet, pray, and support one another.

These are not failures — they are opportunities for care, growth, and accompaniment.

The Value to Parish Life

  • Stronger parish engagement:
    Supported families participate more actively in worship and service.
  • Healthier marriages and children:
    Stable relationships foster emotional and spiritual well-being.
  • Greater sense of belonging:
    Families connect instead of struggling alone.
  • Early support:
    Formation helps prevent crises rather than only responding afterwards.
  • Faith lived at home: Marriage and family life become paths to holiness, not private struggles.

Marriage and Family Life Ministry brings faith into everyday family living. It strengthens relationships, offers hope in difficult times, and helps the parish truly become a community of families.

Strong families build a strong Church and a hopeful society.

Ministries currently operating in the parish:

Co-Ordinator of Marriage and Family Life Ministry at St Charles: Marie-Anne teBrake

For more info, please contact her on [email protected]

Grief-share –

Engaged Encounter –

Marriage Preparation –

Marriage Enrichment –

Surviving Healing –

Abortion healing –

General counselling

Addictions –

Counselling –