Denver, Colo., Mar 1, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Christian and Christine Meert are helping Catholics from as far away as India, Poland and even Iraq, prepare for Catholic marriage.
The couple, members of the religious community of the Beatitudes, are now offering their popular marriage preparation class, recommended by the Archdiocese of Denver’s Office of Marriage and Family Life, to a worldwide community on the internet.
According to Christian, the pair have been preparing couples for marriage in the Archdiocese for five years now and just last year decided to go full time working on-line.
“The results”, he said, “have been incredible.”
Because of the nature of the internet Christian said, questions often come up that may not in a large group setting. “Sometimes there are very personal questions”, he said, “people always want to know more…And they can ask all the questions they want.”
The Meerts tend to see a lot of couples involved in the military, in which case, one of the two are often living in different states or countries. This has been infinitely helpful for those seeking to fulfill the marriage preparation required by most Catholic dioceses.
The Meerts reflected on their recent work with a couple in which the bride-to-be was Southern Baptist and was going through the Catholic classes “to please her husband.”
Because of the time the Meerts spent with her, answering all of her questions, she told the couple that “after the class, [she] was very happy to have come to the Catholic Church.”
Another couple who recently completed the program noted that the class “brought up the most important subjects in a marriage; fidelity, children, money issues, good times, bad times and allowed us a chance to honestly discuss them.”
They added that, “it also gave us the feeling that we are not alone in this but God and many other people are there for support and help when we need it.”
Christian told CNA that, “about fifty parishes in the Archdiocese are sending their engaged couples to our live evening classes in Denver”, and many dioceses across the country are interested in the on-line version.
Some of the dioceses that they have been working with include Buffalo, NY, New Orleans, Cheyenne, WY, and as far away as Westminster in the U.K.
Since the Meerts’ ministry primarily survives on donations and the relatively small cost of the classes, they rely heavily on word of mouth to reach new people.
To learn more about the Meerts marriage preparation, visit their website at, www.CatholicMarriagePrepOnLine.com.