February 12, 2024: Bishop Denis Nulty during the blessing of engaged couples at the shrine of the holy relics of Saint Valentine at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Whitefriar Street, in the Archdiocese of Dublin.RollingNews.ie

Accord, the Catholic Church agency in Ireland that provides marriage preparation courses as well as marriage and relationship counseling, issued an updated version of its marriage preparation programme today, Monday, February 12, at Whitefriar Church in Dublin.

Catholics wishing to marry a member of another Christian Church must write to their local bishop to request permission, the updated version of the Accord programme says.

Meanwhile, Catholics wishing to marry someone who was not baptized in any of the Christian Churches have "to write to the local bishop seeking a dispensation."

In both instances, the Catholic party is "asked to remain steadfast to their Catholic faith and do their best within the unity of their partnership to have whatever children they may have baptised and brought up in the Catholic faith.

"The Non-Catholic party is made aware of the promises the Catholic party makes."

The Irish Times reports that the updated Accord marriage preparation programme was launched at Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin on Monday following a Mass celebrated by Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin Denis Nulty, President of Accord.

New data from Accord shows that 7,262 couples were prepared for the Sacrament of Marriage across the island of Ireland in 2023, and the figure for 2022 was 7,470 couples. 

"The new Accord programme is grounded in the practical lived experience of the married couple as they navigate life’s opportunities as well as its challenges," Bishop Nulty said on Monday.

He added: "Accord realises that, while our new marriage programme offers a significant pathway of preparation for couples, there will always be a need for other supports.

"For example, the Bishops’ Council for Marriage and the Family is also delighted to offer a resource called ‘Marriage Movements Accompanying Couples,' where sixteen movements are listed as supports for couples preparing for sacramental marriage and those who are married."

Tony Shanahan, Director of Accord CLG, said on Monday that the updated Accord marriage preparation programme "is the result of collaboration between experienced practitioners, both marriage facilitators, and marriage educators, as well as with clergy from all over the island."

Shanahan said the updated programme was "extensively piloted" across the island of Ireland and received "very warm and enthusiastic responses."

Noting that this is the programme's first major revision in 20 years, Shanahan said: "The new Accord programme takes account of changes in society and couple’s relationship expectations over the last twenty years.

"It incorporates the most up-to-date psychological understanding of what makes relationships happy and fulfilling, while the Church’s understanding of the nature of Sacramental marriage is clearly laid out and its spirituality is woven throughout the programme units.

"The programme is grounded in the lived reality of couple’s lives and contains many practical resources and techniques which couples can put into use in their own relationships."

Shanahan said the revised programme "enables couples to take quality time out from the hectic wedding day preparations, and from the pressures of every day life, to focus – together – on each other, what the nature of their sacramental commitment to each other means in practice, and what they want and expect from their relationship through all the unforeseen ups and downs of life.

"It guides them through essential conversations that they may not yet have had including their family of origin values, work life balance, intimacy and sexuality, extended family responsibilities and parenthood.

"It offers them the opportunity to develop techniques for more effective communication with each other as well as better resolution of inevitable conflict."