Marriage and Family

The Family Life Office offers resources on everything from how to plan a Catholic wedding to parenting tips on children from birth to teen. We also offer information here on how to adopt through Catholic Adoption Services. We hope this information is helpful. For more information, please Contact Us.

Engaged Couples

Because marriage is lifelong, the Church wants to help couples build strong, lasting marriages. For this reason, couples seeking marriage in the Catholic Church are asked to spend several months in preparation. To learn more about the process, see the following:

• About Catholic Marriage — Explains the Church's teachings on marriage
• Marriage is Forever — Marriage policy and procedures for the Diocese of Little Rock
• Catholic Marriage Q&A — Answers most frequently asked questions from engaged couples
• Marriage Education Programs — Details Sponsor Couple, Pre-Cana Day and Convalidation Class and explains how to register for these programs
• Natural Family Planning — Methods of NFP and how to register for classes
• Six-Step Guide to Planning a Catholic Wedding — Tips and resources for engaged couples

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Married Couples

What have you done for your marriage today? The U.S. Catholic bishops asked this question when their Committee on Marriage and Family Life and Communications began its For Your Marriage campaign in 2007. On the local level, the Family Life Office offers the following programs to strengthen and restore marriages:

• Worldwide Marriage Encounter — Weekend experience for married couples to spend time together, away from the distractions and tensions of everyday life, and focus on each other and their relationship
• Retrouvaille — Program for troubled marriages that begins with a weekend away followed by three months of sessions to help hurting couples rediscover a loving marital relationship

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Parenting Resources

This page offers details on Natural Family Planning, adoption, related Church teachings and articles on everythng from how to take young children to Mass to what to do with teens who know one parent will say yes. To learn more, visit Parenting Resources.

• Catholic Adoption Services — Non-profit, Arkansas-licensed, child placement agency and ministry of Catholic Charities of Arkansas. With more than 30 years of experience, our staff is available to serve birthparents and adoptive parents.

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