The Archdiocese of New York’s Office of Family Life celebrates National Marriage Week beginning Tuesday, February 7, culminating with World Marriage Day on Sunday, February 12, and ending on February 14, the Feast of St. Valentine.
This year’s theme, “Marriage: One Flesh, Given and Received,” highlights the union of husband and wife that is willed by God. It also indicates the personal self-gift of each spouse. These concepts point to Christ, who gives Himself under the appearance of bread and wine — as real flesh and blood — in the Eucharist.
Members of the Office of Family Life will be in attendance at these events for married couples and those wishing to learn more about the office’s offerings.
Also during National Marriage Week, the office will announce the winners of their “longest married couple” search — the criteria for which is to have been sacramentally married for a minimum of 65 years and reside in the Archdiocese of New York.
The Office of Family Life is undertaking specific initiatives, including parish revitalization, focusing on marriage and the family, and the parish as a place where all parishioners may connect. A similar effort is being made in regard to the marriage catechumenate, a Vatican-led process that “prepares Catholic couples for marriage and accompanies married couples throughout life,” Theodore J. Musco, director of the Office of Family Life said in an interview with The Good Newsroom.
The following parishes will host World Marriage Day events on Sunday, February 12:
St. Ann Church, Ossining
12:30 PM Mass in Spanish; Fellowship to follow
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Bronx
1:30 PM Mass in Spanish; Fellowship to follow
St. Vincent Ferrer, Manhattan
9:30 AM and 12 PM Mass in English; Fellowship to follow
St. Joseph and St. Mary Immaculate Church, Staten Island
12:00 PM Mass in English; Fellowship to follow
Sacred Heart Church, Monroe
12:00 PM Mass in English; Fellowship to follow
Transfiguration Parish, Tarrytown
12:00 PM Mass in English; Fellowship to follow
Also, in March, the Office of Family Life will organize Safe Haven Sunday on March 12, an anti-pornography event that will make use of faith-sharing books and introduce Covenant Eyes, a pornography-blocking software. Safe Haven Sunday is an annual weekend set aside by dioceses and parishes to directly address the harms of pornography.
This will be followed at the end of March with the Family Life Conference at Cathedral High School in the Terence Cardinal Cooke Center on March 25. The first annual conference, with the theme of “Behold, I Make All Things New!” will feature a keynote address by Dr. Hosffman Ospino, Associate Professor of Hispanic Ministry and Religious Education at the School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College. More information on the conference is available here.
More information on the Office of Family Life’s offerings and an updated calendar of events is available on its website.