The Premarital Pastoral – Immediate Preparation in the Local Church

Abstract

The topic discussed in the article brings to the fore the vital issue of organizing quality premarital counseling and education sessions as a means of preparation for marriage and family life. The authors wish to contribute to the issue at hand by pondering and analysing the Church's involvement in offering marriage preparation courses in the pastoral field as such in the Republic of Croatia. The first section depicts the Church's pastoral involvement in the education of couples on the issue of contemporary Christian marriage and family life. The second section puts forward the general set-up of premarital guidance sessions in the Zagreb Archdiocese, as well as an analysis of a survey made for the purposes of this article on the quality of premarital guidance sessions at the Zagreb Holy Cross Parish (Siget).