Requirements
What qualities does a Mentor couple need?
- You need to be married at least 2 years. If you are married less than this, we still encourage that you begin the training as it will be so helpful in keeping your relationship healthy. You can be involved in other ways until the time is right for you to become active Mentors.
- You need to be married in the Catholic Church or in a marriage recognised by the Church. PMRC Mentoring is specifically designed to prepare couples for Catholic marriage. While it’s insights and many of the tools are applicable to all marriages, the theology is specifically Catholic. It is an important part of the transmission of the course, that the Mentor couple be a living sacramental witness. If you are not sure whether your marriage is recognised by the Church, speak to your parish priest - in many cases it is a simple matter to have your marriage confirmed. He will advise you on your situation.
- You do not need to both be Catholic, but you do need to have a commitment to regular Church attendance and supportive of Church teaching. The course is unapologetically Catholic and supports the teachings of the Church on marriage and sexuality as the best possible vision for couples to live the fullness of their potential. Part of the training process will include the opportunity for you to reflect on how comfortable you are with these teachings, which will be explained thoroughly. If you cannot support them wholeheartedly, there will be other ways for you to be involved. In either case, participating in the training will be very worthwhile for you.
- You need to see this as a couple commitment. While we appreciate that in most marriages, one spouse is usually more active than the other in the organisation and planning, the course can not be presented by one spouse only. One of the charisms of Celebrate Love and Embrace is the attention given to sexuality and understanding our sexual differences. It really requires both spouses to be involved if this is to be presented fully.
- You don’t need to commit to mentoring more than one couple at this stage. To consolidate the insights, ideally every Mentor couple will run the programme for at least one engaged couple within six months of the core training. Following that, you can decide in collaboration with your trainers how many couples you can manage.
