Has anyone taken or will be taking the mandatory church marriage prep class?

I am taking it now, we started last night and need to go back tomorrow for 4 hours and again next thursday and saturday. It is so long, we are doing transformed in love b/c that is what my priest wanted. They cover some good stuff but hour 3 I was sleeping with my eyes open

In Toronto, it's mandatory to complete a marriage prep course for marriage in the Catholic church, so we've got ours coming up in two weeks and it's a whole weekend. We shopped around to find a more affordable option because some were like $500 for a weekend or more affordable but spread over 4-6 weeks..

Ours is going to be from 8:45 to 5pm on Sunday. When I called to register the lady mentioned to me that there was another class for after marriage, I wish my priest would have suggested that one isntead. But he just said if we couldn't take this one, it was okay he would waive that requirement.

Do you guys think I should go or save the cash?

We're doing our pre-cana online tomorrow. I'm actually kinda excited for it actually. I think it's a good chance to talk about tough issues but if you don't want to do it, then don't. $100 is actually pretty reasonable.

The cost would probably be worth it if it isn't geared towards couples who have never lived together.....

I mentioned to the priest that it may not be the class for us. There is another class that is for couples who have had a civil marriage or have lived together for a long time. He just told me to try to the the pre-marriage prep one, but if we couldn't that was wine, but to try. I'm just scared to miss on something that could possibly benefit us or if not at least be a nice experience.

Only because he wants to do it catholic, and I'm not catholic. but as a teacher any education is good

Bump

We're taking it, however, the pastor who will officiate our ceremony requires it. Personally, I think every couple should take it if not for the financial aspect.

We took it and we live together. Here in GA your marriage license cost is reduced if it's taken. It was a non-denomination class.

We learned a lot and I'm glad we took it. It was only two weekends, but we have great new ways to communicate with each other and learned some budget tips.

My husband and I did it. We didn't live together before marriage but I think we still would have done it if we had. Gaining an outside perspective of your "inner circle" is good. There might be squeaky wheels you would never have seen otherwise

We took a course and I found it pretty helpful, but we are in a completely different situation from you. We've been together for 2.5 years and have lived together for about 8 months. You can try to do a little research on the types of things these classes typically include and decide if it sounds worthwhile to you.

We took it last weekend and it sucked. Like Celia said, its geared towards young couples or those who have never lived together. Since we do live together, all that was brought up was things that we speak about together on a weekly basis. But we were required to take it to be married in the Catholic Church.

Honestly, IMO, the class would be redundant for you guys to take and a waste of $100....if you aren't required to take it then I wouldn't bother.

Thanks everyone. We ended up not going.

My fiancé and I took our pre-marital class at First Baptist of Euless for free without being members or ever attending the church before. It took about 6 to 8 weeks to complete. 1 hour each Sunday morning before service food and drink provided. We just simply listened. No real homework or anything. Just down to earth logical very little biblical analogies used. Real life situations and emotions under the context of marriage without bias toward genders. The marriage license will now only cost us $11.00 with the two-together in Texas certification received. I wish we could start the class again with the 5 love languages. We still attend to this day.

I'm taking one for my church, and now I'm hoping it's not money wasted. FH and I already live together and have a 2 year old son. Also, we spent $400 on the class!

Ours was very helpful and not geared towards people who didn't live together at all. It was really eye opening as far as communication and the catholic view of marriage (I'm not catholic so it was helpful for me to see what FH believes about marriage). They also provided information about natural family planning, but I'm not interested in that.

I'm not Catholic but we had participate in premarital counseling. To be honest, we didn't know what to expect but at the end; it was very informative. Go for it, it can't hurt.

In our area, we were required to take two classes- one called "God's Plan for a Joy-Filled Marriage" and then the regular pre-cana. Both had a cost (over $100 each). The first one was not great- mostly lecture based on church teachings, natural family planning, and marriage. The pre-cana was far more useful, as it was real couples talking about their experiences. We've been together over 8 years and have lived together for much of our relationship, but we still found it insightful.