The role of marriage preparation in building stable christian families in Kyoga Parish-Mbarara Archdiocese in light of Amoris Laetitia

Abstract

The general objective of this study was to discover the role of marriage preparation in building stable Christian families whereas the specific objectives of the study were: to examine the content of pre-marital catechesis in Kyoga Parish, to explore the possibility of a new and updated premarital catechesis, to explore the indicators of marriage instability in Kyoga parish and to find out the underlying causes of marriage instability in Kyoga Parish. In carrying out this research, the researcher did a literature review in which he studied and evaluated a number of documents about the topic. Regarding the methodology, the researcher used the descriptive research design which uses the qualitative and quantitative approaches to obtain information. Various tools of data collection were employed. These included; observation, questionnaires, interviews, and focused group discussions. Findings from the field were collected, presented and discussed in comparison with the reviewed literature and conclusions were drawn. It was thus, discovered that generally, very few people consider marriage preparation a matter of importance and so, it is a major reason behind the various signs of instability in many marriages and families. The researcher discovered that if the Church, together with all seeking to contract marriage, paid kin attention to marriage preparation, perhaps, the marriage and family institutions would be saved from the current trend of things. At the end, the researcher proposed a number of recommendations especially by presenting a simple, revised and updated syllabus for marriage preparation. This is an important tool in preparing couples for marriage and can assist pastoral agents in preparing adequately for the marriage vocation and the possible ways of establishing stability in Christian families.