Phone 225.242.0323

Marriage Preparation Retreats for Engaged Couples

Beginning January 2019, the Diocese asks engaged couples to make a weekend retreat as part of their spiritual preparation for marriage. Couples who are planning to marry will need God’s help to meet the challenging demands of their marital vocation. Engaged couples can now choose from one of two weekend retreats that the Diocese offers. Couples may choose The New Called To Love  retreat weekend,  which focuses on the readings, prayers and vows of the marriage ceremony to discover what God is calling them to in marriage, or the Engaged Encounter weekend, which focuses on writing and sharing exercises that challenge the partners to explore important aspects of marriage. Both retreats are offered in an overnight weekend format beginning on Friday evening and ending on Sunday afternoon. 
(The Called to Love retreat replaces the one day Life Choice program).  Dates and registration for these retreats are located in the next column on this page. 
Marriage Prep brochures: For the latest brochures on Marriage Prep please download the two files listed below.
Note: The new Marriage Prep brochure with dates for 2020 is being printed and will be available soon. The 10 Steps brochure does not change.
__New 2020 Marr. Prep brochure " Before During & After" will be available here soon.
marr_prep_10_steps.pdf
File Size: 227 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

NEW:  Marriage Encounter in Spanish, begins with the Feb. 14-16th 2020 weekend in the Diocese of Baton Rouge.

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¿Qué es un fin de semana de Encuentro Matrimonial Mundial? ​(Click Para más información se pueden )​

The ongoing Worldwide Marriage Encounter (English) group will have their first 2020 weekend on the same date (Feb. 14-16). Both will be  held at the Tracy Center in separate sessions. (You'll find more information in the 2nd column.
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Domestic Church
​Ready to spend a quiet weekend intentionally reconnecting with your spouse and encountering God powerfully as a couple?
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​The next Domestic Church marriage weekend will be October 17-20, 2019 at Rosaryville. For more information or to register, visit DomesticChurchFamilies.com.
Questions? Feel free to send an email to diocesan coordinators Michael and Erin Franco at domesticchurchbr@gmail.com.  
Domestic Church
For general information on Domestic Church 
Prayer for Safety in 2019 Hurricane Season
O God, Master of this passing world, hear the humble voices of your children. The Sea of Galilee obeyed your order and returned to its former quietude. You are still the Master of the land and sea. We live in the shadow of a danger over which we have no control: the Gulf, like a provoked and angry giant, can awake from its seeming lethargy, and overstep its conventional boundaries, invade our land and spread chaos and disaster.
During this hurricane season we turn to You, O loving Father. Spare us from past tragedies whose memories are still so vivid and whose wounds seem to refuse to heal with passing of time. O Virgin, Star of the Sea, Our Beloved Mother, we ask you to plead with your Son on our behalf, so that spared from the calamities common to this area and animated with a true spirit of gratitude, we will walk in the footsteps of your Divine Son to reach the heavenly Jerusalem where a stormless eternity awaits us. Amen.

The Most Reverend Maurice Schexnayder
Second Bishop of Lafayette
(1957 following Hurricane Audrey)

2020 Called to Love 
(Engaged Couple's overnight retreat)

Our office is moving to a new online registration process for 2020. We are in the final stages of its completion and will begin to work toward activation. The 2020 dates are being posted here below for you to review, and a notification will be posted when the new 2020 Registration Opens.  
(In the meantime, If you have questions,
please call 225-242-0323).
2020 Dates for Called to Love
February 7-9                    April 17-19
     May 15-17                        July 24-26
September 18-20                 October 9-11
 Accommodations for the Called to Love retreat will be in the Bishop Tracy Overnight Retreat Center.
Open up the facilities link below for images of a representative room accommodation,  the Westerfield Center, St. Joseph's Chapel and the Courtyard off the retreat center.
(In the  Tracy Overnight Retreat Center, you will be sharing  in retreat style rooms with other Called to Love attendees, female with female and male with male in separate quarters of the retreat center). We will limit the room sharing to no more than three per room. Bishop Robert Tracy Center Facilities
The map will show parking area and other area locations within the Catholic Life Center.
Map of the Catholic Life Center
Engaged Encounter
Weekend Retreats
2020 Dates: 
    January 17-19 / March 20-22 / May 29-31 /
June 12-14 / August 21-23 / November 20-22 
Call  225-337-2214 or for more information & to register
Use the link below
 Catholic Engaged Encounter - Baton Rouge
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Additional Options:
Online Pre-Cana option  
  Re-Marriage Program
Use the link below:
http://www.mfldiobr.org/marriage-preparation.html

Worldwide Marriage Encounter

You can make the leap from just "good" to "GREAT" on a Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend! The weekend allows married couples to et away from jobs, kids, chores, the internet & phones and focus their attention on each other. If you'd like greater depth, growth, and enrichment in your relationship, you'll like the difference a Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend can offer! For the 2020 dates and additional information click here! to Marriage Encounter.
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​​Prayer for Families After the Floods

​Gracious and Almighty Father, 
In this time of loss and sorrow following the floods,
Please be with our families and loved ones
As we attempt to pick up the pieces of our damaged homes and tumultuous lives. 
Give us strength and courage to face each day with hope and renewal.
Grant calm and patience to our mothers and fathers even when stresses are great. 
Grant obedience and flexibility to our children even when they don’t fully understand what’s going on around them. 
Grant generosity and compassion to our neighborhoods so that we might support each other and offer helping hands and gentle words when the strength of others falters.  
Help us to grow closer to each other and to You
And let this be an opportunity for our faith to find new roots in your unceasing mercy. 
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for all that you have done for us and continue to do,
You who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.  

We also turn to you, our Blessed Mother, protector of families, that you may see our need as you saw the need of the newly married couple in Cana (John 2). We ask that you petition Jesus on our behalf to supply what necessities enable our households to return to normal again. Amen.