Church of Ireland Marriage Council – Report 2017 Marriage Preparation & Counselling The demand for marriage preparation and counselling has been steady over the last year. Túsla, the Family Support Agency, has cut the grant to agencies and will only fund counselling. The Council is exploring ways to reach clergy to encourage couples to attend pre-marriage courses. One initiative was to invite clergy to complete a questionnaire on the different ways they offer preparation. The marriage Council is also looking into helping Northern Ireland clergy to find organisations that will assist with marriage preparation. One of these organisations is Care for the Family NI (Focus on the Family) RI who will be invited to speak to the Council once the results of the questionnaire are finalised. Ms Sylvia Helen (Cork) and Ms Shona Rusk (Dublin) have joined the panel of Counsellors:
Ms Sarah Bevan (Dublin) Ms Nadine Brooker (Dublin) Ms Eleanor Cobb (Kildare/Carlow/Laois) Ms Lynne Heber (North West) Ms Dianne Morris (Dublin) Ms Sylvia Helen (Cork) Ms Shona Rusk (Dublin)
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Marriage Council Survey During the month of February 2017, the Marriage Council, through the Diocesan Offices requested all Incumbents to provide high level information via a Survey website on how they currently facilitate Marriage Preparation to couples who come to them. Also the Survey examined what support clergy gave to couples going through separation or divorce. The following gives an overview of the key findings around Marriage Preparation as of March 2017. The Council will meet further to review the findings in more detail. - There was a 32% response rate from clergy; - 75% of surveys indicated they provide some form of marriage preparation for couples, and these are primarily done on a 1 to 1 basis with clergy; - Only 21% of clergy would offer a Marriage preparation course e.g. The Marriage Course from Holy Trinity Brompton, or the ACCORD Inter-Church Marriage Course. Support Groups for Separated and Divorced people Meetings have taken place in local hotels in Limerick and Cork. The Council is currently investigating a resource pack run by Caring Ministries which reaches out to people who have been divorced. DivorceCare groups meet every weekly to help those who have been through divorce. Each group is facilitated by a locally trained group. 366