Marriage catechesis and pastoral care in a European comparison of particular standards

Abstract

Universal Church documents emphasize the responsibility of local churches with regard to marriage preparation and call for the adoption of corresponding norms. The author examines the particular norms of four European bishops' conferences. The bishops' conferences of Italy, Ireland, Austria and Germany were chosen, representing three different language families and civil marriage regulations. For each of these bishops' conferences, the sources of particular regulations on marriage catechesis and pastoral care are named. These are then examined with regard to the structure and content of marriage preparation in the respective country. In a final analysis, the results are compared with each other.