My parents divorced when I was 12. I believed that most people didn’t really struggle with their parents’ divorce, and that I was strange because it was still affecting my life in so many ways 38 years after the fact.

Last February, I was given the opportunity to attend a retreat with a ministry, Life-Giving Wounds, that the Archdiocese of Denver was thinking of bringing to Colorado. It was one of the most amazing and healing experiences of my life.

COLORADO SPRINGS. The annual diocesan Anniversary Mass will take place June 20 at 2:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral, followed by a reception in the Cathedral Center. Couples celebrating one, five, 10, 25, 50 or more years of marriage — either in 2020 or 2021 — will be specially honored.

COLORADO SPRINGS. As part of the marriage preparation requirements in the Diocese of Colorado Springs, each engaged couple must take a class in natural family planning (NFP).

One of the four options for fulfilling the requirement is training in the Creighton Model FertilityCare System. In Colorado Springs, Creighton Model classes are taught at St. Francis Medical Center by Kris Hardesty, who has been Certified FertilityCare practitioner for nearly 25 years. Classes are also offered at Ave Maria Parish in Parker.

COLORADO SPRINGS. One of the biggest reasons to hold a Holy Hour for Marriage is to support engaged couples who want a sacramental marriage but who may be receiving conflicting messages from friends, relatives or society at large, said Christian Meert, director of the Office of Marriage and Family Life of the Diocese of Colorado Springs and founder of CatholicMarriagePrep.com.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Engaged, newly-married and young-adult married couples are invited to join Cana Couples, a new program of the Young Adult Ministry of the Diocese of Colorado Springs. The next gathering will take place on Feb. 12 from 7-9 p.m. in the Corpus Christi Parish Hall.

COLORADO SPRINGS. When Catholic couples discover years or decades after being married civilly that their marriage is not considered to be valid by the Church, it can come as a surprise and leave them wondering what steps to take. Fortunately, the Diocese of Colorado Springs is equipped to help such couples enter into a valid Catholic marriage so that they can live a complete sacramental life.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Although weddings during the coronavirus pandemic look much different than in the past, couples are continuing to attend marriage preparation classes and enter into the sacrament of matrimony. Because so much of the diocesan marriage preparation program is available online, couples are able to finish the classes, including education in natural family planning (NFP), at their own pace while still observing social distancing requirements and travel restrictions.

In a time when Pope Francis has to remind parents to teach their children and the whole family to say three words — “please,” “thank-you,” and “I’m sorry,” — it’s good to look to saintly parents who raised saintly children.

COLORADO SPRINGS. When Christian and Christine Meert were named co-directors of the Diocese of Colorado Springs’ newly- created Office of Marriage and Family Life in 2005, they essentially started with a blank slate. Now, 15 years later, the two can look back and see how their efforts have born fruit.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Call it a silver lining or unintended consequence, but one good thing to come out of the coronavirus pandemic is that engaged couples now have more time to focus on the sacrament of matrimony and the Catholic Church’s teaching about marriage.