Mark 10:2-12 

The Pharisees approached him and asked, "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"  They were testing him.  He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?"  They replied, "Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her."  But Jesus told them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment.  But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.  For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  So they are no longer two but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate."  In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.  He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;  and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

♦

In the Gospel, Jesus defines the fundamental sacredness of marriage. I’m convinced that the deep sacramental and religious meaning of marriage—even within the Church—has been, in recent years, dramatically compromised. We say that marriage is a vocation, but do we mean it?

We can look at human sexual relationships at a number of different levels. Two people can come together purely for physical pleasure, for economic reasons, or for psychological companionship. And we might witness two people coming together out of authentic love.

But none of these levels is what the Bible means by marriage. When I was doing parish work I would invariably ask young couples, "Why do you want to get married in church ?" Most would say something like, "Because we love each other." But I would reply, "Well, that’s no reason to get married in church ." 

They usually looked stunned, but I meant it. You come to church to be married before God and his people when you are convinced that your marriage is not, finally, about you; that it is about God and about serving God’s purposes; that it is, as much as the priesthood of a priest, a vocation, a sacred calling.
 

— from A Daily Reflection on Marriaage from Bishop Robert Barron

Every couple to be married in the Diocese of Pittsburgh is required to participate in a diocesan-approved marriage preparation program which should be taken at least six months prior to your wedding.  Pre-marriage programs are offered in three models: a parish-sponsored program (including the Renew the 'I Do' Marriage Preparation program), the Engaged Encounter weekend retreat, or online formation through Catholic Marriage Prep, the only approved online pre-marriage program for the Diocese of Pittsburgh. F or information, dates and availability of each,...

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