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Engaged Couples Seminar

Click on the links below to meet the seminar leaders and for seminar dates.

"How do Engaged Couple Seminars help couples prepare for their marriage?"

We asked this question of the Engaged Couple and Thinking About Remarriage seminar leaders who have years of experience working with couples. Read what they have to say.

Amoskeag/Capital/Rockingham Deaneries 

Paul Ashton: The seminar provides engaged couples with a unique opportunity for learning and exploring the art of communication. The goal of the Engaged Couple Seminar Program is to help couples prepare for a lifetime of committed love together. Our program doesn’t focus so much on the wedding day, but about the days, months and years that will follow. We stress the importance of communication, assisting each couple in finding their strengths, naming their own individual communication styles, learning about how they operate as individuals, and then how they thrive as a couple. The seminar is united in scope and focus to show how vividly God is integral to the love shared in married life.

We welcome all engaged couples from the Diocese of Manchester and from neighboring states and beyond!

Paul Ashton, Psy.D., D.Min., Director
Diane Bergeron, Secretary (603) 769-1816

Held at St. Elizabeth Seton, Bedford, NH
Sundays 11:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Fee: $125.00 per couple

March 3, 2013
April 14, 2013
May 5, 2013

Download the Amoskeag/Capital/Rockingham Engaged Couples Seminar Registration Form 2012-2013 (pdf)

Download Directions to St. Elizabeth Seton Parish Center, Bedford, NH (pdf)

Lakes Region Deanery 

Janet Leroux: Most of the couples are surprised at how much information they learned during the seminar. Their comments are that the seminar was better than they thought it would be. They usually appreciate the sharing from the Leader Couples and they enjoy discussions with the other couples. The more they have an opportunity to dialogue with one another the better.

Janet Leroux, (603) 267-8105
Fee: $100.00 per couple

Sacred Heart Parish Hall, Laconia, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 5, 2013

The Klemme's Home, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 17, 2013

Download the Lakes Region Deanery Engaged Couple Registration Form (pdf)

Monadnock Deanery 

Deacon Arnold Gustafson and Diane Gustafson: Engaged Couple Seminars open up conversation between engaged couples regarding the fullness of the Sacrament of Marriage, and they strive to enhance the couple's relationship with each other and with Jesus Christ as the center of their love. The seminars enable the couple to strengthen their commitment to each other as their vows will reflect in their marriage ceremony. Engaged Couple Seminars offer practical approaches to finances, intimacy, parenting, and sacramental living with the understanding that each individual strives to bring the other into the promised rewards of the heavenly kingdom.

Deacon Arnold Gustafson and Diane Gustafson, (603) 352-3525, Ext. 30
Saturday 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Sunday 1-5 p.m.
Fee: $80.00 per couple

St. Margaret Mary Hall, Keene
January 19-20, 2013

Divine Mercy Parish Hall, Peterborough
March 2-3, 2013

Clairvaux Center, Keene
June 22-23, 2013

A registration form will be available soon.

Seacoast Deanery 

Cathy Rossetti, (603) 664-9563, Fax (603) 664-2310
Saturdays 9:45 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Fee: $100.00 per couple
Holy Rosary Parish Center, 189 North Main Street, Rochester, NH

January 26, 2013
March 16, 2013
May 18, 2013

Download the Seacoast Deanery Engaged Couple Registration Form (pdf)

Souhegan Deanery 

Holly Jenness: Engaged Couple Seminars help couples prepare for marriage by opening doors of self–awareness (for example, looking at family of origin, spirituality, and beliefs about the roles spouses take on in marriage). Fundamental communication styles and preferences are named, discussed, and woven throughout a variety of subjects during the seminar, providing a rich source of information to refer back to as couples enter marriage. Engaged Couple Seminars also provide a place for couples to meet other couples - not only to share the experiences of engagement and planning a wedding, but also to share in the excitement and struggles that go along with planning for a life together.

Holly Jenness, (603) 888-9779
Saturdays 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Fee: $125.00 per couple

Immaculate Conception Parish, Nashua
January 12, 2013
June 8, 2013

St. Kathryn Parish, Hudson
March 2, 2013
July 20, 2013

Download the Souhegan Deanery Engaged Seminars Registration Form (pdf)

Upper Valley Deanery 

Deacon Gregg McGinn and Allyson McGinn: If the three most important rules in real estate are "Location, Location and Location," then the three most important rules in marriage are, "Communication, Communication and Communication." You're not likely to learn something earthshaking during the Seminar. But you do get the chance to open communication in some area or areas you had not fully considered beforehand. It's a first step to opening your life to the graces of the Sacrament of Marriage.

Deacon Greg McGinn, (603) 927-4952 or (603) 526-4484
Saturday 9:15 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Fee: $40.00 per couple
Our Lady of Fatima Parish, New London

January 19, 2013

Download the Upper Valley Deanery Engaged Seminar Registration Form (pdf)

“Thinking about Remarriage” is a daylong program for couples (where one or both were previously married) who are thinking about marriage or who are engaged to be married. Sponsored by the Diocese of Manchester, and presented by a Catholic priest and couples who have remarried, this program helps couples take an in-depth look at and discuss major issues related to remarriage, e.g.:
Emotional closure of the first marriage.
Expectations and key issues of the new marriage.
The blending of children and families. 
Continuing relationships among extended family members, community and the Church.
This program is given twice a year on Saturdays, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Date: January 21, 2012
Location: Sullivan Room at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, Bedford
Contact: Heidi Roberge, (603) 669-3100, Ext. 173 or hroberge@rcbm.org 
Download a registration form
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Date: May 19, 2012
Location: St. Pius X Parish Center, Manchester
Contact: Heidi Roberge, (603) 669-3100, Ext. 173 or hroberge@rcbm.org 
Download a registration form

Diocese of Manchester
The Catholic Church in New Hampshire

153 Ash Street, Box 310
Manchester, NH 03105-0310
(603) 669-3100
Fax: (603) 669-0377

© Diocese of Manchester