Family Life Ministry

Sponsor Couple Program

Our marriage preparation program begins with the engaged couple attending a meeting where they are given the FOCCUS evaluation. (Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding and Study).

This inventory was created to deal with current issues and needs in marriage preparation. It is designed primarily to be a facultative instrument, raising questions and identifying concern areas for couples so that they can think about and discuss them. It is not intended to be a predicative test, although the choice of statements and categories for study were drawn largely from those areas known to counselors and lay leaders as central to success or failure in marriage.

The FOCCUS evaluation has general questions that all couples answer, and then there are special sections such as "interfaith", "second marriages," "cohabitation," that couples have to answer if they are included in that category.

The results are printed out and contain a listing of all the statements on which the couple agree and disagree with each other.

While FOCCUS is not a predictive instrument, it can be interpreted to aid the couple in recognizing patterns and trends in their relationship. The questions on the FOCCUS evaluation are grouped into the following arrangements:

Handouts

If you have any questions, please e-mail me at johnthompson@saintaug.org