Catholic Marriage: Books

Carol Leubering had been married more than 50 years when she wrote this little book. Her own marital journey informs its pages, as do the journeys of other couples whose stories she shares.

The book gets right down to the basics, from planning the wedding music to hiring a photographer, from the size of monetary gift the priest or church ought to receive to how to arrange and conduct a receiving line after the wedding. The authors’ writing style is light and at times humorous. But they take care to invite couples planning the details of a wedding to bear in mind the real meaning of the marriage they will enter.

Contents:
Part I: The four seasons of marriage -- The nature of marriage -- Winter -- Spring -- Summer -- Fall -- Marital seasons profile -- Part II: Seven strategies to enhance the seasons of your marriage -- Strategy 1: Deal with past failures -- Strategy 2: Choose a winning attitude -- Strategy 3: Learn to speak your spouse’s love language -- Strategy 4: Develop the awesome power of empathetic listening -- Strategy 5: Discover the joy of helping your spouse succeed -- Strategy 6: Maximize your differences -- Strategy 7: Implement the power of positive influence -- Part III: Putting your plan into practice -- Moving forward from here and now -- Seasons Q&A.

Presents an easy-to-grasp framework to help couples understand their marriage and seven practical strategies for strengthening or improving their marriage relationship. A valuable resource for couples regardless of how long they've been married, this biblically based book is a reference tool to help couples through every season of marriage.

The Love Dare, as featured in the popular new movie Fireproof (from the makers of Facing the Giants), is a 40-day challenge for husbands and wives to understand and practice unconditional love. Whether your marriage is hanging by a thread or healthy and strong, The Love Dare is a journey you need to take. It’s time to learn the keys to finding true intimacy and developing a dynamic marriage. Take the dare!

Contents:
A fine romance: putting it together for a lifetime -- Deciding to marry: finding the love of your life -- Fidelity: being true to each other -- Forbearance: dealing with differences -- Finance: budgeting for bliss -- Comfort and care: providing for your mutual health and well-being -- Loving and cherishing: there are many parties to a good marriage -- Children: surviving the blessings of offspring -- Intimacy: being one flesh and one spirit -- Divorce: surviving separation, finding love again -- Permanence: maintaining marriage in changing times -- Compatibility: will our marriage last? A self-test for couples.

The Marriage Benefit reveals how staying together in midlife--when it often seems easier to leave--offers big payoffs in mental and physical health and well-being.


Contents:
Embrace a longer-lasting vision of love -- Celebrate your differences -- Have real sex -- Find liberation through commitment -- Believe in something more important than yourselves -- Give up your habits and addictions -- Forgive and give thanks -- Play.

In a series of intimate interviews, Scarf delves into the lives of couples married for more than two decades and discerns encouraging new insights about marriage. Seen through the eyes of these baby boomers as they move into this new phase of life, we hear in the couples own words how they survived the bumps together and learned to balance their needs with those of their partners. Scarf reveals that, in many ways, men and women in long-term marriages are far happier and more fulfilled in their relationships today than when they were younger.

Contents:

ch. 1. Take back your marriage -- ch. 2. Resisting consumer marriage -- ch. 3. Don’t lose your marriage to your kids -- ch. 4. Take back time for your marriage -- ch. 5. Resist family and friends who would undermine your marriage -- ch. 6. Resist therapist who threaten your marriage -- ch. 7. Preventing unnecessary divorce -- ch. 8. Intentional marriage : connection rituals in everyday life -- ch. 9. Intentional marriage : love rituals -- 10. Intentional marriage : anniversaries and other special occasions -- ch. 11. Every marriage supported by a community -- ch. 12. Taking action for your marriage.

Contents:
Growth and stagnation -- Longing, loneliness, and love -- Solitude and community -- Mystery and relationships -- Children and family -- Friends and guides -- The journey ahead -- Journal reflections and prayer starters.