Marriage| Better Together Mentors

Congratulations! You have been selected to serve as mentors of the engaged because you are a strong and positive role model for others. Everything you'll need to serve as mentors is included on this page.
Please read all instructions carefully before beginning the program (scroll to the bottom of this page and click on the image for Session 1 to begin).

If you’ve been married in the Catholic Church for at least two years, practice your faith regularly and  invite God into your marriage daily, you are qualified to serve as mentors of the engaged.

During this unique time of Covid-19, your primary role as mentors will be to work with your engaged couple through an adapted version of the Better Together Program from Dynamic Catholic. In lieu of the traditional Pre-Cana model, this online, self-paced program enables couples to fulfill their requirement for marriage instruction in the safety of their homes.  Furthermore, this Better Together program is uniquely suited for mentoring because it serves as both marriage preparation and marriage enrichment. 

Here are your specific instructions to serve as mentors:

• The Better Together self-paced program is designed to be completed by engaged couples and their mentors at approximately the same time. The engaged couple determines the pace of the program based on the proximity to their wedding date. A timeframe for completion of the program is then determined by all parties.

• The program is video-based and is comprised of the first five sessions of the Better Together program.  Each session consists of 60 minutes of content. Sessions are completed one at a time. Total time to complete the program as a couple is approximately 5 hours.

• Beginning with Session 1 and moving gradually through each of the five sessions, the program is designed in such a way that participants watch certain short, impactful videos in each topic area (each session), record their observations and thoughts for each video, discuss the video content together, and complete certain couple exercises based on the topic area. 

• As mentors you'll notice that the questions and exercises on the couple worksheets you'll be completing are geared to engaged couples. You'll be recording your observations and completing the same exercises as your engaged couple but from the perpective of an experienced married couple and in your role as mentors. Unlike the engaged couples who are each required to record their responses separately, you can record your responses on one form as a couple.

• As each form for each session (below) is submitted, all responses for both the mentors and engaged couples are recorded and will be emailed to you as the mentor couple. These responses will serve as the framework for your discussions with your engaged couple along with your downloadable copy of the Better Together workbook for mentor couples (click here to download).

• Your primary task as mentors is to meet with your engaged couple to discuss the content of the five Better Together sessions. You should plan to meet with your engaged couple two to three times during the course of the five-session program or after you’ve all completed the program, keep your discussion sessions to 60-90 minutes and cover no more than two topics per discussion session (two of the five total Better Together sessions). Plan to meet virtually or outdoors using social distancing protocols.

• As part of the overall marriage prep process in the Diocese of Trenton, your engaged couple will be asked to complete all 12 sessions of the Better Together program over the course of several months. While only the first 5 sessions are needed to fulflll the Pre-Cana requirement, we encourage you to keep the mentoring relationship going by working through all 12 sessions with your couple. Even better - extend your relationship with them into their early years of marriage. Your continued presence in their lives will be an invaluable resource as they face the joys and struggles of marriage.

For additional tools and guidance for mentoring, click here. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Peg Hensler, Associate Director for Marriage Ministries, 609-403-7156; phensler@dioceseoftrenton.org.