The Faithful House post marriage retreat programme of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra is five years old since its inception in 2012.

The 5th anniversary of the programme which has made important contribution to improving marriage and family life and to reducing the post wedding challenges of the family life was launched on May 7, at the Mary Mother of Good Counsel Catholic Church, Airport West in Accra.

Speaking at the launch, director of the department of marriage and family life of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, Very Rev. Fr. Daniel Tettedji said the marriage life and the priesthood are very essential in the church because they are both place under the sacrament of service and are on the same level. He however bemoaned the situation where less attention is given to the married life compared to the priesthood and religious life.

“To become a Catholic priest, one needs at least 9 years of formation but to enter the institution of marriage, the Church gives us 6 months of preparation. Even that, people still contend. For us in the priesthood, we go through retreats every year to manage the stress of life. Our activities as priests are more spiritual yet we go through retreats as an obligation. So if you are married and you do not attend any form of retreat be it a post wedding counseling or any other form, then there is a problem” He said

For his part, the coordinator of The Faithful House, Ghana Mr. Sydney Justin Tehoda said the Faithful house programme has recorded over 300 couples since it began and has helped reduce tremendously the stress in marriage life. He encouraged couples to partake in the programme at least every year. He said the programme uses faithfulness, true love and human dignity among others as tools to help couples understand the concept of marriage better and to rely on each other.

The Faithful House is a post marriage retreat program designed by Maternal Life International in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services and adopted by the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra. TFH uses a house as a model to metaphorically promote principles of good Christian marriage and family life.

Through TFH programme, couples and families come to appreciate True Love and are empowered with spiritual, moral, social and material skills for the realization of strong, authentic and vibrant marriage and family life which is God’s purpose for the vocation.

TFH uses practical hands-on approach: simulation, discussions, role plays, demonstrations and spousal engagements (couple time) to facilitate models to participants for deeper understanding.