We Survived Pre Cana!

Ryan and I are getting married in a Catholic Church and in order to do so, we needed to go through the Pre-Cana process. It seems like every Priest/Parish does this process different, so the way we did it doesn't mean it would be the same for someone else. 

 

For the record, we were both sort of nervous going into it. We have lived together for the last 4 years so we were not sure how the Priest would be about that... but comes to find out our priest is very modern and was completely ok with us "living in sin" (as my grammy would say). He was very down to earth and super with the times which was really nice!

Our Pre-Cana went as follows: 

1) Meeting one: We met with the priest, made verbal statements that we were not getting forced into the marriage and then had to fill out a 250-question questionnaire. It covered everything from lifestyle, finances, morals, values, sex and parenting! The questionnaire was comprised of one line questions where the answers were either agree, disagree or unsure. Ryan and I had to do the questionnaires separately and in separate rooms. Our priest send them somewhere and we scheduled a follow-up visit for 6 weeks later.

2) Homework: We got a book called Together for Life which had the order of mass and all of the different options for prayers, readings, etc. Ryan and I went through the entire book in two different sessions (it's over 100 pages so took a while to get through). We both didn't realize how personalized we were able to make mass so it was really special going through it and picking everything out together.

 

3) Meeting two: We met with the priest and went through our questionnaires together! Ryan and I had been talking about what we had answered for different questions since the first meeting so when the priest told us that we matched up 100% on most of the categories it was a nice to hear! And the ones we didn't match up totally made sense! It was like a mini pre-wedding therapy session.

One thing we ended up talking about in length (which isn't related to the questionnaire but was interesting) was the fact that Ryan is the youngest child and I am the oldest child in our respective families. I also have divorced parents and Ryan does not. We talked about how these differences shape our personalities and how in the end these major upbringing differences will help us in the long term! 

And that was it! Next time we meet with the priest will be at our rehearsal!! Crazy!! 

We both had a really good Pre-Cana experience!