Oikos

Oikos - A Parish Based Marriage Enrichment Program

Oikos as a Catalyst is dedicated to bringing couples together for a communal effort to know what marriage and family are intended by God and realize that divine vision in their lives so that the ‘domestic churches’ will flourish in the parish community.

Oikos seeks to offer solutions for today's problem

• Our faith journey is not a solitary one.
• When we receive communion, we are pulled into the Body of Christ. To mature in this reality, we need to be connected to one another in a life-giving way.

There are various modern-day myths about marriage.  Here are a couple of them:

Good marriages happen naturally. This thinking says that  a happy, successful marriage should come naturally and what we learned about  marriage from watching our parents and other couples should be enough. If couples need help to build a strong relationship, it signals that they must be abnormal or deficient in some way. But the truth is the opposite. Few people get enough information about how to build a strong and enduring marriage through absorption alone; and most need additional information and education to build a strong marriage.

Here’s another: Marriage is a private matter. According to this view, the marriage relationship is too private to share with others. Some feel it isn't proper to share their marital issues with anyone outside the marriage or to participate in an educational setting which might be interpreted as their needing help. Unfortunately, this attitude will deprive couples of the many resources available to improve marital happiness.

We are witnessing today  what Blessed John Paul II  pointed out in Familiaris Consortio: the family is the object of numerous forces that seek to destroy it or in some way to deform it.  As that is our cultural and social context,   the intentional effort of building up and strengthening one another will be a key ingredient in building strong marriages and healthy families.   We  need each other to be victorious in our spiritual battle.

Why Oikos? ...a pointer for a domestic church

Oikos is an ancient Greek word which means a house or household. In the time of the Old Testament Oikos referred to all persons in the family including children. This word points us to the Domestic Church.

The Domestic Church

Oikos is a key to understanding the domestic church. The Early Church understood the family as the domestic church; the life of the Early Church happened in house churches. It was by the Second Vatican Council, as the understanding of the family was renewed and deepened, the family was given a dignified place as the domestic church.

Cultivating the marital love

Our passion is seeing couples “come alive” as their love for life and each other is rekindled. Then the family will flourish as a community of faith, hope and charity.

Dedicating time together for ongoing growth and understanding one another and praying together, good communication and having fun: these are all great tools to keep marriages alive and vital. We are always planning new and exciting ways for you to connect with your spouse. From evening sessions, a day retreat and monthly small group meetings to a 4-week parenting series, we understand that sometimes you need to break from the routine and experience a renewed vision for your marriage and family. 

We hope that you will join us at Oikos.