Announcement title

Announcement CTA
Retreats

Home

Stir up God’s graces in your marriage

Experience the power of intentional marriage formation within a Catholic small-group community.

About Domestic Church
Join the Movement

Have you been looking for a way to grow with your spouse that goes beyond marriage prep?

You desire to grow in faith with your spouse, put in the hard work to improve your marriage, and form deep relationships with other married couples in your faith community.

You’re looking for the tools, friendships, and resources to live your vocation with your spouse, together as a couple.

Domestic Church can help you find these things and so much more.

God wants a healthy, holy, grace-filled marriage for you and your spouse.

Enjoy community with other married couples in a small group setting

Experience a nourished faith with annual retreat opportunities for your whole family

Develop the tools you need to communicate better, pray together, and grow in your spiritual life together with your spouse

Experience deeper unity and greater peace in your marriage.

We understand the desire for a stronger, more peaceful marriage, built on God’s grace and the Church’s teaching. We’re married couples seeking to grow together with our priest-led Circles of couples.

The Domestic Church Movement serves more than 500 couples around the United States!

Now in 16 dioceses and growing!

  • Diocese of Bridgeport 
  • Diocese of Lafayette 
  • Diocese of Shreveport 
  • Archdiocese of New Orleans 
  • Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux 
  • Diocese of Alexandria 
  • Diocese of Lake Charles 
  • Diocese of Baton Rouge 
  • Diocese of La Crosse 
  • Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph 
  • Archdiocese of Oklahoma City 
  • Diocese of Savannah Diocese of Charlotte
  • Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas
  • Diocese of Richmond 

Now in 16 dioceses and growing!

  • Diocese of Bridgeport 
  • Diocese of Lafayette 
  • Diocese of Shreveport 
  • Archdiocese of New Orleans 
  • Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux 
  • Diocese of Alexandria 
  • Diocese of Lake Charles 
  • Diocese of Baton Rouge 
  • Diocese of La Crosse 
  • Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph 
  • Archdiocese of Oklahoma City 
  • Diocese of Savannah
  • Diocese of Charlotte
  • Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas
  • Diocese of Richmond

What members of the Movement are saying…

“My husband and I just participated in our Evangelization Retreat in July. And our Circle only began meeting in September, so we are definite newbies to Domestic Church. Still, in the short time we’ve been involved, the Lord has done good things."
The AlvordsDiocese of Charlotte
The Alvords
"I have been a chaplain for several Domestic Church Circles for almost four years, and it has truly enriched my priesthood. Being invited into the marriages of Circle couples has shown me the way the Holy Spirit is working in their lives and drawing them to greater conversion."
Fr. Daniel WilliamsDiocese of La Crosse, WI
Fr. Daniel Williams
"Domestic Church has helped our prayer life by holding us accountable to spending time with the Lord each day, especially as a couple. Before joining DC, we had tried couple prayer on other occasions, but it never stuck until our time in DC."
The WillenborgsDiocese of Baton Rouge, LA
The Willenborgs
"Domestic Church has been a rich blessing to my priesthood. Being able to accompany the couple through life and all of its ups and downs has enriched the paternal nature of my vocation and has given me great insight into the things that parishioners face regularly. In an age when changing parishes is often the norm as a priest, my circle has been a constant that I deeply appreciate. I would highly recommend any priest to consider well an invitation to join a circle or bring Domestic Church to his parish.”
Fr. Brent MaherDC National Chaplain
Fr. Brent Maher
“My husband and I just participated in our Evangelization Retreat in July. And our Circle only began meeting in September, so we are definite newbies to Domestic Church. Still, in the short time we’ve been involved, the Lord has done good things."
The Alvords
The AlvordsDiocese of Charlotte
"I have been a chaplain for several Domestic Church Circles for almost four years, and it has truly enriched my priesthood. Being invited into the marriages of Circle couples has shown me the way the Holy Spirit is working in their lives and drawing them to greater conversion."
Fr. Daniel Williams
Fr. Daniel WilliamsDiocese of La Crosse, WI
"Domestic Church has helped our prayer life by holding us accountable to spending time with the Lord each day, especially as a couple. Before joining DC, we had tried couple prayer on other occasions, but it never stuck until our time in DC."
The Willenborgs
The WillenborgsDiocese of Baton Rouge, LA
"Domestic Church has been a rich blessing to my priesthood. Being able to accompany the couple through life and all of its ups and downs has enriched the paternal nature of my vocation and has given me great insight into the things that parishioners face regularly. In an age when changing parishes is often the norm as a priest, my circle has been a constant that I deeply appreciate. I would highly recommend any priest to consider well an invitation to join a circle or bring Domestic Church to his parish.”
Fr. Brent Maher
Fr. Brent MaherDC National Chaplain

Domestic Church at a glance

500+

English-speaking couples in the U.S.

13

years in the United States (in English)

1973

Domestic Church founded by Ven. Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki in Poland

23,000

couples in Domestic Church around the world, in many languages

How do I join the Movement?

Attend an Evangelization Retreat

This is the first step to enter the Domestic Church Movement. Together with your spouse, you’ll have the opportunity to encounter Christ and experience community in a new way. It’s a wonderful retreat all on its own, with no pressure to join Domestic Church afterward.

Enter into short-term formation with a local Domestic Church group of 4-7 couples and a priest, called a Circle

After you attend an Evangelization Retreat, you can choose to join a local Circle for ten months of formation before you and your spouse discern whether God is calling you to stay with your Circle of long-term formation.

Enter into long-term formation

Once you enter into long-term formation, you and your spouse meet with your Circle for three years before you make a decision to enter into permanent formation along with your Circle. This process is designed to follow the Church’s vision of Catechesis for Adults.

Experience Domestic Church

Journey with other couples who are walking the marriage road with you

From newlyweds to grandparents, the Movement offers couples of all ages the opportunity to share the joys and struggles of Catholic marriage and family life in a faithful, supportive community.

Deepen your faith together with your spouse and family

While your individual faith is a huge part of your relationship with your spouse, you’ll get to grow in faith as a couple and as a family when you join a Domestic Church Circle.

Be blessed by the gift of a priest’s friendship and insight over your marriage

Every circle includes a priest who offers spiritual insight, pastoral care, friendship, and support while sharing in the lives of the married couples.

Simple. Powerful. Authentically Catholic.

God has placed in your heart a desire for a holy, healthy, joyful marriage, but that kind of marriage can sometimes feel out-of-reach. As Catholics, we believe that marriage requires effective communication, a shared prayer life, the support of a faith-filled community, and closeness to the Sacraments.

Domestic Church provides simple, powerful, and authentically Catholic tools to support couples. They are a way to invite the Holy Spirit to be a part of your marriage regularly and intentionally. Register for an Evangelization Retreat to begin growing in your faith together as a couple in a new and beautiful way through the Domestic Church Movement.

About Domestic Church
Join the Movement
Contact Us
Links
Designed & Powered by On Fire Media
Retreats

The Seven Commitments

1

Daily individual prayer

Each spouse finds a daily quiet space to fully enter God’s presence. This calls for each person to develop a personal time and space with God.

2

Daily study of Scripture

In a quiet, separate space, the individual takes advantage of the gift of the living Word of God. There are no particular verses to read and reflect on, just the challenge to dive into Scripture each day and encounter God there.

3

Daily couple prayer

The couple takes time each day to pray together aloud and usually in their own words. There is no length of time or other regulation set on this prayer. The focus is two-fold: to allow your spouse to witness your conversation with God and to offer shared prayers to God as a couple.

4

Daily family prayer

Couples make time each day to lead their family in prayer, if the couple has children in the home. Each family will discover and grow in their own way of praying together in a way that is fruitful for the different stages in their particular family’s life (small children, older children, adult children, etc).

5

Monthly couple dialogue

The monthly couple dialogue is an intentional, prayerful, and structured conversation done under the watchful gaze of God for an extended period of time. The couple thoughtfully considers the spiritual, practical and personal needs of each spouse, of the marriage, of children, and of the family as a whole.

6

Rule of life

Particularly in connection with their monthly dialogues, each couple decides upon specific changes or policies they will put in place in their individual lives, their marriage, and their household that reflect God’s will for them and their efforts to grow in holiness according to His promptings. Some rules of life always remain the same, but others will change and grow with the couple’s discernment and the family’s needs over time.

7

Yearly Domestic Church retreat

Each couple commits to attending a Domestic Church retreat at least once per year. Retreats can be for just the couple or for the entire family. These can be longer retreats or weekend retreats. To learn about the available retreats click here.

The beauty of these commitments is that the movement provides formation, using the Church’s spiritual traditions and official teachings, for how to pray, how to use Scripture in prayer, and how to grow in a real relationship with God, our spouses, and our children in light of our Baptism.