About Domestic Church

What is the Domestic Church Movement?

Domestic Church is a lay movement for married couples that provides Catholic Christian community and lifelong spiritual formation through small groups and retreats.

The movement was founded in Poland in 1973 by Venerable Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki (pronounced Fron-SHE-shek Block-NEET-skee), with the close guidance and support of his friend and local bishop, Karol Wojtyla (the future Pope St. John Paul II).

Today, there are more than 13,000 couples in Domestic Church in Poland, and nearly 5,000 more Domestic Church couples around the world.

"Domestic Church was truly an answer to prayer for my family! I knew my husband and I, as well as my family as a whole, were not living out in the moment-to-moment and day-to-day of our lives the riches God had for us. We needed support and a tool to get us there; to more fully live in God's will. DC has been that living breathing tool; communicating scripture and the teachings of the church beautifully and in an applicable way. It also formed a space for fellowship and honest communication with others striving for the same. Our family has come so far in just four years, and we are truly grateful for the gift Domestic Church has been and continues to be for us!"

James and Anna Byrd, Diocese of Charlotte

How did Domestic Church begin?

Born out of the larger movement called the Light-Life movement, the Domestic Church was created by Venerable Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki in 1973. The Light-Life movement provided the youth of Communist-occupied Poland with formation and community in their Catholic faith. As young people married and started having children, Fr. Blachnicki saw a need for a family branch of the Light-Life movement that was tailored to the specific needs that arise in marriage and family life.

Fr. Blachnicki combined the formation of the Light-Life movement with the plan of Christian formation (Order of Christian Initiation for Adults, OCIA) document. Its small group format is structured after the Equipes de Notre Dame (Teams of Our Lady), a French movement for married couples. He also incorporated the Light-Life Movement emphasis on retreats into the newly formed marriage and family movement.

Fr. Blachnicki’s beatification process opened in Poland in the 1990s and he became titled Servant of God upon the cause’s commencement. The decisive moment in the process came on September 30, 2015 after Pope Francis confirmed his heroic virtue and titled him as Venerable.

When did Domestic Church come to the United States?

The first English-speaking Domestic Church retreat in the United States was held in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 2011. There were 13 couples on that first retreat, which was facilitated by a priest and a couple from Poland. Since then, Domestic Church has grown to over 500 couples in 15 dioceses in the United States.

There also exists an independent community of Polish-speaking Domestic Church in the Chicago area.

What is the Domestic Church Movement?

Domestic Church is a lay movement for married couples that provides Catholic Christian community and lifelong spiritual formation through small groups and retreats.

Today, there are more than 13,000 couples in Domestic Church in Poland, and nearly 5,000 more Domestic Church couples around the world.

"Domestic Church was truly an answer to prayer for my family! I knew my husband and I, as well as my family as a whole, were not living out in the moment-to-moment and day-to-day of our lives the riches God had for us. We needed support and a tool to get us there; to more fully live in God's will. DC has been that living breathing tool; communicating scripture and the teachings of the church beautifully and in an applicable way. It also formed a space for fellowship and honest communication with others striving for the same. Our family has come so far in just four years, and we are truly grateful for the gift Domestic Church has been and continues to be for us!"

James and Anna Byrd, Diocese of Charlotte

How did Domestic Church begin?

When did Domestic Church come to the United States?

There also exists an independent community of Polish-speaking Domestic Church in the Chicago area.

Grow in your faith—together with your spouse.

The name “Domestic Church” comes from a passage in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that beautifully states,

“in our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary importance as centers of living, radiant faith. For this reason the Second Vatican Council, using an ancient expression, calls the family the ecclesia domestica [the domestic church]”

CCC 1656

Couples find Domestic Church deeply enriches each spouse’s personal faith journey while nurturing the couple’s spiritual life together. Pope St. John Paul II wrote, “so goes the family, so goes the world.”

“[...] believing families are of primary importance as centers of living, radiant faith [...]”

CCC 1656

We have come to appreciate the deep spiritual friendships that the DC monthly meetings have fostered over more than a decade in DC. The joys and sorrows and accountability around the commitments have really helped us grow in our faith as a couple and as a community.

Mark and Leigh Hermann: In DC for 11 years

Domestic Church offers sacramentally married couples the vital support they need to grow in unity, to pass on their faith to their children, and to navigate authentic Catholic living in a world increasingly hostile to faith. The habits of prayer and healthy communication that couples in Domestic Church develop in the life of their marriage are both the goal and the means to the goal.

Domestic Church is not another program for marriages, but rather a movement that accompanies everyday Catholic couples of all ages through the lifetime of their Sacrament. This movement takes its place alongside many others that God has raised up to serve the diverse needs of Catholic marriages and families in our time.

Domestic Church has been such an anchor in our marriage and our family life to ensure that we are always rooted in Christ. DC has also given us a strong community with common values, joyful friendships for us and our children, and steady accountability. It is easy to get distracted with day to day life, but the DC commitments and monthly formation are the nutrients we need to bear much fruit in our family life.

Ryan and Celeste Tortorich

Domestic Church Formation (The Seven Commitments)

Beginning the journey into the Domestic Church movement is a multi-year process of spiritual growth for a couple together. Below is the progression of entering the movement.

Evangelization Retreat

Each couple in Domestic Church starts by attending an Evangelization Retreat, which allows them to experience the Good News in a new and deeper way and provides a real experience of the saving power of Christ as a couple. After the retreat, the couple has an opportunity to join a circle of 3-6 other couples and a priest.

Join a Circle

Each circle meets once a month in the homes of its members to share the joys and sorrows of the journey, pray together, share their progress in spiritual growth according to the seven commitments, and to study the new formation materials for the month.

The Seven Commitments

Domestic Church couples and families strive to practice the Seven Commitments in order to grow in their relationship with God and one another. The commitments are basic principles of spiritual growth in the Catholic tradition specific to the vocation of marriage. Each couple practices the seven commitments in order to grow in their spiritual life according to their particular needs.

Domestic Church Membership

After joining a circle, a couple has ten months to decide if they will commit to continued formation, and another three years before they enter into permanent Domestic Church formation. This process was designed to follow the Church’s vision of Catechesis for Adults.

We were nearing our 21st wedding anniversary and it was do or die. Something needed to change desperately in our marriage. We had grown cold in our prayer life as husband and wife, which was affecting our intimacy on all levels. - spiritually, emotionally, and physically. The enemy had convinced us that as long as we were praying individually and with our kids, we were doing fine. But we weren't doing fine or even OK for that matter. We had tried to attend a DC retreat in March of 2020, but it was canceled due to COVID. We were unable to attend any consecutive retreats due to conflicts in our schedules. Finally, in God's Providence, we were able to attend the April 2025 retreat at St. Anthony's in Marathon City. We had attended many marriage retreats and utilized multiple Catholic/Christian marriage help resources in the past - Retrouvaille, the Alexander House, counseling, spiritual direction, Love and Respect Conference/books, etc. But, the DC retreat was different somehow. It struck to the core of God's call to us in our vocation and the Holy Spirit revealed to us exactly where we needed Him to heal our marriage and where/how we needed to be reconciled to one another. The sincerity and realness of the presenting couples also left an impact on us and ignited the flame of Hope for God's plan in our married life. We are thankful for the DC circle we have recently formed and look forward to how God will continue to strengthen our married love and how through our rediscovered unity in prayer and striving to live the seven commitments, God will bring healing to our marriage and to our family.

Dave and Mandy Alcott

Locations & National Structure

The English-speaking Domestic Church United States currently operates in 14 dioceses across the United States.

National Structure

“I have been a part of the Domestic Church as a Chaplain for the last 4 months. It has given me an incredible opportunity to walk with couples who really want to be with our Lord and are striving to do so in the best way possible. It has been such a privilege to be a chaplain and I would encourage all priests to consider taking part in the Domestic Church"

Fr. Jared Clements, Diocese of La Crosse

Board of Directors

Unique to the Domestic Church serving the English-speaking community in the United States is the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors has been created for two reasons: