The Office for Family Life fosters a family perspective in Church and society that promotes ministry to, with, by, and for families in all stages. The Office supports marriage formation and pastoral care to advance the missionary discipleship of the Domestic Church in the Diocese of Orange.
May is National Foster Care Month
Recognized since 1988, National Foster Care Month is celebrated in May to honor foster families who provide safe homes for youth and to raise awareness of the ongoing needs of children in our communities. Join us in promoting and supporting well-being and resources for those in need of stable, loving homes.
For resources about adoption and foster care: rcbo.org/foster
On May 1, 2025, from 5:30 to 8:30 PM
Every Child Deserves a BETA LIFE
Join us for a heartfelt evening dedicated to the heroes who make a difference in the lives of foster children. This special event will feature an engaging panel discussion on the urgent need for A HOME FOR EVERY CHILD and a meaningful opportunity to honor Linda Ji, director of the Office for Family Life at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange and the Beta Foster Care 2025 Child Advocacy Award recipient, for her unwavering commitment to children in need.
Guests will enjoy a warm and inspiring social gathering, bringing together advocates, supporters, and foster care champions to raise awareness and critical funds to ensure that every child can experience a home’s love and stability.
Catholic Marriage is unique among other marital relationships because it is a sacrament that makes Christ present in our world. The relationship between husband and wife mirrors the relationship of Jesus Christ for his people. In the Catholic tradition, the husband and wife accept a role in God’s plan for humanity. They are ambassadors of God’s love, and they collaborate with God to keep humanity alive.
The vows exchanged by the couple are a sacred pact through which the spouses embrace each other, and, together, embrace Jesus as their partner. Through their union with Christ, they participate in the unbreakable pact between God and humanity: the covenant that was sealed in the death and resurrection of Christ.
Catechumenal Pathways for Married Life
Marriage is a sign for us that we humans were created by and for love. Recognizing the challenges that couples face in realizing this truth in our own relationships and families, the Holy Father Pope Francis called for a renewal of marriage preparation in his apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.
“The complexity of today’s society and the challenges faced by the family require a greater effort on the part of the whole Christian community in preparing those who are about to be married. …the Synod Fathers agreed on the need to involve the entire community more extensively by stressing the witness of families themselves and by grounding marriage preparation in the process of Christian initiation by bringing out the connection between marriage, baptism, and the other sacraments.” (Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia n. 206)
St. John Paul II already described in Familiaris Consortio that formation for marriage is in fact a gradual, lifelong process, starting at birth in one’s own family of origin. Pope Francis develops this further in Amoris Laetitia, indicating that marriage preparation needs to imitate the catechumenate, having as its goal the formation of missionary disciples of Jesus Christ who will build their domestic churches for the glory of God. This entails not a mere program but a process to which we are inviting couples and our local Church to journey together. Accompaniment is an especially important aspect of this process, as couples are being formed to live authentic relationships and love, which requires not only knowledge and understanding but living witness of love before them.
“Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.”
-Saint John Paul II
Like formation for Holy Orders, formation for the vocation of marriage is formation for ministry, which requires human, spiritual, intellectual, and missionary formation that continues over a lifetime. The Vatican Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life has presented the Church with a framework for such a preparation for marriage in Catechumenal Pathways for Married Life. The local churches have been directed to pastorally implement this process in the complex realities of our current life. Join us in realizing this vision, with the companionship of other dioceses in the United States and the world and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Hope and Healing After Abortion
The Church understands and cares
Hope and Healing After Abortion is a sensitive, private, confidential experience of accompaniment. Our volunteers aim to provide a caring, compassionate, and non-judgmental presence for anyone who is suffering from the affects of abortion and who is seeking reconciliation with God and their faith community.
Our annual one-day retreat for women impacted by abortion are coming up this winter/spring.
English retreat on Feb. 1, 2025 in Orange, CA: https://forms.office.com/r/wpyMdNNVyD
Spanish retreat on March 15, 2025 in Sierra Madre, CA: https://forms.office.com/r/egReCD8t5Y
Support Changes Everything
Pregnant? Need Help?
Local help is available: pregnancy clinics and centers, shelters and food distribution, mental health support, and resources for maternal and perinatal health.
Getting married?
Marriage formation for engaged couples
The sacrament of marriage is not a social convention, an empty ritual or merely the outward sign of a commitment. The sacrament is a gift given for the sanctification and salvation of the spouses, since “their mutual belonging is a real representation, through the sacramental sign, of the same relationship between Christ and the Church. The married couple are therefore a permanent reminder for the Church of what took place on the cross; they are for one another and for their children witnesses of the salvation in which they share through the sacrament.”
Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia n. 72
Marriage
& Family
Formation
Pastoral
Care
