“To Know Love and Serve” explores key topics and approaches drawn from the established body of marriage enrichment literature in the fields of psychology and counselling.  Often faith-based marriage enrichment books will simply replay the main findings in this field and claim their Christian relevance through some scriptural proof-texting. “To Know, Love and Serve” transforms the treatment of these topics by making scripture and church teaching the key to unlocking their deeper significance for the marital journey. By leading with scripture, couples are invited to encounter Christ’s unique way of listening, communicating or dealing with conflict before reflecting on insights from psychology.  “To Know, Love and Serve” also pushes beyond the standard treatments of topics in marriage enrichment to address the core dimensions of faith in the marital journey including spirituality, openness to life, new paths to intimacy, the faithful handling of finances, and our shared destinies in Christ. The title, ‘to know, love and serve,’ is normally understood to refer to our relationship to God.  In this book couples are invited to begin to experience the deeper interconnections between our spiritual and nuptial call.

- Dr. Daniel Cere, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Religious Studies, McGill University

This Marriage Enrichment book touches on ten important domains in married life while emphasizing the importance of faith in the life of a couple. The book is based on sound scriptural and psychological information. Couples using the book will find the structure of the program helpful in reflecting individually and conjointly on their faith life. Each chapter contains beneficial educational material for healthy marriages and practical exercises couples will find useful in strengthening their marriage. Many of the resources listed in the course are ones that I use with couples in my own clinical practice.  May this book be a source of hope, courage and strength for couples who use it. 

– Timothy Shininger, LCSW, LMFT, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, Clinic Director/Owner, Comprehensive Counseling Services, LLC

You and your spouse are about to be richly blessed by this marital book! Jean and Melissa have prayerfully developed a unique program that brings together the spiritual tools and the truths of the Catholic faith with effective and practical marriage counseling tools. Drawing from years of clinical training and experience, they focus each chapter on potential problem areas experienced by most marriages. The book is framed in a helpful and easy to follow steps including prayers, scriptures, reflections, discussion questions, couple activities and recommendations for further study. I highly recommend this book for marriage preparation, marriage strengthening and for marriage repair and fervently pray that parishes and dioceses will adopt the program for their marital enrichment programs. God bless you!

– Ian Butler, MA, MTS, Executive Director of Holy Family Counseling Services Inc.

We loved reading “To Know, Love and Serve” every Sunday evening. The 10-week program was easy to fit into our lives, provided us with special time alone together, allowed for some important dialogue, and pushed us a bit further as a married couple. We really liked that there are numerous activities to choose from each week as we can do the book again in another year or two and it can be a different experience. The resources listed at the end of each chapter were excellent, some we had read and some we look forward to reading. The time commitment was perfect, not too long but enough that we actually felt connected and were able to pray, read and discuss the topics. We would definitely recommend the book to our friends! Great job Melissa and Jean!

– Pam and Eric Davey Edmonton, Alberta

This marriage enrichment book will help you strengthen your relationship with Christ, through your spouse. Anchored in Scripture and Church teaching, this program provides a holistic understanding of the person and marriage. The practical questions and resources provided dig into the standard topics but opens dialogue with a new perspective. The easy layout and flow of the program, backed by the years of counselling experience, makes this an ideal program for Catholic couples. 

– Diane Rouleau, M.T.S., Former Associate Director, Office of Family & Life for the Edmonton Archdiocese