Bishop Peter: Marriage Week 2026: together with purpose

By Bishop Peter F. Christensen

Bishop of Boise

Each year, the Church gives us a moment to pause and rejoice in the gift of Christian marriage.

National Marriage Week, celebrated Feb. 7–14, and World Marriage Day, on Sunday, Feb. 8, invite us to renew our gratitude for the vocation of husband and wife and to strengthen the domestic Church — the family home where faith is first lived and loved.

This year, the bishops of the United States offer a theme that speaks with clarity and hope to our time: “Man and Woman, He Created Them: Together with Purpose.”

In a culture that can confuse identity, weaken commitment and reduce love to feelings alone, the Church proclaims with confidence and compassion what Jesus Himself reveals: that marriage is not a private experiment, but a divine gift — an enduring covenant of faithful love, ordered toward communion and fruitfulness, and elevated by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament.

A renewed word for our diocese: Marriage for Life

Here in the Diocese of Boise, Marriage Week is also a providential time to recall a pastoral initiative that continues to bear fruit in our local Church: the Marriage for Life campaign. Launched to strengthen marriage preparation, support married couples, and renew parish attentiveness to the beauty of matrimony, this campaign remains timely and necessary.

I want to highlight this clearly: Marriage for Life is not a program of the past, but a pastoral priority for the present. The needs of couples, families and children have not diminished. If anything, the pressures facing marriage today make our commitment to this mission even more urgent.

Jesus proclaims the truth and beauty of marriage

When Jesus speaks about marriage, He does not offer a burden; He reveals a blessing. He proclaims marriage as part of God’s original design — rooted in creation and fulfilled in grace. In calling husband and wife to a love that is faithful, permanent and life-giving,

Jesus reveals a path that mirrors God’s own covenant of love for His people.

The Church has safeguarded and preached this truth for centuries, not because she is nostalgic, but because she is maternal. She knows what helps human love flourish, and she knows what harms it. Christian marriage is not merely a human contract; it is a sacramental vocation — a path of holiness where spouses become gifts to one another, learning day by day what it means to love as Christ loves: patiently, truthfully, mercifully and steadfastly.

In every era, the world needs witnesses to this kind of love. In our own time, it needs them more than ever.

A word to married couples: Your vocation matters

To every married couple in our diocese: thank you. Thank you for your daily “yes” — spoken in ordinary moments as much as extraordinary ones. Thank you for choosing forgiveness over resentment, dialogue over silence, prayer over isolation and perseverance over quitting. Thank you for building homes where children can learn trust, where faith can be practiced and where joy can be restored after hardship.

If your marriage is in a season of peace, give thanks — and protect that peace with prayer, tenderness and intentional time together. If your marriage is in a season of strain, do not lose heart. The Lord who joined you is not absent from your trials. Seek help early, seek it humbly and seek it with hope. The Church is not here to judge couples who struggle; she is here to accompany, heal and strengthen.

Marriage Week is an invitation to take one concrete step: a conversation you’ve been postponing, a “date night” you haven’t made time for, a return to Sunday Mass together, a simple prayer each evening, a call to a trusted priest or mentor couple or participation in a parish renewal opportunity. Small steps, taken consistently, can open doors to grace.

A word to parishes: Marriage is mission

Marriage is not a “side ministry” of parish life. It is central to the Church’s mission of evangelization. Strong marriages strengthen families; strong families strengthen parishes; and strong parishes strengthen society.

For this reason, I encourage every parish to treat Marriage Week 2026 as more than an announcement on the calendar. Let it be a moment of pastoral focus and renewed attentiveness:

• Proclaim the Gospel of marriage clearly in preaching and catechesis — without embarrassment and without harshness.

• Invest in marriage preparation, recognizing that marriage preparation stands at the very forefront of the Church’s mission of evangelization.

Through thoughtful, prayerful and well-formed preparation, engaged couples encounter not only the Church’s teaching on marriage, but the living Christ who calls them to lifelong discipleship and self-giving love. Authentic marriage preparation is therefore not merely instructional, but missionary — forming couples to live and witness the Gospel within their homes and in the wider community.

• Build a culture of accompaniment for newly married couples, especially during the first five years, when many couples face intense transitions.

• Offer pathways of marriage renewal — retreats, small groups, mentoring, enrichment evenings and opportunities for confession, prayer and Eucharistic Adoration.

• Make sure couples know they are not alone and that help is available when difficulties arise.

Together with purpose: Hope for the future

The theme “Together with Purpose” reminds us that marriage is never merely “together” — it is together for something. Together for holiness. Together for mutual sanctification. Together for the good of children and the building up of the community. Together as a sign to the world that faithful love is possible, because God is faithful.

In that light, I renew my invitation to our diocesan family: let us continue to strengthen Marriage for Life in every parish and across every community in Idaho. Let us support engaged couples with robust preparation. Let us accompany married couples with steady encouragement. Let us provide real opportunities for renewal and healing. And let us proclaim — without fear and with genuine joy — the beauty and truth of marriage taught by Jesus and faithfully handed on by the Catholic Church through the centuries.

May the Holy Family of Nazareth intercede for every husband and wife, father and mother in our diocese. May the Lord bless your homes with peace and joy. And may this Marriage Week be a genuine moment of grace — renewing love, deepening communion and strengthening the Church’s mission, one family at a time.