Why couples look for a Pre Cana retreat online
Pastoral guidanceMany parishes ask engaged couples to attend a retreat as part of Pre Cana, usually a Catholic Engaged Encounter weekend or a one day diocesan program. For a lot of couples that is the hardest piece of marriage preparation to schedule. Weekends fill up months ahead, the nearest retreat house can be a long drive away, and the dates rarely line up with two work calendars.
The couples who search for an online version are usually in one of a few situations. One of you is deployed, travels for work or lives in another state until the wedding. One of you works weekends as a nurse, a first responder or in retail. The only open weekend lands after your wedding date. Or the retreat fee, travel and a hotel add a few hundred dollars to a budget that is already stretched. None of these couples want to skip preparation. They want a way to do it that fits the life they actually have.
What a diocesan Pre Cana retreat weekend costs
There is no national price. Each diocese or retreat center sets its own fee, and most include meals and materials. These are 2026 Catholic Engaged Encounter fees per couple published by the dioceses themselves. Several of them offer help when the fee is a hardship, so ask before you rule a weekend out.
| Diocese | Fee per couple | What the fee covers |
|---|---|---|
| Diocese of Gallup, New Mexico | $85, or $50 for commuters | Lodging, materials and meals |
| Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky | $175 | A two day weekend with meals |
| Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey | $250 | Meals and meeting materials |
| Diocese of Salina, Kansas (Victoria) | $300 | All meals and expenses for the weekend |
| Diocese of St. Augustine, Florida | $325 | Paid at registration |
Online Pre Cana options dioceses already allow
Pastoral guidanceOnline preparation is not a loophole. Some dioceses run their own. The Diocese of Rochester, New York offers an online Pre Cana made of four videos, each followed by reflection questions, and then a conversation with the priest or deacon who is preparing the couple. It is meant for couples separated by distance or kept from an in person session for another pastoral reason, and the diocese still treats the in person session as its preferred option. The Diocese of Cleveland lists online options too and says they should be approved by the preparing minister.
That last point applies everywhere. Whatever you choose, including our program, the priest or deacon preparing you decides what counts toward your marriage preparation. Ask early, show him what the program covers, and you will rarely have a problem.
So that the "I do" of the spouses may be a free and responsible act and so that the marriage covenant may have solid and lasting human and Christian foundations, preparation for marriage is of prime importance. The example and teaching given by parents and families remain the special form of this preparation.
Pre Cana retreat online compared with a weekend
A weekend has real strengths, and if one fits your calendar and your parish requires it, go. The comparison below is for couples deciding whether an at home retreat is the better fit for them.
| Couples Program, Engaged | Engaged Encounter weekend | Diocesan online video course | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $49 a month, or $288 a year for both of you | About $85 to $325 per couple in 2026 | Set by the diocese |
| Time needed | One weekend or eight weeks, your choice | A fixed Friday to Sunday or two days | A few hours of video |
| Travel | None | To the retreat house | None |
| Private time as a couple | Every lesson ends with a shared exercise | Built in, with group talks | Reflection questions |
| Intimacy and NFP depth | Two lessons on sex in marriage, one on NFP, plus a therapist | Usually one talk each | Usually brief |
| Community | No, it is just the two of you | Yes, other engaged couples and presenting couples | No |
| Record of completion | Certificate listing every module | Certificate from the weekend | Diocesan record |
| Parish acceptance | Needs your priest to approve it | Accepted where the diocese offers it | Accepted in that diocese |
How to turn the Engaged program into a weekend retreat at home
Pastoral guidanceSome couples like the slow version, one lesson a week for two months. Others want the feel of a retreat: a weekend set apart, phones away, real conversation. The Engaged program works either way. Here is the weekend plan couples use most often.
- Friday evening. Dinner at home, then lessons one and two on the body and on your vows. Finish with the first set of conversation cards and a short prayer together.
- Saturday morning. Lessons three and four on chastity in engagement and on your families of origin. This is where most couples have the conversation they have been postponing, so leave time for it.
- Saturday afternoon. Lesson five on natural family planning, then a walk. Write down the questions you want to ask in your consultation.
- Saturday evening. Lessons six and seven on the wedding night and on talking about sex once you are married. They are modest and clear, written by Catholic clinicians.
- Sunday. Mass together, then lesson eight and your first year plan. Book your private consultation for the weeks before the wedding.
Doing it this way gives you most of what a retreat offers, quiet time and honest talk, without the travel. What it cannot give you is the room full of other couples, and that is a fair reason some people still choose the weekend.
The actions within marriage by which the couple are united intimately and chastely are noble and worthy ones. Expressed in a manner which is truly human, these actions promote that mutual self-giving by which spouses enrich each other with a joyful and a ready will.
What the Engaged program covers
Pastoral guidanceEngaged is one of five guided programs in the Couples Program. Each lesson has a short reading drawn from Church documents, a video, an exercise you do together and conversation cards. It covers why the Church cares about the body, what your vows promise, how to live chastity in the last months of engagement, families of origin and past wounds, the basics of NFP and how to choose a method, what to expect on the Catholic wedding night, how to talk about sex once you are married, and a plan for your first year.
Every three months you book a private 30 minute video consultation with a Catholic sex therapist, a Catholic therapist or an NFP instructor. The plan also includes Ask with Sources, 300 questions a month answered from the Catechism with paragraph numbers, in a thread you share as a couple. When you finish, a completion certificate lists every module you completed, so your priest can see exactly what you did.
Couples Program
For a couple who wants guided programs and a counselor. Two logins, one plan.
$24 /month
Billed $288 yearly, or $49 billed monthly
Choose the Couples Program- Five guided 8 week programs, including Engaged
- Completion certificate listing every module
- One private 30 minute video consultation every 3 months
- Catholic therapist, sex therapist or NFP instructor
- Ask with Sources, 300 questions a month
- Full library, courses and monthly live Q&A
Will my parish accept a Pre Cana retreat online
Pastoral guidanceAsk your priest or deacon before you start, not after. Most parishes run marriage preparation in parts: meetings with the priest, a premarital inventory such as FOCCUS, an NFP class and some form of retreat or course. An at home retreat usually replaces only the retreat or course part, and the parish meetings stay. Bring the list of modules from this page to that conversation, and the certificate when you finish.
If you want the full picture of what a parish asks for, read our guide to Catholic marriage preparation. If you would rather follow a weekly schedule than a weekend, see Pre Cana classes online. If one of you is not Catholic, Pre Cana for a non Catholic partner explains what changes. After the wedding, the same plan keeps working, with the Catholic intimacy library and the Rekindle program for later years. Choose the Couples Program on the pricing page and set your retreat weekend.
Sources
Every source below is linked to the full text on vatican.va or usccb.org. Quotations are short and given word for word.
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CCC 1601 Doctrine
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1601 (The Sacrament of Matrimony)
Marriage is a covenant in which a man and a woman form a partnership of the whole of life. By its nature it is ordered to the good of the spouses and to having and raising children, and between baptized persons Christ raised it to a sacrament.
Read the source -
CCC 1632 Doctrine
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1632 (The Sacrament of Matrimony)
So that the spouses' yes may be free and responsible and the marriage rest on solid foundations, preparation for marriage is of prime importance, with the example and teaching of parents and families and the help of the Church community.
Read the source -
CCC 1640 Doctrine
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1640 (The Sacrament of Matrimony)
The bond of a marriage concluded and consummated between baptized persons is established by God himself and can never be dissolved. The Church has no power to contravene this disposition of divine wisdom.
Read the source -
CCC 2337 Doctrine
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2337 (The Sixth Commandment)
Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person, so that body and spirit are united. Sexuality becomes truly human when it is integrated into a relationship of one person to another in the complete, lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman.
Read the source -
CCC 2350 Doctrine
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2350 (The Sixth Commandment)
Engaged couples are called to live chastity in continence. This time of testing is a discovery of mutual respect and an apprenticeship in fidelity; they should reserve for marriage the expressions of affection that belong to married love and help each other grow in chastity.
Read the source -
CCC 2362 Doctrine
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2362 (The Sixth Commandment)
The acts by which spouses are intimately and chastely united are noble and honorable, and fully human sexual union enriches the spouses in joy and gratitude. Sexuality is a source of joy and pleasure: spouses do nothing evil in seeking this pleasure and enjoyment, while keeping within the limits of just moderation.
Read the source -
CCC 2370 Doctrine
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2370 (The Sixth Commandment)
Periodic continence, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, conforms to the objective criteria of morality: these methods respect the spouses' bodies, encourage tenderness and foster freedom. By contrast, every action intended to render procreation impossible, before, during or after intercourse, is intrinsically evil.
Read the source -
GS 49 Magisterium
Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes 49 (1965)
Conjugal love involves the good of the whole person and enriches body and mind. It is uniquely expressed through the marital act: the acts in marriage by which the couple are intimately and chastely united are noble and worthy, and expressed in a truly human way they signify and promote mutual self-giving.
Read the source -
AL 150 Magisterium
Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia 150 (2016)
God himself created sexuality, a marvellous gift to his creatures. Sexual desire is not something to be looked down upon, and there can be no attempt to call its necessity into question; the Church does not merely tolerate sexuality as necessary for procreation.
Read the source -
FC 32 Magisterium
Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio 32 (1981)
Contraception contradicts the native language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife with an objectively contradictory language of not giving oneself totally. Respecting the cycle with periodic continence involves a different understanding of the person and of sexuality.
Read the source