National Marriage Week: Upholding Marriage as the Foundation of the Domestic Church

This week, the week of 7-14 February, is being observed as National Marriage Week in the United States. World Marriage Day was observed on Sunday, 9 February; it is annually celebrated on the second Sunday of February.

National Marriage Week and World Marriage Day are designed to provide the opportunity to focus on building a culture of life and love that begins with supporting, promoting, and upholding marriage and the family.

The 2020 theme chosen by the USCCB to celebrate National Marriage Week, "Stories from the Domestic Church," was announced by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth in a letter to his brother bishops. The theme was chosen to demonstrate how "spouses are consecrated and by means of a special grace build up the Body of Christ and form a domestic church" as Pope Francis reminded the faithful in his apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (n. 67).

National Marriage Week USA is a national movement promoting education about the benefits of marriage for reducing poverty and benefiting children. It was launched in 2010 as part of International Marriage Week, with 20 major countries around the world now mobilizing leaders and events to strengthen marriage in their countries. World Marriage Day was started in 1983 by Worldwide Marriage Encounter as a marriage enrichment program.

For more information and resources, related to National Marriage Week USA, please visit:

National Marriage Week USA

Related resources:

USCCB: Marriage Unique for a Reason

For Your Marriage