Couples of All Faiths Get Help from Catholic Center

November 08, 2011: Church-based center in the eastern Indian diocese of Baruipur is helping people of all religions to lead a happy married life.
The center, known as Paribar Jyoti (Light Of The Family) uses workshops, seminars and retreats to help couples remain faithful to each other.
Its director, Father Pradeep Roy, has been running retreats for couples since 1970. He was moved to take up the cause after meeting a number of broken families and seeing the aftermath of break-ups at a juvenile home he visited.
His center, which started in 2001, now helps as many as 100 couples a month through its various activities.
“Nowadays, marriages break down at the slightest provocation,” he said. “And family problems can lead to all sorts of troubles like domestic violence and even human trafficking. At the center, we try to strengthen the bond between couples.”
Father Roy added that the center now draws more couples from other religions than Catholics. When asked why he thought that was, he said, “Catholics are slow to respond to these issues.”
As an example of the center’s appeal to other faiths, one of its most recent weekend workshops, at the diocese’s Dhyan Ashram in Konchowki near Kolkata, was attended by one Muslim and three Hindu couples.
Mohammad Golam Rasul Haldar, a philosophy lecturer and Muslim who attended with his wife, said the couple’s failure to discuss their problems openly was affecting family stability. But the workshop helped him to “go deeply into my relationship with my wife.”
Chandana Mondal was one of the Hindu women at the event. “Even after a long courtship, marriages can break down because the couples do not dare to clear up misunderstandings with each other,” she said.
“But open discussions will help the couple to resolve their problems and live a happy married life.”
Rupchand Baidya, a “fairly educated” Catholic who now helps organize Christian Life Communities in his parish, said the workshops saved his marriage, which was on the verge of collapse after two years.
“Marital problems crop up because of the relationship between the couple, or infidelity or misunderstandings,” he said. “But they can be resolved if couples discuss them and challenge each other. The workshop helped us understand what caused our problems and strengthened our bond.”