Our Vision

Our vision dares to hope for a society in which everyone can form and sustain healthy marriages and relationships.

We say this because we believe everyone should have the same opportunity to enjoy a healthy, dependable relationship – making a real difference to children’s life chances, to adult wellbeing and to the emotional and economic health of our society.

Our Mission

To share relationship skills and knowledge, and support couples and individuals in the best and worst of times in their relationships, regardless of their ability to pay.

Our Ethos and Values

  • Like all charities we exist to serve the needs of our beneficiaries and as a Catholic charity we do so through the lens of our faith tradition, believing that all human beings are loved by God and made in the image of God, and called to love, relationship and deeper community.
  • We uphold the Catholic vision of marriage as a vocation of life and love, shaped by the whole-life commitment of a man and woman, whose love is open to embrace family life.
  • We believe that at the heart of a healthy marriage is a relationship of astonishing power and richness, for the couple, their family, friends, and neighbours.
  • We believe that preventing couple separation and maintaining an intact family where healthy relationships can exist and grow in goodness is of fundamental importance to the flourishing of family life and society at large.
  • We believe that relationship poverty (i.e., a lack of relational capability – what it takes to make and maintain cohesive and harmonious relationships) matters as much as financial poverty, either one driving the other and both a violation of our human dignity.
  • We believe that lack of money should never be a barrier to accessing relationship support.
  • We know that being “good” at loving people doesn’t come naturally to most—but we believe it is a skill you can learn and practice at any time of life.
  • We believe a society in which everyone can flourish – that has the good of all people and of the whole person as its primary goal – will be one that gives priority to the integrity, stability, and health of committed, intimate couple relationships as the basic cell of human society.

These core beliefs underpin everything we do and our commitment to:

  • High training and service standards
  • Being rooted in and trusted by local communities
  • Volunteering that is motivated by giving alone
  • Affordability where money is no barrier to access
  • Inclusivity with a preferential option for the poor and the marginalised

We welcome as members of Marriage Care all who can subscribe to and share in this ethos, our values, our passion for relationship education and support and the difference it makes to people’s lives.