I attended the Paulist Center's Marriage prep retr...

I attended the Paulist Center's Marriage prep retreat and it was the least welcoming, least helpful, and least Catholic program I have ever attended under the auspices of the Catholic Church. The speakers at the retreat gave generic, secular advice and avoided providing any kind of advice on Catholic living. The speakers were also dismissive of the teaching of the Church, preferring instead to tell people to do whatever made them feel good.

The Mass that we were required to attend was the worst I have ever seen, to the point where I had to consult another priest to ensure that the Priest's changes to the Mass had not rendered it invalid. Several prayers were changed to be gender-neutral, a practice condemned by the church and prohibited in the General Instruction for the Roman Missal. Many of the parishioners, including most of the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, spent much of the Mass glaring at my fiancee for veiling and at the two of us for kneeling during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, which is the reverential posture prescribed by the GIRM and the traditions of the church. During the Eucharist many of those same ministers held on to the Precious Body so they could consume it simultaneously, a practice which contradicts the requirement for immediate consumption.

I cannot in good conscience recommend the Paulist Center to anyone, Catholic or non-Catholic, and I fear for the souls of the priests permitting such laxity and for the congregation following them.