Sometimes it’s easy to forget that marriage is a sacrament, and much like our faith, it is a living and breathing commitment that carries a deep connection to God. Marriage is the foundation of the families we create, and science says that strong marriages impact who we become and who our children grow up to be. Marriage is at the core of every family and therefore it carries the responsibilities, challenges, and joys of the family that everyone says comes first.

When we get married, part of the sacrament includes the quote from Matthew 19:6, which says, “What God has joined together, let no man separate.” The problem is that the whole world seems to have gone away from valuing the sacrament of marriage. Instead, it’s all about being the “best versions of ourselves," which has then rapidly dissolved into a culture that doesn’t seem to honor marriage at all. The reality is that marriage is filled with all of the emotions, challenges, joys, and sorrows that life deals out. In the midst of our crazy lives, the cultural dismissal of the belief that God has connected two people together emotionally, physically, and spiritually has degraded until the divorce rates have skyrocketed. According to an article by Jake Hays of the Pew Research Center, “In 2023, over 1.8 million Americans divorced” and “A third of Americans who have ever been married have also experienced divorce.” These shocking numbers represent millions of broken homes, and in essence, millions of broken sacraments to God.

What if we worked on our marriages the way we go to the gym, meet up with the guys, attend book clubs or girls’ nights out? What if we put Christ at the center of our marriages and in doing so, strengthened the foundation of our love for our spouses? The impact of doing so would save marriages, provide better examples for our children, and impact society in incredible ways. With all that said, where do couples turn when the stresses of life threaten to fracture what God has put together?

Dialogo Matrimonial (MDS USA, Inc.) is on a mission to save marriages, and for more than 25 years, they have offered couples the tools, the support, and the guidance needed to realign married couples with each other, their families, and most importantly with Christ.

MDS was formally founded by the Diocese of St. Petersburg in 2004, but it really began years before with a couple who sought out God and reinvested their time and energy into praying for and with each other, honoring one another as the Bible teaches us, and sharing with others what they’d come to know. Elix and Lucy Castro started what would become Dialogo Matrimonial at their local parish in Connecticut in 2000. They started by offering marriage retreats a few times a year coupled with follow-up support groups where couples could gather weekly to pray for one another, for their marriages, and receive helpful advice on how to approach difficult subjects like work, finances, intimacy and other common issues that challenge couples today. Many people said that the program saved their marriages and reignited the spark that God had placed there in the beginning.

When the Castros moved to Seffner, Florida four years later, they became members at the Saint Francis of Assisi parish, and under the tutelage and guidance of parish vicar, Fr. Rafael Martos, Dialogo Matrimonial became a growing mission that as of this writing has provided 118 retreats, helping more than 3500 couples “talk marriage” through prayer, positive communication, and practice. Today MDS has participating dioceses in nearby Orlando, and as far away as Texas and New Mexico, South Carolina, Mexico and even in Colombia in South America.

When Nestor and Isabel Salazar heard about the retreat they decided they would at least try. Close to the end of their rope, they attended the retreat and the weekly support meetings. It ended up saving their marriage. Retreats include information shared through testimony, core Bible teachings on marriage, speeches, counseling and reconciliation by local priests with the goal of reunification. The weekly meetings serve as a way to live the commitment to your spouse. Like going to the gym, it takes practice and hard work to see results, but the results are worth it.

Using many of the strategies that they learned from the Castros, the Salazars quickly became believers. Their marriage became stronger, and their love for one another and Christ garnered attention with their friends, coworkers and family members. Through word of mouth, the program began to grow, and now the Salazars have been sharing their testimony and leading the Tampa Bay Dialogo Matrimonial program since 2007. MDS provides a safe and loving approach to honoring marriage, not just because of the legality of marriage, or because of the church’s view on divorce, but to honor the knot that God tied together in spirit.

Nestor said, “Suddenly people at work were noticing a change. They’d ask me to go out, and I was like, no thanks, I want to be with my wife.”  Explaining that the keys to success are communication and a devotion to God, he continues, “Without God, there won’t be a beginning to a path of success. People say we see all of you and we see how happy you are and it’s contagious. The entire program is blessed and guided by God, because through Him is the only way.” Nestor adds,  

“We want to live by example. Our marriages are the key to how we want our future children and grandchildren’s lives to be.”

Isabel added, "We are not the perfect couple, but we try to be a happy couple.”

The Salazars have learned a lot about the importance of commitment. Since the program began, they have continued to expand the curriculum, adding music and adding a secondary retreat for couples that dives deeper. This secondary program is called “Profundo Dialogo”, which translates to “profound dialogue”. It dives deeper and often gets to the root of the issues that couples and families are facing. The results are incredible. Couples who were at one time on the brink of divorce are once again in love, on the same page, and in it to win it.

Compassion, understanding and real life approaches to marriage are shared at each retreat and reinforced during the weekly meetings held in local parishes throughout the participating dioceses.  One of the important approaches conquers disagreements. Nestor says,  “We chose to get into what we call “agreements” on a constant basis. Nestor said, “Let’s say that one spouse wants to paint the room pink, and the other says, no, I want it to be blue, “ He pauses, “We’ve learned to agree on purple.”

Belkis and Carlos Mendez are another success story. Deeply passionate about the power of prayer in a marriage, Belkis shared, “We believe in this process because it works. Being a part of a group that meets every week with other people who have the same goals for their marriage, practicing listening and trusting God throughout the process makes all the difference. God is working all the time in this group.”

According to Carlos, “The support that we receive from the community is important. It helps us to strengthen our faith. We need MDS”.

While the Dialogo Matrimonial program has been historically offered to Spanish-speaking parishioners, they are now embarking on an English-language program in our Diocese and in Orlando. In 2026, the program will expand to include 7 retreats in Spanish, and 3 in English. Retreats in our Diocese have been held at the Holiday Inn Express off of Bruce B. Downs in Tampa for over a dozen years, and many happy couples, like the Salazars, have continued with the program as volunteers, sharing their testimonies and strategies with new couples who become friends and family,

Husband and wife Francisco Kolster and Carolina Francis will be leading the English-speaking retreats that begin in January of 2026. Carolina shared, “ Serving God through MDS helped us grow as a couple and in our faith. We honor our commitment with each other and with God.”

The successes of MDS are clearly the result of the commitment of couples who want to honor their marriages, embrace the spiritual journey that God has planned for them and of the power of prayer and communication in our lives.

According to the Catholic News Agency, “Pope Leo XIV declared marriage is “not an ideal but the measure of true love between a man and a woman” and families are “the cradle of the future of humanity”. Dialogo Matrimonial is sharing and living that faith across the globe. 

For more information on Dialogo Matrimonial (MDS), or to sign up to participate, visit their website directly at dialogomatrimonial.org or contact your local parish.