Behind bars and into register offices: Marriage Care branches out

A Catholic charity, Marriage Care, whose patron is the Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, announced that it is expanding the work it undertakes offering relationship counselling to prisoners and preparation for couples marrying in register offices. 

The charity's increased work in these areas is partly in order to meet government targets.

In a "relaunch", Marriage Care, which has 50 centres across England and Wales, said it wanted to help reduce the number of divorces by offering more couples marriage preparation. 

While a number of charities offer relationship guidance, few offer preparation for marriage.
 
The chief executive of Marriage Care, Terry Prendergast, said they plan to expand their presence in register offices, responding to what registrars have told the charity is a "revolving-door syndrome" of divorce and re-marriage.