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About ACCORD

You are very welcome to the ACCORD Catholic Marriage Care Service (ACCORD) website. The purpose of this site is to provide you with access to information and support, if you are preparing for marriage, seeking to enhance your relationship, looking for help with marriage and relationship difficulties or carrying out research or wanting to learn more about marriage and family issues.

ACCORD (formerly known as CMAC) was established in Ireland in 1962 by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference. We have fifty-five centres throughout Ireland both North and South, more than 800 members trained to the highest standards who provide clients with a professional and ethical, Educational and Counselling service in a safe and confidential environment, promoting awareness, understanding, healing and helping love to grow.

Marriage and families are today experiencing new and more complex challenges than ever before and yet we know that good marriages and healthy families are not only the bedrock of our society but also provide their constituent members with a stable lifelong environment in which they can experience, Love, Support, Understanding, Tolerance, Caring and Nurturing, Commitment, Respect, Interdependence, Enjoyment and much happiness. These are not experienced just by chance but are the result of couples and their families working together to create a secure and loving environment, which allows them to flourish and grow.

Marriage and family life therefore is a journey not a destination. It is being the right person rather than finding the right person. It is starting to LOVE over and over again. It is a life's work. It requires active thought and effort. We learn how to share, we practise talking from the heart, we understand feelings as well as words and we give generously and receive generously.

Above all Marriage is a gift, where love is the climate in which we live, where our children are secure in the knowledge that their parents love and respect each other and where the best is yet to come.

If you find that you are having difficulty talking to each other then talk to ACCORD. We are there to help you. Enjoy your journey through our website and if you require any further information, have any comments or suggestions we would be delighted to hear from you.

Tony Shanahan
Director of Accord Catholic Marriage Care Service CLG