Aim. The aim of this article is to trace analyse elements of the teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage and family and to link them to important challenges related to the necessity for both spouses to undertake the process of self-education. Method. The preparation of this text required the use of the method of document analysis, which consists in organizing and interpreting the contents of documents in terms of the issue selected for study. Results and conclusions. Catholic marriage is a relationship based on mutual love, loyalty, and honesty, and one of its main attributes is indissolubility. Stability in the sacramental marriage is connected with the specific requirements that both spouses set for themselves. They are equally responsible for their own development, for the quality of the relationship, and for the upbringing of children. The study of the teaching indicated allows conclusions to be drawn concerning the self-education of the spouses. Both man and wife are obliged to commit to their self-development, especially in the areas that determine their uniqueness. The common good of the spouses is not a simple sum of their mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, but it is a reference point of daily efforts, self-reflection, and for everything that they both do to fill the sacramental marriage with original content. The spouses’ self-education and development is focused on being a gift for each other, for the permanent building of community of persons. It is a necessary condition for the Church’s teaching about marriage and family. The conscious undertaking of the „effort of development” is possible after reaching a certain degree of maturity and is the whole-life task of everyone, and those living in a marriage in particular. It can be assumed that self-education of spouses is the foundation of family life, and therefore also the education of children, and all interpersonal and intergenerational relationships.