eMatrimony Newsletter
 
Supporting, Encouraging and Challenging the WWME Community
October/November 2009
Dear eMatrimony Subscriber,
Greetings!   We have big news for those of you in the United States!  We have a new Ecclesial Leadership Team - Scott and Karen Seaborn from Waterloo, Illinois and Fr. Tom Griffith from Duxbury, Massachusetts.  Look below in the newsletter for more details.
 
World Priest Day was last week on October 25.  One of the wonderful things we can do as lay people in the church is celebrate the contributions of our priests and religious.  In Central Texas WWME we have the privilege of working with priests from around the country in presenting our weekends, and two of those have had ordination anniversaries of note since our last newsletter - Fr. Joe Voor of St. Louis, Kentucky (59 years) and Fr. Mark Willenbring of Grey Eagle, Minnesota (52 years).  Our Central Texas community also recognized local religious with a dinner party complete with music and entertainment - we had over 30 priests and religious in attendance.  Drop us a line if you have stories to share that celebrate the lives of those whose vocation is serving the church.
 
We have a wonderful newsletter for you this month with contributions from and about couples all over the United States.  Enjoy!
 
Love, Hilary and Jon Olson
eMatrimony editors
Estamos honorando muchas Comunidades Estelares del EMM
 
En esta hoja informativa estamos honorando muchas comunidades que han sido llamadas como Comunidad Estelar de nuestro encuentro.  Las comunidades son:
-La comunidad de "Happy Huggers" de Detroit, Michigan: Una comunidad llena de energ�a y a que le gusta decir SI para ayudar a todos del EMM.
-La comunidad Hispana de Detrot, Michigan:   Una comunidad con mucho amor, dedicada al uno y  otro, a la familia, y a nuestro Encuentro.
-La comunidad EMM de Oakland, California: Una comunidad que trabaja muy duro para diariamente vivir la visi�n y misi�n de nuestro Encuentro.
-La comunidad de Billings, Montana: Una comunidad que maneja una camioneta decorada con carteles de EMM por los vecindarios y paran en las casas de parejas que han asistido Fines de Semanas pasadas para invitarlas a ser parte de la comunidad. 
-La comunidad "Soulmates" de Detroit, Michigan: Una comunidad que ayuda mucho con los Fines de Semanas locales, pero que tambi�n tiene muchas oportunidades sociales.
-La comunidad de Alaska: Una comunidad que se re�ne y hace mucho por la iglesia y el Encuentro, aun que tiene un �rea geogr�fica muy grande que cubrir.
The "Happy Huggers" from Detroit, Michigan, USA
A WWME Stellar Community
by Jerry and Fran Ashe   
Happy Huggers at Christmas 
Our share group (we call them WEDS Groups) is called the Happy Huggers.  We are a small but energetic group of lovers, who love to say "YES."  Couples from our group regularly "host" the Weekend, writing letters to couples on each Weekend who would belong to our group, being Prayer Couples for the Weekend, and attending the Weekend Walk-ins (the ending ceremony of the weekend) to invite newly encountered couples to Post Encounter and WEDS.  Within a little over a year, we have successfully added 3 new couples to our WEDS group, which we believe is a direct result of loving couples off of the Weekend into Community.  Our WEDS group holds meetings twice a month, but if a community event is held (there is one every quarter in our Area), we try to go as a WEDS group in place of our regular WEDS meeting.  During the summer, we have a 'family' meeting, where everyone dialogues, including the 'wee' ones, by drawing pictures that show our feelings. We are proud to be a part of our WEDS Group, the Happy Huggers.
In This Issue
Comunidades Estelares
"Happy Huggers" from Detroit
New US Leadership
"Soul mates" from Detroit
Keeping Warm in Montana
Alaska's WWME Community
Detroit Area Hispanic EMM
La Comunidad EMM de Oakland, CA
A Weekend Testimonial
Postscript to "A Weekend Testimonial"
10/10 Dialogue

Convention Logo 2008

We could celebrate God's creation by visiting a National Park.  How do I feel about my answer?More dialogue questions...

2010 North American Convention
2010 Convention Logo
It is never too early to plan for the annual convention, which is June 2010 in Atlantic City, NJ
Quick Links
 
New WWME Leadership in the United States
 
Some of you have heard the good news, but we want to let everyone know of the selection of our new United States Ecclesial Leadership Team:
New US Leaders - Scott, Karen & Fr. Tom
From left to right: Scott & Karen Seaborn from Waterloo, IL in Section 7, and Fr. Tom Griffith from Duxbury, MA, in Section 1. 

Scott & Karen made their weekend in 1993 in Springfield, Illinois.  They have served in many capacities including Cadre, Section 7 leaders and most recently the Team Pillar coordinators with Fr. Mitch Walters.   They have been married for 25 years.

Fr. Tom Griffith is a Divine Word Missionary priest currently serving at the Miramar Retreat Center in Duxbury, Massachusetts.  He made his weekend in 1986 in Joliet, Illinois.   He served several terms as Cadre Priest, and served in leadership for both Sections 1 and 7.  Fr. Tom has served God's people as a priest for forty years.

Scott & Karen & Fr. Tom will lead the US Board as the United States Ecclesial Team (USET.)  They will also serve on the Executive Council of the North American Secretariat along with Jose & Marilyn Garcia & Fr. Mitch Walters, the North American Secretariat Ecclesial Team (NASET), and  Eric & Lupita Goodwin and Fr. John Persaud, Canadian National Ecclesial Team (CNET).

You will hear more from Scott & Karen and Father Tom in a future issue of eMatrimony.  Please keep them and all of our WWME leadership teams at all levels across North America in your prayers.  And also keep Tony and Cathy Witczak, and Father Emile Frische in your prayers as they complete their role as the US Ecclesial Team and continue in their new role as the International Ecclesial Team (IET).

En Espa�ol :
Algunos de ustedes saben las buenas noticias, pero queremos decirles de la selecci�n de nuestro nuevo Equipo Eclesial de Liderazgo de los Estados Unidos:  Scott & Karen Seaborn de Waterloo, IL en la Secci�n 7, y el Padre Tom Griffith de Duxbury, MA, en la Secci�n 1. 
La foto est� incluida.  El Padre Tom esta a la derecha.

Scott & Karen vivieron su Fin de Semana en 1993 en Springfield, Illinois.  Ellos han servido en muchas capacidades incluyendo Cadre de Profundo, l�deres de la Secci�n 7, y lo m�s recientemente los l�deres del Pilar de Equipos con el Padre Mitch Walters.  Han estados casados por 25 anos.

El Padre Tom Griffith es un Misionero de la Palabra Divina sirviendo en el Centro de Retreta Miramar en Duxbury, Massachusetts.  Vivi� su Fin de Semana en 1986 en Joliet, Illinois.  Sirvi� como Sacerdote de Cadre, y tambi�n sirvi� de liderazgo por las Secciones 1 y 7.  Padre Tom ha servido a los fieles de Dios como Sacerdote por cuarenta a�os.

Scott & Karen y el Padre Tom van a dirigir la Junta de los Estados Unidos como el Equipo Eclesial de Liderazgo (USET).  Tambi�n servir�n en la Junta Ejecutiva del Secretariado de Norte Am�rica con Jose & Marilyn Garcia, y el Padre Mitch Walters, el Equipo Eclesial de Liderazgo del Secretariado de Norte Am�rica (NASET), y con Eric & Lupita Goodwin, y el Padre John Persaud, el Equipo Eclesial Nacional de Canad� (CNET). 

Tendr�n mas noticias de Scott & Karen y el Padre Tom en futuros ejemplos de esta revista electr�nica.  Por favor contin�en de rezar por ellos y por los l�deres a todos niveles de nuestro movimiento en Norte Am�rica. Tambi�n, contin�en de rezar por Tony & Cathy Witczak y el Padre Emile Frische que ahora terminan su mandato de liderazgo de los Estados Unidos, y contin�an su liderazgo como el Equipo Coordinador Internacional de EMM (IET).
The "Soul mates" from Detroit, MI -
 A WWME Stellar Community
by Miriam & Rick Mikulak  
 
Our stellar community is called the Soulmates.  We are part of the larger Detroit area and we are a combination of 4 smaller communities.  Currently we have 7 active couples in our group, who enjoy each other's company and have interesting and thought- provoking sharing.  At least half of the group has been together for at least 30 years - we've only been with them for 12!    Not surprisingly, we have grown very close to these couples.   They have watched our 2 children grow up so it is as if they are part of our family.

Soul Mates @ Christmas

We serve as Friday night hosts for our area's WWME weekends at least twice in the year.  We attend the walk-ins and serve as prayer couples.   The weekend couples are very surprised when we show up and tell them that we've been praying for them, but it creates a bond between us.

We have plan many social events.  Several years ago we went on a weekend trip to Niagara on the Lake and visited wineries, attended a play and shared meals together.  One of our couples has a cabin in the northern part of Michigan and sometimes invites the group up for the weekends.  Last year we began an Anniversary Dinner event, where we celebrate everyone's anniversary, especially those who are celebrating a major one, like 25, 35 or 40.  All together we have 300 years of marriage between us in our WEDS group.

Our couples are extremely giving of their time, their ideas and their talents to the various community events we host in the year.  Our current leaders Barb and Frank Rouland motivated us to participate in inviting activities for couples and priests.   We won a prize at our yearly Dream Rally activity because of our group's great participation.  When Sharon and Jim Kavanaugh were in the leadership role they always showered us with small gifts and their warmth and love.    When Ann and Phil Roberts were the leaders, they brought a lot of humor and fun to the group.

Recently we folded 2 different WEDS groups into our WEDS group.  We don't want anyone in our area's community of lovers to be without a WEDS group.  Even a couple who moved an hour away attends our WEDS meetings several times per year.  Our WEDS group experience has been rewarding because of the opportunity to share with and get to know all these wonderful couples.
Billings, MT - A WWME Stellar Community!
by Kelly and Annmarie Merager 
 
WWME weekends had become all but extinct in Montana.  The distances in Wyoming and Montana are great and in order to create a community, a spark had to come from strong and inspirational local couples.  The Wyoming Leadership Team took on this revitalization challenge and started offering weekends for couples in Montana.  From these initial weekends, a dynamic and passionate community has formed in Billings, MT.

Montana Stellar Community

The core of this community was formed following the January 2008 weekend.  After their February weekend reunion, 6 couples began the Journey and endeavored to "rope" other encountered couples back into the Marriage Encounter community. They planned a Family BBQ for April 2008, and began recruiting participants by making house calls to each previously encountered couple residing in the Billings area.  The inviting team of John and Brenda Pankratz, Mike and Kim Martinson, Kevin and Beth Walter and Chris and Angie Stokes drove throughout the Billings area in the "Love Van", decorated with WWME posters, window paint and messages of "Got Love?" and "Have You Lost That Lovin' Feelin'?"! At each house they piled out of the van decked out in their colorful "I Love My Wife/Husband" T-shirts and with the stereo blasting Elvis Presley's song, "Loving' Feeling'".  They presented surprised couples with a gift bag of sweets, rose petals, a message of inspiration and an invitation to join their community.

The Family BBQ was a memorable occasion, with the presence of the Wyoming Ecclesial Team, and 2 encountered couples who were rounded up as a result of the Love Van adventure. Good food, fellowship and a sense of community were strong! One of the new couples decided to join their Love Circle, Walt and Mary Niemi, bringing their community to 5 couples.

Continuing to expand their involvement in WWME events, the Billings area trained for mass talk presentations, served as Prayer Couples, planned more social events and decorated rooms for all 30 registered attendees and presenters of the Billings '09 weekend. Eagerly greeting Billings '09 couples at registration was a treat for their community, as was being present at the Sing-Off and uniting with Prayer Couples.
 
When asked about their experience as a community, the Billings Love Circle answered, "Through our Journey and Spiral experiences, we have grown much closer to God, our spouses and each other! We supported through prayer and presence our Circle members who have experienced accident/injury, have suffered loss of a parent and have family members ailing with cancer. We look forward to and can't wait for the next step of our Community progression!"
Alaska's WWME Community - A WWME Stellar Community
by Bill and Sherry Tunillas
 
The Catholic population of Alaska is around 55, 000 with approximately 33,000 in the Anchorage Archdiocese. The Archdiocese of Anchorage spans nearly 800 miles and many cities, towns and villages.  The distance makes evangelizing and supporting couples a real sacrifice and a challenge.  Priests serve the church by flying into rural communities for mass. WWME ministry couples drive many miles to share the dream and to support one another.  
Our Alaskan WWME couples and priests have great zeal - like that of the early apostles. 
 Tony & Cathy & Fr. Emil visit Alaska
They say yes to inviting talks in small parishes in outlying communities.  In 2008, under the umbrella of our Archbishop Roger L. Schwietz, OMI, and our Family Life Ministry Group, we went on the road with Retrouvaille, Engaged Encounter and Natural Family Planning, sharing our inviting talks in three different cities.  It was a huge success for Retrouvaille, who filled their weekend, because couples came forward without embarrassment to sign up as no one knew which weekend or information they were seeking.
 
Our couples and priests also say yes to driving dark lonely roads filled with ice and snow to circle with their dearest friends.   We have two circles:  one in Anchorage, and one in Eagle River.  Active Circling couples are often first to be prayer couples for our weekend.  They say yes willingly and lovingly by praying and attending Sunday Sing off.  And many say yes to attending the reunion and inviting new couples into their circle.
 
In February, we invite the Archdiocese to celebrate World Marriage Day by being a part of a beautiful wedding mass celebrated by our Archbishop and many of the priests of our Archdiocese. WWME couples each say yes to hosting a table full of invited guests.  They act as "Jesus couples and priests" by coming to the kitchen to obtain their guests meals. They share their WWME story and invite Non-WWME couples to our spring weekend.  We have fine dining, dancing, donated prizes and an inviting talk.  Our WWME teens help keep the coffee, water and ice tea flowing.  We have red envelopes with donation slips inside.  WMD funds recently assisted three couples and three teens in representing Alaska at the 40th annual International Convention in 2008.
 
Our couples say yes to bringing games for our annual Picnic Inviting and yes to presenting their parish priest a token of love on World Priest Day.  Our WWME teens say Yes to welcoming the new ME kids and Teens at weekend reunions.  In the midst of often below zero temperatures and dodging moose in winter months, our Community hosts an Inviting Christmas Party that is open to all WWME couples and guests.  This year we made stockings and filled them for the women and children of the abused women's shelter.
Detroit Area Hispanic EMM - A WWME Stellar Community! 
by Jerry and Fran Ashe   
 
We have gotten to know the Detroit Area Hispanic EMM through community events and have witnessed their love and dedication to each other, their families, and WWME.  One of these community events was welcoming Tony and Cathy Witzcak and Fr. Emile Frische (current U.S. Leaders and newly selected World Leaders) when they visited the Detroit Area.  The Hispanic Detroit Area was quick to organize this event and to welcome the Detroit Area English-speaking community to co-host with them.  Many Hispanic and English-speaking WWME families were in attendance at the Mass and at the dinner-social that followed, not only from Detroit, but from as far away as Grand Rapids, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois.  It was truly a special and blessed occasion, not only because of the opportunity to hear from the new world leaders, but because of the opportunity to get to enjoy the warm hospitality of the Hispanic Detroit Area community. We are very blessed to be in the same Area as they are, and are inspired by their passion for each other and WWME.  They are a very loving and open community, truly shining their Christ-light for all to see.
Detroit Hispanic Community
La Comunidad EMM de Oakland, CA - Una Comunidad Estelar 
Articulo sometido por Manuel y Rosal�a Pardo   
 
Buenos d�as.  Somos Manuel & Rosal�a, coordinadores de EMM de Oakland, CA.  Queremos compartir con ustedes como nuestra comunidad es  un buen modelo de la comunidad estelar de nuestro encuentro.  Hemos trabajado duro para tener los fines de semana con m�s parejas y lo hemos logrado aun en estos tiempos de crisis econ�mica.   La encomienda siempre es a nuestro Se�or en todo lo que hacemos es nuestra fuerza divina.  Nos motiva y nos impulsa a salir adelante.  Siempre triunfantes buscamos la unidad en todo momento.  Para vivir  nuestra visi�n, misi�n y valores es un reto, pero luchamos por vivirlos al diario.  Tenemos una asistencia en las asambleas mensuales de m�s de 30 a 48 parejas.  Mantener la visi�n y la misi�n es nuestro m�s grande anhelo, y buscar por cualquier rinc�n a todas las parejas necesitadas para traerlas al encuentro matrimonial.  Todo el tiempo pensando en los m�s necesitados y los que se merecen todo nuestro amor y cari�o -- ellos son nuestros ni�os.
WWME Oakland, CA - A WWME Stellar Community
by Manuel and Rosalia Pardo 

Hello.  We are Manuel and Rosalia Pardo, Area Leaders for the Oakland, CA, WWME Community.  We would like to share with you how our community is a good model for a WWME Stellar Community. We all work together to fill all Weekends with more and more couples, and we have been successful doing it even in these times of economic crisis.  We use the power that God gives us in our mission.  We are motivated and inspired to always move forward to do His will.  We are always searching for unity in all that we do.  To live our vision and mission is a challenge, but we always strive to do this in our daily lives.  Our monthly meetings are always attended by between 30 and 48 couples.  We keep our eyes and direction on meeting our vision and mission, and we search in all corners of our area for all couples to bring to our movement.  We always keep in mind those that need us the most and all those who deserve our love and support - they are like our children.
A Weekend Testimonial
by Kirk & Fay Kinley, Fredericksburg, Texas, USA  
 
We want to share with everyone the amazing power of the Marriage Encounter weekend and dialogue experience.  Before our first weekend in October of 1989, we were living in San Diego, CA and had been married for 22 years and had let everything in our lives take priority over our marital relationship.  We were also grieving the death of our 16 year old son.  I (Fay) had been bringing home brochures for an M.E. weekend for a long time, but my husband (Kirk) resisted vehemently.  My sister and her husband went on a weekend and invited us to go by paying our registration fee.  Kirk still resisted.  After nearly 3 years and many phone calls by the registration couple, he finally relented and agreed to go.  Neither of us had any idea of what to expect because at that time, the weekend was still shrouded in mystery.

From the earliest moments of the weekend, we began to feel the Holy Spirit working within us, and by the 90/90, the changes in both of us were nothing short of a miracle.  I had been harboring a lot of anger, and I could feel myself softening in my feelings for Kirk.  I was listening to what he was actually saying instead of trying to assume that I knew what he was going to say.  My husband, who was normally very introspective and reserved was opening up and revealing feelings to me that had been concealed for our entire marriage.  By the end of the weekend, we had vowed a renewed commitment to one another, and we felt like we did when we were first married.  We became very active in our Marriage Encounter community and went on to lead our group for two years.  Eveything was super for awhile.

After a period of years however, we slipped with our daily dialogue and began to fall back into the old pitfalls of the world.  And our oldest son died and left us once again grieving a loss that was unbearable.  We moved to Texas and got involved with setting up a new home, making new friends, etc.  We were taking each other for granted again, and the romance that we had rekindled on our first weekend, just died out.  No fire, no sizzle, no warmth.  We were just "going along" again; existing, but with no spirit in our relationship.

We both knew what Marriage Encounter had done for us and we began to look for a community share group.  After much searching, we couldn't find a share group in our new home in Frederisckburg, but we discovered there was a weekend in San Antonio.  We knew that there had been some changes made since our first weekend, so we thought that maybe we should attend a "refresher" weekend.  The Holy Spirit moved us again, and we re-committed ourselves to our love and to keeping each other special in our life, vowing to give each other the gift of daily dialogue, to get our feelings out before they can fester and cause damage to our relationship.  We joined a share group in San Antonio, but now we are happy to report that our Fredericksburg share group has received its first couple off the March San Antonio weekend.  A few "old-timers" joined us for our first meeting and we are "off and running."

Kirk and I are excited about our relationship again. We arepromoting Marriage Encounter within our parish and the Fredericksburg community and helping to spread God's Plan in the world.  We absolutely know it is the best thing that we have ever done for our marriage of 42 years!
A Postscript to "A Weekend Testimonial"
from the Presenting Team
by Gene & Mary LeDuc, San Diego, California, USA
 
The testimony from Kirk & Fay in this issue is inspiring.  It is truly incredible in another way too.  Their October 1989 Weekend was our Rookie Weekend as a presenting team, a Weekend that seemed to be a disaster in every way, especially since 7 couples left the Weekend without completing it.   We emerged from that Weekend battered and bruised and suffering from a low self-esteem (our Execs tried to encourage us by telling us that it was our "baptism by fire" and that it made us a stronger team).  
 
Nonetheless, Kirk & Fay's letter just shows how God can work His miracles through anything at any time! Praise God for His many blessings!
HyperLink Disclaimer 
Disclaimer
You will notice several "hyperlinks" throughout our newsletters (text that is underlined, typically in blue).  Clicking on these will take you to other web sites for content that augments the newsletter.  The web is a wonderful tool for comuunicating to the world at little to no cost, and virtually anyone can make their voice be heard.  However, because of its freedom of expression and the general lack of censorship, the web can host material that is either inappropriate or offensive to some.  We will never knowingly link to material of questionable content or motive, but there are often associated links on sites like YouTube that we cannot control.  So we have chosen to use YouTube and other content providers to enrich the content of the newsletter, but please use caution following associated links that we do not refer to directly from our newsletter.
Mission Statement
As an online publication of Worldwide Marriage Encounter, eMatrimony serves as a resource to support, encourage and challenge couples, priests and religious to live the values of the WWME experience and grow stronger in their efforts to renew the church and change the world.
Contact Information
For comments related to this newsletter, or if you have something to contribute related to WWME, send e-mail to the editors, Hilary and Jon Olson .