Dear eMatrimony Subscriber,
In our "Quick Links" section at the bottom of this newsletter we
have a link to the US Conference Catholic Bishops web page called "For
Your Marriage." USCCB now has a Spanish version of that page and we
are adding that to the quick links. Be sure to take a look!
We hope you find the contents of this newsletter interesting and inspirational.
Love, Joe and Linda Oppelt, PS Note at the bottom of this e-mail, there is now a "Share Button". Using this, you can link this email to social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Digg.
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It's never too late to make a weekend,
So never give up on inviting!
From Fr.François Pellissier,
Community Pillar Priest
Below is a quote from a Methodist couple from Oklahoma City, Lois and Ray Crooks, both in their upper 80s and married 63 years when they went on their WE in June! I have known them since the Summer of 1970! Never give up on inviting!!!
We continue to be grateful to you for our awesome ME experience. We have not missed a day with 10-10. It has been great and very meaningful to have had this experience. It might have been better to have had it 5 years earlier, yet it is very helpful at this age and stage. We hope to encourage some of our children to do this. I wish every couple could have this experience. It would make a big difference in our world.
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 New National Community Pillar!
Dear lovers....
We are excited to begin in this new role as Community Pillar Coordinators.
Here are some of the items we are doing.
2011 CALENDAR - We need photos!
As you all know, every year we have a calendar and obviously it can not be done without you!!!! We are requesting pictures from all over the United States, and Canada as well. We are beginning to work on the calendar so that it is ready for the Convention. The theme is "Love Never Ends." Please be sure to send only one picture of each couple. Group shots are welcome. Last year there were so many repeats of couples in different dress and places that it was hard not to repeat.
Please get your photos to us by March 10, 2010.
STELLAR COMMUNITIES
Since you are going to be looking for good pictures, you may realize what a great community you have, and you may think, "I wish there were recognition for great communities." Guess what? There is!!! At the Convention in Atlantic City, we will be rewarding "Stellar Communities." Please send us your nominations...we are eager to hear from you. Tell us about your community and what makes it Stellar!
Email us at: Community Pillar
Jesus & Lilia and Fr. Francois Pellissier
National Community PillarCoordinator Team
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 Couple Prayer
When we attend a Marriage Encounter weekend, we are encouraged to pray as a couple. Many couples struggle with that. We certainly did! Sure, saying grace or reciting the Lord's Prayer together is straightforward enough. And we always attend church together on Sundays. But we discovered a brilliant prayer series that has changed our marriage.
The "Together with Jesus Couple Prayer Series" (tm) is a DVD series that you can experience as a couple in your home, or in a larger group setting. We bought the home edition for ourselves and went through it about a year ago. The format is in six sessions, one each week for six weeks. Between each session you will have seven daily prayer experiences that build on that week's DVD session.
We found this format fit very nicely with our dialogue discipline. Many of the daily prayer experiences are ready made for a dialogue question!
We learned to pray as a couple -- two spouses, one heart. At first it was awkward to share our innermost prayers to God out loud before each other. Many of the same fears and hesitations we experienced on the ME weekend about sharing feelings arose anew when we started praying together like this. But the series guided us in a gentle and loving way to open up with each other to God.
Once we experienced this, we realized that this was something we should share with our parish. When we contacted the office, we found out that a group of couples was already in the planning stages to share this very same series to the parish! We contacted them to join their effort. It turns out that they found the series the same way we did -- they just came across it on the internet. We knew that was an affirmation of the Holy Spirit! We knew right away this was definitely God's plan.
Our pastor was very supportive. He gave us opportunities to invite the parish from the pulpit at all the masses on two separate weekends. Nearly 70 couples signed up, including some engaged couples. We offered it on Sunday nights, six consecutive weeks. The response was tremendous, and we think this will change our parish.
Just as couple prayer has become a wonderful new tool in our marriage, we know that this series will also benefit Marriage Encounter. A couple who attended the series signed up for our area's next Marriage Encounter weekend two weeks later. Couple Prayer and Marriage Encounter go hand in hand, and we are sure both programs will benefit from each other.
Now we expect this to be an ongoing ministry at our church. People are already asking when the next series will be offered. Some couples from the first series have offered to help with future series.
If you want to find out more about the Couple Prayer series, here is a link to the Couple Prayer website.
God bless!
Joe and Linda Oppelt
eMatrimony editors.
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| Contact Information |
For comments related to this newsletter, or if you have something to contribute related to WWME, send e-mail to the editors, Joe and Linda Oppelt, or to Canadian editors Doriano and Patricia Baisi, or to Spanish editors Hugo and Gaby Tecuanhuehue.
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| 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. |
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2010 North American Convention
Register for the annual convention, which is June 2010 in Atlantic City, NJ!
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10/10 Dialogue
Someone else read our Dialogue books. How does that make me feel? More dialogue questions... |
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