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eMatrimony Newsletter
Supporting, Encouraging and Challenging the WWME Community |
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eMatrimony News
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Spring! 2013
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Greetings!
Happy and Blessed Easter!
Below you will find a greeting from our North American Secretariat Ecclesial Team, ScottandKaren Seaborn, and Fr Tom Ogg, covering among other things the recent World Council meetings. International Ecclesial Team, Tony & Cathy Witzak and Fr Emile Frische IET, provide a different perspective on the meetings and beyond, in "An Easter Story".
Another exciting report is provided by Dick & Diane Baumbach on the results of this year's Longest Married Couple Project.
Also you will see some details about next year's North American Convention - the "Living with Passion" theme is one that challenges us to examine and reevaluate where we are in our relationship not only with each other but with God and with our communities.
Finally please take the time to read an inspiring letter written by a couple recently after their WWME - it is the reason we are involved in WWME, is it not?
We hope you will enjoy this Blessed Easter Season as we celebrate the Passion of our Lord Jesus in his Victory over death and sin in his Resurrection. And as we get to know our new Pope Francis is is helpful to remember the inevitable cycle of "romance, disillusionment, and decision to love" - please keep him in your prayers as he carries the heavy burden of being "papa" to our universal Church.
Joe & Linda Oppelt eMatrimony editors 
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World Council 2013 Meeting
North American Ecclesial Secretariat Team,
Scott & Karen Seaborn and Fr. Tom Ogg
Dear Worldwide Marriage Encounter family,
God's blessings to each of you! At this writing, we have just finished Holy Week and are celebrating the joy of Easter. It always brings us such hope as we once again realize the truth that God can take the worst imaginable evil and bring it to a good beyond what we can imagine! We pray that each of you is filled with the same joy and hope this Easter season.
At this writing we are also celebrating the selection of our new Pope. The three of us are thrilled for our Church and our world at the selection of our new Pope Francis! What a beautiful model of servant leadership he sets for us all, beginning with the name choice of Francis. Perhaps you know that as a young man in the 12th century, St. Francis of Assisi heard a call by Our Lord that was to become his mission: "rebuild my Church". It strikes us how close those words are to WWME's dream to "renew the Church". Certainly St. Francis's "Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words" could be our marching orders as well: live the values and concepts of our Worldwide Marriage Encounter lifestyle at all times, and when necessary use words.
And speaking of living the values and concepts of our Worldwide Marriage Encounter lifestyle, we had the opportunity to spend one week with servant leaders from all over the world this past January as we attended our first World Council meeting held at the Mt. St. Francis Retreat Center in Colorado Springs.
 | | Scott, Karen and Fr Tom in front of Pikes Peak. |
Our International Ecclesial Team, Tony and Cathy Witczak and Fr. Emile Frische, selected the theme of our week together as "Called to Community". This call to community includes our WWME community, of course, but goes even beyond as we live our call to the entire church community into which we are baptized. We can look to Pope Francis as an example of what it means to be called to community as he continues to serve the people he has been called to lead.
During our week together as a World Council, we spent much time discussing one of the unique ways we, in WWME, live our call to community - by encouraging relationships between married couples and priests. We hope you too are discovering that within these inter-sacramental relationships we couples and priests are becoming even more of who we are called to be for each other and for our church. The three of us are convinced that couples and priests together in relationship is a model for our church of community at its finest!
Another topic of discussion during our meeting was Worldwide Marriage Encounter's petition to be recognized as a private association of the faithful, rather than a de facto organization as we are now. This change in relationship would establish a more formal relationship with our broader Catholic Church, while still allowing us to govern ourselves. WWME leadership couples throughout the world are sending letters to their bishop both informing them of this pending relationship and asking for their support. It is a wonderful opportunity for area leaders to connect with their local bishop and once again share with them the beauty and fullness of our WWME weekend that is right there in their own backyards.
In addition to being called to community, we were all once again reminded that there are many places in the world who have not yet heard the life-giving message WWME has to offer our couples and priests. We cannot forget our call to evangelize - our call to mission! As we listened to leaders from other countries share, we came to see that throughout the world we are experiencing very similar struggles in inviting and attracting couples and priests to the weekend. We all recognized that evangelizing today needs to take on more creative forms than in the past. Our message is timeless! But how we deliver that message may need to take new forms as we work on remaining relevant in today's world.
The three of us are very grateful to the Colorado Springs WWME Community for so generously responding to the Call to Community! They provided for all the needs of the Secretariat ecclesial teams traveling from Asia, Europe, Latin America, Pacific, and Pan Africa in January - complete with hand knit red and yellow stocking caps! Among many other things, this loving community provided an opening and closing potluck, and even entertained us with delightful live music. Pictured below, in front of our meeting room, is a photo of the World Council, which includes all secretariat leaders, our International Ecclesial Team, Tony and Cathy and Fr. Emile, our amazing translator couple, Jim and Luisa McMillan, and our dedicated secretary couple, Mike and Jeanne Emery.
Having the opportunity to spend a week with Worldwide Marriage Encounter couples and priests from all over the world, sharing on such an intimate level truly was priceless. We left Colorado Springs filled with hope knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are one movement, one movement that transcends language and culture, one movement united on mission, spreading the truth of Christ's love as lived and proclaimed in spousal relationship. Without this opportunity to come together once a year, we can see the real possibility that we would be pockets of couples and priests scattered throughout the world, but not united. We are grateful to be part of a movement that recognizes the unity in diversity of a movement and a church throughout the world.
May your Easter season be filled with this same hope as each of us continue to spread the good news of loving relationship in our own little corners of the world. And the church and the world will be better for this....
With our love,
ScottandKaren Seaborn and Fr. Tom Ogg
North American Secretariat Ecclesial Team
Worldwide Marriage Encounter
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An Easter Story
Tony & Cathy Witczak and Fr. Emile Frische IET
As International Ecclesial Team for Worldwide Marriage Encounter, we get to travel to some exciting places around the world. Our World Council meets in a different Secretariat each year, in recent years we visited Rome, Rio de Janeiro and Jakarta. In January of 2013, our meeting was in beautiful Colorado Springs. Although it was winter and we had all anticipated cold weather and snow, we enjoyed glorious blue skies and mild temperatures the entire week we were there.
We were greeted just as warmly by the local community. For months we had been communicating with Jim & Cindy Desautel to arrange the details of our stay. We had also been in contact with Jake & Catherine Griesbach who were in leadership in the Colorado Springs area when the dream of bringing the World Council to Colorado began. It was wonderful to spend time with the four of them before the meeting began.
 | World Council Ecclesial Teams,
in front of Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak |
We were reminded of how important the local Encounter communities are in the work of our Movement. Planning Weekends, inviting couples and priests, writing talks, presenting Weekends, building communities and passing along the values of our Movement all happen at this level! Our WWME mission to change the world begins in the individual little churches that attend our Weekends, but it really comes to life when couples and priests get together in communities and share their hopes and dreams with one another. The combined power of so many loving sacraments enlarges our vision and makes bigger dreams possible.
As the delegates from around the world began to arrive, we saw how quickly they were embraced by their housing couples. This is such a unique dimension of our charism as a Movement.
No matter where in the world you travel, you instantly have something in common with others who have lived a Weekend. Even if there are language barriers, before long you are communicating heart to heart like family, and sometimes closer than family! Our housing couple was Jake & Catherine. It happened that during our first few days with them, their son Ethan was not feeling very well-they were apologetic about the distraction, but to us it was a way to share intimately in their journey as a family.
After the meeting was under way, all the delegates moved to the Franciscan Retreat Center. It was a sprawling facility with several buildings perched on a hillside-beautifully scenic. The opening Mass was held in the parish Church on the same grounds, we had a gathering with the community that afternoon. Scott & Karen Seaborn from Illinois & Fr. Tom Ogg from Wyoming gave a formation entitled "Our Vocation is Love" based on the spirituality of St. Therese. We all dialogued and shared before enjoying a pot-luck dinner together. The other delegates were: Daniel & Shelley Ee from Singapore and Fr. Boy Gomez from Phillipines; Geore & Salome Mwangi and Fr. Peter Gichure - all from Kenya; Ben & Lian Leliefeld from the Netherlands and Fr. Boni Fernandez from Spain; Carlos & Mary Pena and Fr. Carlos Fillol - all from Argentina; Eugene & Cheryl Gabin and Fr. Doug Smith - all from Australia; Mike & Jeanne Emry from California serving as secretary couple; and Jim & Luisa McMillan from North Colorado serving as translators.
 | | Fr Emile, Cathy and Tony |
The theme of this particular World Council meeting was "Called to Community" and the next day the three of us gave a formation on this topic. There is so much that could be said about community-it was hard to limit ourselves to a few short presentations. Fr. Emile began by making the connection with the Year of Faith: "profession of faith is an act both personal and communitarian." We quoted Pope Benedict XVI who said "love of neighbor is a path that leads to the encounter with God, and closing our eyes to our neighbor also blinds us to God". It is only in working together that we can be effective evangelizers and make a difference in the world and in our Church. Love is the bond that binds us together as family. In exploring the nature of Church, Tony noted that WWME is one group of companions on mission within the Body of Christ. We have much to offer through our charism: "faith through relationship." The presentation ended with everyone sharing their feelings about belonging to a WWME community.
That evening at Mass we gave thanks for the positive beginning to our meeting. Little did we know things were going to get complicated; we were about to get a great first-hand lesson in the value of community! It was just after six in the evening when we all headed to dinner after Mass. The path from that building to the dining hall was not particularly well lit or familiar. Cathy was conversing with George & Salome and she didn't notice the deep drainage channel beside the sidewalk. In a split second she lost her footing as her right foot slipped into the ditch...
Read the rest of "An Easter Story"
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Longest Married Couple Project Report - Many Benefits have been Reaped!
Dick & Diane Baumbach
 | John & Ann Betar (l) with Diane & Dick Baumbach (r)
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In many ways February of 2013 was a spectacular month for the Worldwide Marriage Encounter movement and for the Longest Married Couple Project (LMC). As they say "from sea to shining sea" recognition was given to longest married couples at the national and state levels.
The attention to the project by not only the news media, but the entertainment world, helped to bring a new awareness to WWME and what the movement is all about - helping couples with good marriages to strive for great marriages.
Whether it was Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania, or Baltimore, Maryland or Mt. Cloud, California or Fairfield, Connecticut or the many other locations across the United States the message from WWME was the same - couples can have long lasting and happy marriages - and this year's winning couples definitely proved that.
Television, radio and newspaper reports along with postings on the internet and regular media recognition surpassed the first two years of the project. God is good. Focusing on the national winners, John & Ann Betar of Fairfield, Connecticut, we were privileged and honored to personally recognize them. The recognition was supposed to be done by Ron & Judy Pekny and Fr. Rocky Grimard, the new United States Ecclesial Team, but Storm Nemo - the blizzard of the century, prevented them for being able to reach Fairfield. We had left on Thursday night from Florida - which was just prior to the blizzard - and were able to safely get to Fairfield. When we woke up to Friday morning it was a snowstorm like we had never seen.  | Baumbach's car snowed in on Friday morning.
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We were anxious to meet the Betars and the family was outstanding in working with us for the presentation. In fact the family brought the winning couple to their granddaughter's home on Friday morning so that they could be at the Saturday afternoon presentation.
Three days prior to leaving Florida, and right after we had sent out the national news release announcing the U.S. winners, we received a phone call from the New York Daily News asking for some information about the Betars and Worldwide Marriage Encounter and the LMC project.
The next morning the lead story on the online edition of the New York Daily News was John and Ann Betars' recognition and information about WWME. NY Daily News ArticleThat set off a firestorm of media attention and by the next day national reporters were lined up at John & Ann's home seeking interviews. Other close family members were present so that the interviews could be coordinated and accomplished. Thursday night David Letterman did his Top Ten nightly list about the Longest Married Couple, at the same time Jimmy Kimmel did a short skit about the project. Then Kelly Ripa did recognition of John & Ann on her show and there were also positive comments on The View. So far there have been 562 news stories written or broadcast about the Betars, State winners and WWME. As in previous years the AVE (Advertising Value Equivalent) method has been used to measure public relations exposure versus advertising dollars. This process gives an indication of what it would cost in paid advertising to achieve the same recognition for an activity or event. For this year's project the amount comes to $13.4 million that would have had to be spent on paid advertising to get a similar display of the WWME message across the country.The project is based on nominations received from October 15 the previous year to January 10 of the current year. There could be couples married longer, but nominations were not received during the nominating period. As in previous years hundreds of nominations were received. All that being said, the real focus of this report is the wonderful, happy, inspiring and graceful John & Ann Betar. We spent two and a half hours with them and their family and during those 150 minutes we found ourselves wanting more and more to be like them and to emulate them. We have heard from other presenters across the country,who have expressed the same thoughts and feelings about their experiences with their state's winners. John and Ann, Syrian Christians, eloped in 1932 because they found out that Ann's father was arranging a marriage to another man for her. "We knew we loved each other and decided to drive to Harriman, New York to get married," John said. When they returned to Connecticut Ann's Dad was not too pleased. "But, after four months he saw that we loved each other and could make it work," John added. He also said laughing, "Many folks told us it would never last - I guess we proved them wrong." The couple still lives in their own home and are very independent. They celebrated their 80 th anniversary last November 25. John is 101 and Ann is 97. John is proud to say that he takes no pills. As we spent time with the Betars they admitted that they do argue and they said it is about the way Ann cooks, but they also said that they eat every meal together. The Betars, along with all the other couples honored across the United States, bring each of us encouragement, strength and commitment that our marriages can go the distance and can continue to be happy and alive. As we mentioned in the beginning of this article - God is good and He sure knows how to bless couples and WWME. |
WWME North American Convention 2014:
Living with Passion/Viviendo con Pasión!
Every couple of years, encountered couples and priests from all over North America get together to celebrate Marriage and Holy Orders. In 2014, the Houston area Marriage Encounter community will host the convention under the theme, "Living with Passion." Living with Passion  Each one of us has received God's call to live a full life, filled with love through our sacrament. He also calls us to light the world through our passionate embrace of this lifestyle. The lack of passion in our lives leads us to be lukewarm, causing us to forget our purpose and dreams. Instead, living life with passion is renewing our decision to love on a daily basis, it is keeping the impossible dream alive, it is keeping that fire burning inside of us so that we may illuminate the world! Loving passionately leads us to experience a full life ... the existence that God wants for us! We want to invite you to the North American Convention 2014 in Houston, TX so that we may rekindle that passion in our lives together as well as celebrate the passionate love God has for each of us that continues to illuminate every corner of the United States and Canada through the gift of the WWME Weekend. Living without passion is just to exist, survive. Living with passion is to live with all your heart! Save the Date July 25-27 2014 at the Pasadena, Texas, Convention Center. A dedicated team of couples and priests from Sections 10 and 15 is already at work to passionately bring you a wonderful convention. Want to know more? "Like" us on Facebook to find out more and receive the latest news about the convention: www.facebook.com/WwmeNorthAmericanConvention2014. Or follow us on Twitter: @wwme2014. Would you like to help? We are looking for passionate couples to help with all aspects of the convention. Time commitment is flexible. Spend as little or as much time as you want. For details, email Rita & Fernando Colina: fernando.rita@thecolinas.com. Convención Norteamericana del EMM 2014 Cada dos años, parejas y sacerdotes encontrados de toda norteamérica se reúnen para celebrar los sacramentos de Matrimonio y Orden Sagrado. En 2014, la convención será organizada por la comunidad de Houston del Encuentro Matrimonial bajo el tema "Viviendo con pasión." Viviendo con Pasión Cada uno de nosotros ha recibido el llamado de Dios a vivir una vida plena, llena de amor a través de nuestro sacramento. Él nos llama además a ser luz mediante la pasión con que abrazamos este estilo de vida. La falta de pasión en nuestras vidas nos lleva a ser tibios, llegando a olvidar nuestro propósito y nuestros sueños. En cambio, vivir con pasión es renovar diariamente nuestra decisión de amar, es mantener vivo el sueño imposible, ¡es dejarnos quemar para poder alumbrar! Amar apasionadamente nos lleva a experimentar una existencia plena... ¡la existencia que anhela Dios para nosotros! Los invitamos a la Convención Norteamericana 2014 para que juntos reavivemos la pasión en nuestras vidas y celebremos el amor apasionado que Dios tiene por cada uno de nosotros y que continúa iluminando los rincones de Estados Unidos y Canadá a través del regalo del fin de semana de Encuentro Matrimonial Mundial. ¡Vivir sin pasión es apenas existir, sobrevivir. Vivir con pasión es vivir con toda el alma!  Guarde la Fecha 25-27 julio de 2014 en el Centro de Convenciones de Pasadena, Texas. Un equipo dedicado the parejas y sacerdotes de las secciones 10 y 15 está ya trabajando con gran passion para darles una convención maravillosa. ¿Quieres saber mas? Haz click en "Me Gusta" en Facebook para obtener mas información y recibir las últimas noticias de la convención: www.facebook.com/WwmeNorthAmericanConvention2014. También puedes seguirnos en Twitter: @wwme2014. ¿Quieres ayudar? buscamos parejas entusiastas que deseen ayudar en todos los aspectos de la convención. El compromiso de tiempo es flexible. Dediquen tanto o tan poco tiempo como deseen. Para mas información pónganse en contacto con Rodrigo y Yoli Juarez: lagy60@aol.com. Hugs and God bless you, Rodrigo & Yoli Juarez 2014 NA Coordinators |
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Inspiring Testimonial from a Recent WWME Couple
[Ed Note: The following letter was sent to us from Tom & Teresa Ewing, WWME Philadelphia Area with this message, "we had the privilege of presenting a weekend in Canandaigua, NY last month to fill in for their admin set. The weekend was amazing, but more amazing was the letter we received from one of our couples." This couple has given permission to reprint their letter.]
Good Morning Marriage Weekend Presenters,
I wanted to shoot you guys an email and express Tina and my sincere gratitude for all you did to help us experience the marriage encounter weekend.
After 10 years, we were in a place in our marriage where communication was brief to say the least. It involved what was for dinner, can you pick the kids up from church school, turn the tv down I'm trying to sleep, etc, etc....Our idea of being married was you get married, find a career, have kids, the flame fades, and you prioritize family and work above each other.
This is how we saw friends, family, and coworkers deal with marriage and figured this is how it goes, it's normal for couples to drift apart over time and prioritize other things above your relationship. Slowly things continued to turn downward and Tina and I both experienced disillusionment over the last few months. We didn't know what was wrong, how we felt about it, or how to make it better, but something was definitely not right in our relationship.
Then, sitting in my office at work, a TV commercial strolled across the screen advertising http://www.foryourmarriage.org/ I stopped immediately what I was working on, and logged onto the website, yearning for any bit of advice that could help us figure out where we turned down the wrong road in our journey through the sacrament of marriage. There I found the info on the Marriage Encounter Weekend. After a little persuasion, I convinced Tina this was not group sharing (we both have issues being shy in front of groups), and that we would be sharing our thoughts and feelings alone. She decided we should give this a try (after learning we would have a weekend alone without the kids).
This was by far, THE BEST DECISION we have made in our lives together! We arrived with feelings of being alone, scared, hurt, angry, and everything in between. When we left yesterday afternoon, we were excited, happy, playful, and every other adjective that describes bliss! No, we did not solve all our problems in 2 days, but we learned how to deal with our feelings.
For the first time in 12 years we have known each other, we knew how to talk about our problems without raising our voices. I have always been quick to defend myself and try to keep the upper hand in a conflict. Both of us tended to store our feelings inside until they erupted like a volcano and destroying everything in it's path. Then we would say we're sorry and the vicious cycle would start all over again. Not this weekend thanks to dialogue. We actually dialogued about the 4 major areas we have had continued conflicts in our marriage since day one: sex, finances, emotional intimacy, and respect. And when I say we had conflicts in these areas, 99% of our arguments revolved around these areas. And they were usually barn burners!
Over the weekend, through learning dialogue, we were able to openly express our feelings to each other in a positive way. We now know how the other actually feels about these areas we have struggled with for so long. What more could you ask for? I now know how hurt Tina was when I disrespected her by making inappropriate jokes about her in front of friends. I never caught on how it really hurt her, she would give a meek smile at my rude behavior, but inside it would tear her apart. She now understands how hurt I felt when she prioritized housework, dinner, etc, instead of focusing on my emotional needs at times when I am stressed from work. We actually discussed all our problem areas through dialogue, and felt better about each other and our feelings after! NO YELLING!!!!! Lots of crying, but the GOOD kind!!
Why am I telling you guys all this about Tina and I? Not so you know about our intimate marriage issues, because I have to be honest, when we decided to come to the encounter I didn't want anyone to know where we were going, NOT EVEN MY PARENTS! I was ashamed to admit we were not perfect. I didn't want people judging us that we could not communicate well with each other and that we had issues that affected our relationship.
I want to tell you guys about us so you understand how much of an impact each and every one of you had on us and our marriage encounter over the last 2 days. Because of you guys, we now have a new found passion in us. After doing the 75/ 75 dialogue Sunday morning, we really turned a page in our lives. There was no longer any question about how we felt about each other. It opened both our eyes and made us see we really do love each other unconditionally, and that with proper dialogue we can show each other just how much! Having presenters share their dialogue made us feel at ease with the whole process. To see other people having the same issues and concerns as us and make it through in such a comforting way with dialogue, gave us the confidence that this really could work.
We now look into each others' eyes as we talk, concentrating on what we hear. On the ride home, we turned the radio off, and just talked. Not about dialoging, or the encounter weekend. We just talked. About our kids doing sports when they get older, about Tina's volleyball career from jr high to a high school. About camping this summer. What used to be airspace filled by a radio station was now dialect about anything and everything between my wife and me. The ride home was like I was on a first date and learning about my wife all over again. It was amazing, and I have all of you to thank. You each shared more warmth and love with us than anyone could ask for from a "stranger". I now feel you are a part of our lives, and will continue to pray that you are able to change others lives as you have changed mine and Tina's.
Thank you again Adrian & Sophie, Pat & Tina, and Tom & Teresa, Fr. Mike for the tools and support you have given us to strengthen our marriage and bring God closer to us and our family. As of last night, we have decided to pray together at night before bed, bring the grace prayer back to the dinner table, and get more involved with our church wherever we can help out. We will also be strong advocates for WWME at church and in our community.
If more people knew about this experience or had the courage to attend a weekend, I think many more couples would have a healthier marriage! By the way, our LOVE GROWS HERE banner is now hanging on our bedroom wall. It's the last thing we see before we go to bed at night and the first thing we see as we open our eyes in the morning. A constant reminder of what our love means to each other and to God.
Sincerely,
Todd and Tina Froedtert
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 WWME Wins 2013 About.com "Best Marriage workshop" poll.
For the second year in a row, the internationally known website About.com, which annually conducts its Readers Choice Awards, has named Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME) the winner of the Best Marriage Workshop category for 2013.
In the online voting that was conducted from Feb. 19 to March 19, 2013 an overwhelming number of votes were cast for the Worldwide Marriage Encounter program. There were four other programs that were named finalists.
"It was wonderful to have been selected by voters as the winner of last year's contest, but to have been selected two years in a row is outstanding," said Ron & Judy Pekny and Fr. Rocky Grimard, the United States Ecclesial Team for Worldwide Marriage Encounter.
Jamie & Connie McNeill and Fr. John Juhl, the Canadian Ecclesial Team for WWME, added, "We know that there were many votes cast by individuals and couples who truly believe that Worldwide Marriage Encounter is the best marriage enrichment program available. We thank all those who voted for WWME."
Similar sentiments were echoed by Scott and Karen Seaborn and Fr. Tom Ogg, the North American Ecclesial Team for WWME. "When you think of all the excellent marriage workshops that are offered, to be named the winner of the Best Marriage Workshop category two years in a row is simply wonderful."
"As we said last year, the recognition Worldwide Marriage Encounter has received from the About.com Readers Choice Award is absolutely wonderful and we hope that couples from across the world will see how strong and vibrant the WWME weekend experience is for their marriages," said Tony & Cathy Witczak and Fr. Emile Frische, MHM, the International Ecclesial Team for WWME.
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World Priest Day/
Priesthood Sunday
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| Contact Information | | eMatrimony Editors
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