Combating Marriage Encounter Burnout

Ralph & Jane Becker

(This article was forwarded by NoyDel Tarossa)

Marriage Encounter is a wonderful, enriching, and fulfilling ministry, but it can be very demanding. Our mission to "renew the church and change the world" is a huge job! Many Sacraments come off of a Weekend experience full of drive and enthusiasm, just begging for things to do to help the cause. More "seasoned" couples and priests may find that they are asked to do more and more as their experience and capability within our movement grows. However, as our burden increases, our stress level can go up, and our ability to perform those tasks may go down.

Listen Up!

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Tony Valdes.

As part of earning my bachelor’s degree in rhetoric and communications I elected to take SPC 3350, a college course titled “Listening,” taught by the forebodingly named Dr. Paine. I’ll admit that I was skeptical when I sat down on the first day of class. After all, is listening really something we have to learn to do? According to Dr. Paine, yes, listening is a learned skill. He made a distinction that has never left me: there is a significant difference between hearing and listening, and under no circumstances can those two words be considered synonymous. Hearing is a biological function, and like breathing or blinking it happens whether you are consciously telling yourself to do it or not.

WHO IS HIROO ONODA AND WHAT CAN HE TEACH CATHOLICS ABOUT MORALITY?

Meet Hiroo Onoda. Lt. Onoda was a commando in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and, in 1944, was stationed on an island in the Philippines with a group of three other solders. Their mission was to remain in the mountains and enact guerrilla warfare on the fishing villages below. When his commanding officer, Maj. Taniguchi, gave Onoda his orders, it was included that the Lieutenant should not, under any circumstances, leave his post unless Taniguchi gave him orders to do so – in person.

COHABITATION’S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Back the 1970s there was a lot of talk that living together before marriage was a “wise” thing to do. After all, said its proponents, “You need to try a shoe on before buying it” and “You take a car for a test ride before negotiating the deal.” Never mind that human beings are a little more dignified and complicated than shoes or cars, and that we don’t “buy” one another. Never mind all that, according to the proponent of this theory, we were supposed to bow our heads to the obvious wisdom of “shacking up.”

UNTIL DEATH DO US PART

I came across an amazing marriage recovery story when I was working on the Amazing Grace for Married Couples book. A priest friend who heard of the title I was working on told me, "Oh, do I have a story for you!" He wasn't kidding! Alcoholism, drugs, adultery, and then just when all seemed lost, a miraculous conversion. Oh, I've given away the ending. Still, you will be amazed.

I interviewed both spouses (I ghost wrote the story) and met them in person. This story is real and one that will strengthen your own marriage. Either you can say, "We aren't that bad!" or, "We'll, I guess there is hope for us."

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“Mommy, Where’s Daddy?”

Theresa looked down at her innocent little girl, just barely out of diapers. She swallowed hard, smiled, and then told the same lie she always told her children.

“Daddy’s still at work, honey. Now let’s get you ready for bed so there’s time to read a book.As Theresa called her other four children to start the bedtime routine, she wondered where her husband Paul really was. Of course she knew it was a bar. “But which one and where? And when would he come home...or rather would he come home this time?” Then, a scary thought pushed its way into her thoughts. “Maybe it would be easier if he never made it home...” But Theresa immediately stopped herself. “No,” she determined, “I won’t think like that.” And then Theresa did what she did every night. She prayed. “Please God, bring Paul home safe and please help him to get better.”

SPRING HAS SPRUNG! FROM WORLDWIDE MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER!

Dear gerry&mila,

There are so many great stories to share it's almost too much for one edition! So we have included many links for you to go to other webpages to read the full story.

Lisa and Gary Morris, of Acworth, Ga., encountered in 1978 and currently serving as the National Executive Lay Couple for Worldwide Marriage Encounter United Methodist, were featured in an article about "The Power of Daily Writing" on the American Profile website. See the sidebar "Marriage in the News".

Also take a look at that sidebar area for just a few of the recent articles generated about marriage, most of them concerning the Longest Married Couple results. Dick & Diane Baumbach and Father Dick Morse, North American Weekend Pillar Coordinators, provide a recap of some of the results of this year's project.

Also - please don't forget to register for the 2012 North American Secretariat Convention! The convention will take place in Sacramento CA on July 13-15. Please see below for the link and more details.The website now has a neat video to watch!

Joe & Linda Oppelt
eMatrimony editors

Have a blessed Lent and a joyous Easter!

Archbishop Tagle urges removal of frivolities from weddings, other rites

By Philip C. Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer

In the words of His Eminence, drop all those ka-ek-ekan (roughly translated frivolities).

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle on Saturday urged the faithful to avoid practices that embellish or depart from sacred Catholic rites, like having dogs as wedding ring bearers or wedding planners telling priests what to do and where to stand.

Tagle noted that some Filipino Catholics had been treating the sacraments as if they were merely venues for “social gatherings or cultural traditions,” thus losing the deeper spiritual meaning of these events and rituals.

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The Idiot’s Guide to Fasting and Abstinence: 5 Things to Know

by CARLOS URBINA on Feb 24, 2012 • 4:00 am

“Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry.” St. Matthew

1. Tradition and Canon Law

Pope Clement XIII

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