Leader Couple Training
by: Brian and Emma Reaney
We are Brian and Emma Reaney. We’ve have been married for eight and a half years, and we have five children. We have an 18 year old adopted son, 7 year old son, 3.5 year old son, 2.5 year old daughter, and a 2 month old daughter. We both grew up Catholic, but have certainly learned and deepened our faith in many ways through the Lord’s infinite mercy over the past decade.
We both grew up in a small town in southern Louisiana. Brian is an attorney and co-owns and operates a small law firm and Emma is a stay at home mom and manages the bulk of the homeschooling of our children. A couple of years ago, we moved to a different area of Louisiana and were blessed with a very large and active Catholic community. We immediately felt the impact of having the support of friends through prayer and fellowship; however, we also quickly felt a new longing for more intimate support and community as a married couple. We started brainstorming ideas for building community more intentionally as a married couple, but we found ourselves in such a big community we were struggling to find the “right” solution. Good friends of ours introduced us to The Rule and Peter and Theresa’s beautiful work through the WCI and we were immediately intrigued.
The more we prayed about it and learned what we could, the more excited we became, but the concept of weekly meetings intimidated us. Finally, Brian said, “We both feel a strong pull to take this step, let’s just take it and let the Holy Spirit show us how the details will work out!” So, we applied for the training! Going into the training, we were excited to meet Theresa and Peter and learn more about what the WCI looked like and how to make it work for us. We were definitely more focused on the logistics of it all and still a little apprehensive about the whole weekly meeting detail (surrender is tough!). But we were quickly surprised by how much connection existed in the classes and mentor sessions. We felt a sense of community almost immediately, which is a beautiful testament to how Peter and Theresa have shared Pope St. John Paul II’s vision of Married Couple Groups. Even on the nights for which it felt difficult to fit a meeting in, we both had a sense of excitement to attend. Sometimes it meant an interruption from a toddler or two, an extra Benjamin Cello episode, or later than normal bedtime, but each time, we felt the sense that our priorities that evening were rightly ordered. The accommodations made felt appropriate to make the WCI training a priority.
Reflecting on the connection we felt during classes, and even more in our mentor group (comprised of us, our mentor couple, and two other couples in training), we came to appreciate the many ways Christ reveals himself to us. We experienced Christ as a teacher and friend through the vulnerability and wisdom of the other couples in the WCI and WCI training. Just as Jesus came to live alongside us, the WCI invites married couples to intimately and intentionally live alongside one another. We were struck by the beauty of this design—one that seems so obvious yet didn’t ever quite come together as our hearts were desiring—and we felt convicted that it was essential to our sanctification. To experience Christ’s wisdom, strength, joy, mercy, and love through the lived experiences and shared lives of the members of his body is a gift!
As we embark on the next phase of this journey—starting our own MCG—we are really excited to see how the Lord works in our community to form our group and all of the fruit that it will bring. Before starting the training, we were most excited for the “social gain” of an established intimate community. Of course, we were seeking wholesome and edifying social engagement, but the focus was social nonetheless. After the training, however, our deeper goals were made known—deepening our spiritual connection through the WCI’s social exercises and the materials themselves. We now have a more clear picture of the design and are excited to more fully experience and grow our conjugal spirituality through this program. We trust that growth in our united spiritual connection to Christ will flow back into our family, our group, and our community as a whole. Our Father’s love is so immense, complex, and mysterious, and we are excited to explore and commit to His love more fully through the WCI and our MCG.