by: Lauren Patterson, WCI Leader Couple, NY.
“I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly...” John 10:10
It was a sunny August afternoon, hearts filled to contentment as we returned from several relaxing days vacationing in Maine, when I felt a clear resolution in my heart: start a marriage ministry. I’d been following Peter and Theresa since the launch of the Wojtyla Community & Institute, and had enthusiastically purchased a copy of The Rule. I knew they were onto something important, but had not yet seen clearly whether this mission held personal significance for us as a couple, in our present circumstances, or for our community.
We quickly signed up for training during Fall, 2024. Leader Couple Training was a deep blessing; strangers across the country became collaborators in a shared mission (even if engaged separately), and as a married couple, Jake and I could feel our sense of gratitude and joy deepening as we completed assignments and learned the inner-workings of the ministry. We began discerning whom to ask, and agreed on three couples we’d known for quite some time, and two younger couples in our community. We were astounded when everyone was interested, and all but one committed! After 3 info session attempts were postponed due to illness, we met our local friends on zoom to discuss starting and agreed on Lent 2025 as our launch.
It is amazing how forming an intentional community and entering into a commitment with other couples deepens both friendship and an awareness of sacramental grace. Even when the timing of travel and illnesses delayed our plans, our MCG members continued to show up and enter into prayer and reflection together. While all of us were acquainted, not all were known well to one another, and recently, one member remarked on the experience of walking up to a host home on MCG night and comfortably letting herself and her husband in, while early on we all waited for an answered door. It is a small but significant sign of the subtle deepening of ties that we have experienced as we walk forward as a family of families.
In our marriages, too, we have enjoyed many blessings over the years, but in saying “yes” to this ministry, have experienced a marital life of deepening abundance: a deepening of closeness, an awareness of grace, and a lightening of burdens carried, perhaps in knowing that we are not walking in isolation but rather, in the prayerful embrace of community. One of our young husbands had the following to say about joining us:
"Being a part of our WCI group has turned out to be more of a blessing than I would've imagined. When we first started, I anticipated it being just another commitment; that we eventually dread going and the endless disruptions to other plans. It has been anything but. Although, [evident] in no one particular way, we can feel the positive connection it has created– not only in our group, but in our marriage– and we now look forward to attending each week. It is slowly and strategically developing us into better people in such seemingly insignificant ways that we don't notice in the day to day. It's not until we look back and recognize how far we've come....it truly is like stock investing, with each added investment and more time, the better the outcome. In this case though, we are investing in our souls, our marriages, and our Catholic community; what better thing to invest in than that. I feel truly blessed to be a part of the WCI."
There are so many gifts in the NY MCG, including three couples who already collaborate in Pre-Cana ministry locally and a new and growing miscarriage ministry. I cannot wait to see how the abundance that Jesus promises manifests in the future: in our group, in our Diocese, and in and through the marriages united under the banner of the WCI!
Come, Holy Spirit, and Thank You, Jesus!