Contact: Dick & Diane Baumbach, Worldwide Marriage Encounter, 321-544-3440, dickanddiane66@bellsouth.net
SINGAPORE, Feb. 2, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- The World Council of Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME) held its annual meeting in Singapore late last month. Attending the meeting were six WWME ecclesial teams from six continents – North America, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Pan Africa and Pacific.
Each ecclesial team is made up of a couple and priest who work together to lead the movement on their continents. Chairing the meeting was the International Ecclesial Team, Daniel & Shelley Ee (from Singapore) and Rev. Fr. Nathaniel Gomez (from the Philippines). The meeting was held in the Marriage Encounter House at which various couple retreats, including Marriage Encounter, Engaged Encounter, Retrouvaille and Retorno, are conducted.
The meeting theme "Go Be Missionaries of Joy and Mercy" challenged the delegates to build flourishing communities of couples and priests who could reach out to more married couples, priests and religious in the world. A formation session at the beginning focused on improving leadership skills that would be cascaded down to leadership teams at different levels of the movement. A second formation at the end was on building flourishing communities in the respective continents. The meeting reviewed the progress and challenges of WWME in the continents and discussed strategies to take the movement forward. Delegates agreed to enhance the use of social media to reach out to a wider audience and maintain WWME's relevance in a fast changing world. The meeting also re-affirmed the importance of WWME communities to be close to and serving the parishes and dioceses wherever they are.
The delegates were invited to be guest presenters at a one-day "World Forum on Marriage" organized by WWME Singapore. Couples and priests from the Archdiocesan Commission for the Family, WWME and other family related movements attended it. They included WWME leadership and community teams from Malaysia, Philippines and Japan. Keynote speaker, Vicar General Msgr Ambrose Vaz, said that against a bleak backdrop of marriage being under siege worldwide, couples were being called even more to live out their sacramental vows and serve as beacons of hope. He said, "Remember, you make a difference…. We are proclaiming, through our marriages and families, the unity and love, the joy and mercy of God." Delegates gave a wide ranging account of the state of marriage and family life worldwide and presented interesting real life stories of efforts made to help couples build strong, lasting marriages and life-giving families.
WWME Singapore couples provided all the logistical needs of the meeting including catering, secretariat support, airport transfers and hosting the delegates in their homes before and after the meeting. It was the church in action, with people serving other people out of love in an extraordinary way.
The meeting drew spiritual strength form the daily Eucharistic Celebrations, evening prayers and the focus on Scripture teachings during the formations. The week-long council meeting ended with a resounding commitment to build strong flourishing communities that was best exemplified with the "battle cry" – to reach out to one more couple, one more family, one more parish, one more diocese, one more nation, all the nations!
"This meeting has been a truly enriching and fulfilling experience for the World Council. Delegates discussed and worked on substantive ways to take the Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME) movement forward in helping to build strong, life-giving marriages. The Council was touched, impressed and inspired by the WWME Singapore community for their creativity and attention to detail in hosting the entire meeting as well as the World Forum on Marriage. We thank the Holy Spirit for guiding us in the Council," said Rev. Fr. Nathaniel Gomez and Daniel & Shelley Ee, the International Ecclesial Team.
Bishop William Skylstad, Bishop Emeritus of Spokane, Washington, and ecclesial priest of the leadership team with Gene & Maggie Tokraks for North America, had this to say, "The dedication of couples and priests from all over the world and the support of the local WWME community could not have been more generous or capable. This archdiocese is blessed with some very fine servants who are very committed to strengthen and support married life and priesthood. I leave Singapore deeply inspired and grateful for these past few days."
The World Council meetings are rotated among the continents. The next meeting will be held in Quito, Ecuador.
About Worldwide Marriage Encounter (wwme.org)
Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME) promotes open, honest, tender and trusting relationships between the husband and wife, between priests and religious and their communities, and the relationship of everybody with God.
WWME is run entirely by missionaries: couples and priests who respond to the call, offering freely their service. Through living the concepts of the foundational weekend experience, their sacraments come alive. Couples are empowered to become evangelizers by witnessing to God's love. Priests and religious are called into greater communion with their people; they see they are not alone in carrying out the mission of the Church. The community that emerges is the real experience of Church.
