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Invite to Renew the Church & Change the World

Gary & Marcia Daigle < >

Renewing the Church & Changing the World
One Couple & Priest at a Time!
God is calling us to Invite and spread the good news!

I, Gary, arrived at the Howard Johnson Hotel on the Beach in Gulfport, MS. on Friday night December 2, 1988 with visions of a leisurely weekend & some time on the beach! Boy was I in for a surprise!!! As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed of number of cars with Marriage Encounter stickers on their rear windshields. I turned to Marcia & said, “Well, I’m here, but I’ll never have one of those stickers on my car!” And God must have chuckled!

I rediscovered Marcia as my best friend and DISCOVERED the power of the Lord’s presence working within our relationship that weekend!

On our weekend, “we got” what I, Marcia, had seen in couples that I knew were involved in WWME and longed for – that renewed spark of romance, fun and genuine intimacy that had been a distant memory from our early marriage.

We left that weekend with a whole new outlook on life, our relationship, God and our Catholic Church! We couldn’t wait to get home and share our rejuvenated relationship with our kids, who were 10 and 8 at the time, and share the great news of the weekend with our family and friends!

We clearly heard God’s call on the weekend to make a difference in the world around us! We were so grateful to all the couples & priests who came before us and kept the dream of the weekend alive for 20 plus years so we could experience the renewed joy & hope that comes from sharing your life with your best friend & lover! We desperately want our children to have the same opportunity.

So we responded to God’s call by becoming active in personal inviting and local WWME organized inviting events. It is a wonderful journey filled with deep friendships with families and priests who appreciate what is truly meaningful in life.

We offer the following suggestions to help you:
· Your relationship is the best advertisement!
· Whenever possible, invite as a couple, but don’t pass up an opportunity if you’re alone
· Highlight what the weekend did for you
· Improved communication & listening to each other!
· Improved communication with the kids – even the teenagers!
· Rekindled romance – the guys usually rephrase this benefit!
· Better able to tackle life’s curve balls, like finances, in-laws, etc.
· Whatever is pertinent to you and will relate to them.
· Give them a WWME Inviting Video to watch – sometimes a prophet (that’s you) in his own town…… in other words, they might listen to a stranger instead of you!
· Again, your relationship is the key – they will want what you have!
· Don’t get discouraged, statistics show it takes 4 to 7 hits before a couple signs up.
Good luck with your inviting!
Gary & Marcia Daigle and Fr. Tom Frank, SSJ
Weekend Pillar National Secretariat Committee

Click here to download a printable document (PDF, 89KB)