THE LANGUAGES OF LOVE

Sunday, April 17th from 1:30pm - 5pm in Bay Head, NJ.   A workshop for Catholic married couples adapted from Dr. Gary Chapman's book, The Five Love Languages.  $10 per couple There is still time to register! Please click here for more information.

SAVE THE DATE: WWME APPLEBEES FUNDRAISER

"Dear friends,
We have secured the date for the AppleBee's Dining to Donate fundraiser event. It will be on Thursday May 26th, 2011. Additional details will be sent in the near future, but for the time being, please mark your calendars and reserve the date. We look forward to a successful fundraiser.
Love,
Cesar & Neri Brea
Financial couple"

WWW.GOODSEARCH.COM

What if Worldwide Marriage Encounter - Central NJ earned a donation every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? Well, now it can! 

GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine (like Google or Yahoo), get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up! 

GoodShop.com is a new online shopping mall which donates up to 30 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, eBay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you'll be supporting your favorite cause. 

And if you download the GoodSearch – Worldwide Marriage Encounter - Central NJ toolbar, our cause will earn money every time you shop and search online - even if you forget to go to GoodShop or GoodSearch first! Add the Worldwide Marriage Encounter - Central NJ toolbar at http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/worldwide-marriage-encounter-central-nj

Ask a Priest to Make a WWME Weekend!

We borrowed this post from www.wwme.org.  Many people forget that priests are a vital part of a Marriage Encounter Weekend.  Have you asked your priest to make a weekend? Don't forget that he deserves one too!

Why should priests and religious attend a Weekend?

The primary benefit for priests and religious who attend a weekend, is a better understanding of Family Life Ministries within their parishes/churches. Furthermore, there is a very high correlation of couples who attend a Weekend, and later become actively involved in their parish communities. This is primarily due to a better understanding for their Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.
Those attending a Marriage Encounter weekend learn not only about the sacrament of Matrimony, but also learn of the sacrament of Holy Orders. Collectively the Sacraments at the Service of Communion... or union (Catechism of the Catholic Church, ch. 3, Pt. 2). The weekend in all reality is focused on the integral relationship of both sacraments, their similarities, and their collective benefit to the Church and our Catholic community.

Compound these intrinsic benefits with statistical success... the divorce rate in the United States today is 52%. The divorce rate among couples who have attended a Marriage Encounter Weekend is less than 2% nationwide.

We have a dream that all Priests and other religious in our diocese experience a Weekend. These individuals subsequently recognize that couples and clergy who attend a weekend have a deeper understanding and appreciation of themselves, their spouse (or community if religious), and their relationship with God. Our goal is to have more Priests and religious attend the weekend, to appreciate their ministry, and perhaps find new ways to help assist married couples in their parishes.

PULPIT TALKS

One of the most effective ways to get the message out about WWME is through Pulpit Talks.  These are usually 3-5 minute talks presented by an encountered couple just before the final blessing at a mass.  Then the couple stands at the entrance to the church with our flyers and tri-folds to answer questions of any parishioners who may come up to them after Mass.

How can you help spread the word about Marriage Encounter?  

• Talk to your pastor and ask if he would be willing to have pulpit talks at your parish.  Then let your deanery reps know and they will contact the couple who organizes the Pulpit Talks
• Be a "Pulpiteer".  You and your spouse can be the couple that presents a Pulpit Talk.  There are outlines to follow and you can practice by having another more experienced couple review your talk.  Any encountered  couple can do this!
• Hand out tri-folds.  If you aren't ready to speak in front of the whole parish, help the Pulpiteers by handing out flyers after mass and answering the questions of people who come by.

All you really need to do is be the loving couple you are and your couple light will shine through.  

"Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps. if you are not willing to move your feet."

COMING SOON: APPLEBEES DINING TO DONATE!

A MESSAGE FROM OUR FINANCIAL COUPLE

Dear WWME Friends,

As financial couple for Central NJ one of our goals is to raise funds so that we can better afford bringing the blessing of the weekend to more couples. Here is one of these events to raise funds. AppleBee's has a program where they donate 10% of money spent on the restaurant to a charity organization like WWME. How it works is that we (Cesar&Neri) will provide them a list of restaurants where we want to participate and a date, then they send us a flyer by email, we distribute the flyer to everyone (encountered or not, all friends, families, co-workers), and folks just need to print the flyer and bring it when they go eat on the specified date, and AppleBee's then will send us a check for the amount raised.

Attached is a list of AppleBee's restaurants in Central NJ. To get started, please reply to us at cesarandneri@verizon.net letting us know if you are interested in participating and which restaurant is the closest Applebee's to you. If the closest Applebee's is not listed here, just let us know the approximate address so we can add them as well (they are all listed at the AppleBee’s website). We will then pick a date several months out to give us adequate time to give this wide publicity, and then we start sharing the flyer with friends, families, co-workers. The only thing not allowed is to have folks giving out flyers outside the restaurant the day of the event.

We willl take care of setting it up, and will inform everyone of the date. Thank you, and we hope you are encouraged to participate in this fund raising event for our wwme. Please let us know 1) if interested and 2) the restaurant near you.
With love,
Cesar & Neri Brea

cesarandneri@verizon.net

MARRIAGE... LAUGHTER EVER AFTER

Rosemarie Poverman , a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, will inspire you with her high energy , light hearted humor –based message.  

Do you need some tools to help you with stress management, problem solving & communication ?  Rosemarie takes a wonderfully useful and funny approach to it all, teaching HUMOR SKILLS as self empowerment skills.  You will leave with a renewed sense of energy & creativity in your relationship.

For additional questions or more information : Mary Mykityshyn 732 739-0924 or redcoach@comcast.net.  Light desserts will be served.

WORLD MARRIAGE DAY LUNCHEON 2011

We had a wonderful time at the World Marriage Day luncheon in Point Pleasant.  There were so many encountered couples there, we barely fit in the picture!  For a slideshow, click on the picture to the right.

Another Reason To Wear Your Marriage Encounter Jewelry!

I got on the elevator today in the parking garage already thinking about the work I needed to accomplish today.  A woman I knew from another department got on the elevator and commented about my Marriage Encounter pin.   I had worn it for Valentine's Day.  I explained about the symbolism of the heart, two wedding rings and cross and told her a little about Marriage Encounter.   By the end of the elevator ride, I promised to send her the website and an application.  

I was so excited when she called me the next day to say that she and her husband were planning to attend our next weekend in April  And it was all because I happened to be wearing my WWME pin that morning!  You never know when the opportunity for inviting may pop up!

GIFTS FROM THE HEART

Interested in purchasing WWME items like jewelry and prayer couple candles?  Visit www.wwmegifts.com. While you are there, check out Gifts From The Heart promotional items as well.  If you have any questions, you may email us at gifts@wwmegifts.com or call them at 615-876-2102.

WWME COOKBOOK

We need your help!  WWME of Central NJ is  creating a cookbook using recipes from Encountered Couples! 

The money we raise from the sale of the cookbooks would go to WWME to help fund future weekends.  If you have a recipe you would like to share, please send it to Columbia and Roy Emilio at royemilio@verizon.net. 

FIREPROOF MOVIE NIGHT

The Saint Joseph Young Adult Ministry of Toms River, along with WWME of Central New Jersey are sponsoring a Movie Night on April 9th, 2011, to show the movie, "Fireproof."  Location will be at St. Luke's parish center, on Old Freehold Road in Toms River.  We are looking for ME couples to help with refreshments, and to help set up and clean up.  We are planning on having coffee/tea, cookies/cakes and other snacks.  It is possible that some sort of child care will be available, but that has not yet been worked out.  More details will follow in the coming weeks. 

Please help support this event by bringing a snack or dessert, and showing your "couple power!"  If you can help out, please let Ron and Jackie know by emailing Ron and Jackie Cialino at cialino825@verizon.net.

CATHOLIC MEN FOR JESUS RALLY

The Annual Catholic Men for Jesus Christ Rally that will be held on March 5, 2011 at Mater Dei Prep in New Monmouth from 9:00 A.M. - 3:00 P.M.  Cost is $25 in advance, $30 at the door and $10 for students.  One of the couples who help organize the event have made a WWME weekend and WWME will have a table there. This is a great way to get the word out about WWME.
It is a wonderful opportunity and a great day of spirituality with some really great speakers, such as Fr. Larry Richards and Peter Herbeck (from EWTN's Crossing the Goal).  Our new Bishop David O'Connell will be celebrating Mass and Eucharistic Adoration also takes place during the day. This year there will also be a youth break-out session for 8th graders - college age.   
To register, visit their website at http://www.catholicmenforjesuschrist.org/

WWME Bowling Event 2011

THANK YOU to everyone who joined us for this fun afternoon of bowling.  We were able to raise $380 for WWME!   Click on the pictureto the left for a full slideshow from the event. If you missed it, watch these emails for the next event you and your family can attend! 

JANUARY WWME WEEKEND AND REUNION

Thank you to those who volunteered to pray for those making the January weekend (vigil hour couples and prayer couples).  Please pray the weather does not keep anyone from coming to the weekend they so deserve!

As you know, several weeks after a WWME weekend, we hold a reunion for those couples who made the weekend.  This is really their first taste of what attending a Sharing Circle is like. The reunion for the January weekend will be held on February 12th at 7:30 at the Hampton Inn.  Remember, if you are a prayer couple, you should attend the clap out on Sunday, Jan 30th at 3:30pm as well as contact your couple to make sure they know about the reunion.  You are welcome to come to the clap out, even if you are not a prayer couple.