“We knew it was a side job,” recalls Mario. “We’d just go in and get it done. Get out.”
On July 1, Mario and Paola were announced as the founding co-directors of a new Diocesan Office – the Office of Marriage and Family Life. It reflects the growth and ascension of the Diocesan Marriage Initiative, launched under the Office of Catechetical Ministry in 2010. While the couple has continued to work together in Communications Skills training, Mario became the full-time Coordinator of the Diocesan Marriage Initiative five years ago.
When it came time to establish the new office, it was suggested that the couple, through the strong witness of their own marriage and their ability to teach together, serve as co-directors. Bishop Gerald Barnes agreed.
“It brings this natural equality. We’re both capable, we’re both leading,” says Paola. “Mario and me living out our Sacrament of Marriage and Family Life, it’s going to serve us in this journey.”
The focus of the Diocesan Marriage Initiative has been on deepening the knowledge of couples about the Sacrament of Marriage. Whereas traditional Catholic marriage ministry has centered around marriage preparation for those about to be married, the Marriage Initiative has appealed to both young people who are years away from marriage as well as those already married for a number of years. The Initiative has unfolded at the parish level through the presence of mentor teams, retreats and lay leaders in marriage ministry.
About 80 percent of parishes in the Diocese have engaged with the Diocesan Marriage Initiative, Mario says. “It’s not a program, it’s a pastoral process,” he adds.
With the new Marriage and Family Life Office, there will be a greater balance between catechetics and direct services that address the everyday realities of marriage and family life, Mario says. These will include Natural Family Planning, Parenting, Mental Illness and Life Transitions such as divorce and separation. These issues have been addressed in part by other diocesan ministries, but the Office of Marriage and Family Life will serve as an information resource and a hub for those who are experiencing those realities.
Mario and Paola, who have four children, have been married for 12 years. For nine of those years, they’ve been working together in diocesan marriage ministry.
“We’ve seen so many miracles in family and marriage through these years,” Paola says. “It’s been so reassuring.”