A married couple that leads the Teams of Our Lady, founded by newly-declared Venerable Father Henri Caffarel, explains how this lay apostolate helps couples grow together in holiness.<\/p>\n
Father Henri Caffarel, a French priest whose apostolate centered on accompanying and guiding married couples on the path to holiness, is one step closer to being canonized.<\/p>\n
On March 23, Pope Leo XIV recognized the heroic virtues of the newly declared venerable, who maintained that couples are made for happiness and that marriage is a path toward it.<\/p>\n
With this deep conviction, and conscious of the challenges faced by couples, Caffarel, who was born in Lyon, France, in 1903, founded the movement for marital spirituality known as \u201cTeams of Our Lady\u201d in Paris in 1939.<\/p>\n
The beginning of a living legacy<\/p>\n
Spaniards Alberto P\u00e9rez Bueno and Mercedes G\u00f3mez-Ferrer Lozano, the couple in charge of the Teams of Our Lady internationally, have been married for 35 years and have three children. In an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, they said the ministry started \u201cwith four couples who approached Father Caffarel to ask him how they could live out their faith as a couple.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t have an answer at that moment, so he proposed that they embark on a journey of discovery together rooted in the sacrament of holy orders and the sacrament of matrimony. And that\u2018s how it all began,\u201d Alberto explained.<\/p>\n
Following World War II, the movement, which is primarily lay-led, grew rapidly; today, it is present in 92 countries and is comprised of more than 15,000 teams.<\/p>\n
Father Henri Caffarel. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Alberto P\u00e9rez Bueno<\/p>\n
Marital communication and prayer<\/p>\n
Mercedes emphasized that from the very beginning, Caffarel saw the need to foster the essentials of marital communication and prayer, convinced that by sharing their problems with one another, many couples could avoid estrangement that sometimes occurs in marriage.<\/p>\n
The priest, Alberto recalled, said that \u201cthe sacrament of matrimony is an image of God\u201d and \u201cprobably the most perfect one there is.\u201d The priest said married couples are called to holiness through a life of \u201cwork, personal growth, love, patience, and building a life together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2018s not an overnight process but rather a journey undertaken over the course of a lifetime. Father Caffarel invited couples to embark on this path and to attain holiness through their work and their life together,\u201d Alberto emphasized.<\/p>\n
Mercedes said the priest thought of marriage as a sign \u201cthat reflects the love of God\u201d because the relationship of communion that exists between spouses is analogous to the relationship existing among the three Divine Persons: Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
In the priest\u2019s view, the image of marriage allowed for a clearer expression of the idea of \u200b\u200ba God who is love \u201cand who communicates and expands within his own nature.\u201d From this perspective, \u201choliness ceases to be understood as a matter of individual effort or moral perfection and is situated instead within the dynamic of love that transforms and animates life,\u201d Mercedes explained.<\/p>\n
A continuous path of spiritual growth<\/p>\n
The organization of the Teams of Our Lady is based on a specific methodology \u201cthat goes beyond monthly meetings,\u201d encompassing prayer, dialogue, and personal commitment. Each team consists of five or six married couples, fostering \u201clistening to the word, personal prayer, prayer as a couple and family prayer, and a profound dialogue in the presence of the Lord that we also have every month,\u201d Mercedes explained.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, it is a matter of \u201chaving a rule of life, a set of elements through which you strive to improve your Christian life,\u201d she said. There is also a yearly retreat and a specific study theme each month.<\/p>\n
Alberto emphasized that the Teams of Our Lady are, in a sense, \u201cprecursors of the synodality\u201d promoted by Pope Francis. \u201cIt\u2019s a movement that is very nonclerical \u2014 though, it must be said, the accompaniment of married couples by priests is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also noted that \u201cmarried couples place their time, their skills, their charisms, and their gifts at the service of others in order to build community.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mercedes, who had the opportunity to meet the now-venerable, recalled that in 1973 he stepped aside after founding the teams, convinced that \u201cif it was a work of the Holy Spirit and possessed a charism for the Church, there was no need for him to stay on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leaving the ministry in the laity\u2019s hands, he retired to a house of prayer on the outskirts of Paris, where he began his other \u201cgreat work\u201d: teaching people how to pray. Mercedes noted that \u201cone of the things he desired most was to teach people how to draw closer to Christ and to serve as an intermediary so that every person could have a personal encounter with God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alberto P\u00e9rez Bueno and Mercedes G\u00f3mez-Ferrer Lozano, international organizers of Teams of Our Lady. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Alberto P\u00e9rez Bueno<\/p>\n
The challenges facing married couples today<\/p>\n
Alberto and Mercedes explained how married couples today confront new challenges stemming from the pace of life, particularly the \u201cmassive entry of women into the workforce,\u201d which has brought different challenges, such as \u201cfinding time to be together and talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
They highlighted Caffarel\u2019s enduring counsel: \u201cSeek out these moments; don\u2019t let them slip away,\u201d for life \u201csweeps us along like a fast-moving river.<\/p>\n
They also highlighted the movement\u2019s impact in countries such as Lithuania, with a past marked by communist repression, or in African nations where the teams foster equality, participation, and changes such as abandoning polygamy. This is also true in Europe, where the Teams of Our Lady help strengthen families within increasingly secularized societies.<\/p>\n
Both highlight the universal impact of the movement: Couples from diverse cultures agree on the benefits received, particularly the \u201copportunity to pray together\u201d and the realization of \u201chow difficult it would have been without the presence of Christ in their married life.\u201d Ultimately, this is a way of life that responds to a profound desire: Even as sacramental marriages decline, \u201cthere is no diminishing of people\u2019s desire to live as a couple.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercedes also warned of a growing way of dealing with problems: \u201cAt the slightest setback, people are right off tempted to give up,\u201d and the couple is not taught how to \u201cpersevere and forgive.\u201d Added to this is \u201ca great fear of commitment\u201d and a tendency to avoid lasting bonds or communities despite the fact that, deep down, people \u201cwant to be happy and want to stay together.\u201d<\/p>\n
For this reason, she emphasized the importance of mutual support and community life: \u201cIt\u2018s fundamental to allow oneself to be helped,\u201d since in her view navigating married life in isolation \u201cis extremely complex.\u201d<\/p>\n
The teams offer precisely the necessary tools and support: a setting where married couples share their problems and solutions. Drawing upon their own experiences, they particularly encourage young couples to embark on this path of holiness.<\/p>\n
Both expressed their joy that Caffarel has been declared venerable, a long-awaited recognition following nearly 20 years of going through the beatification process, which continues, awaiting a miracle wrought through his intercession.<\/p>\n
Acest articol a fost publicat ini\u021bial de ACI Prensa, serviciul de limb\u0103 spaniol\u0103 al EWTN News. Ea a fost tradus\u0103 \u0219i adaptat\u0103 de EWTN News English.<\/p>\n