SAN BERNARDINO, Calif., Oct. 26, 2015 /
Christian Newswire/ -- Worldwide Marriage Encounter, the original faith based marriage enrichment program, recently selected a new United States leadership team. The new United States leadership team is Joe & Sue Talarico from Concord, CA and Fr. Tom Ogg from Ten Sleep, WY.
"We are very excited that Joe & Sue and Fr. Ogg are leading Worldwide Marriage Encounter's efforts in the United States. They share our vision to renew the Sacraments of Marriage and Holy Orders, and to help assist U.S. Bishops in their strong support for marriage and the family, "said Gene & Maggie Tokraks and Bishop Bill Skylstad, the Worldwide Marriage Encounter North American Secretariat leadership team.
Joe & Sue have been involved in WWME since 2005. They have served as local and regional leaders for Worldwide Marriage Encounter. Joe is a business consultant and Sue is a school teacher. They have been married for 38 years.
Fr Tom attended the weekend in 1975. He has been a parish priest for 47 years and currently serves in the Diocese of Cheyenne. Most recently Fr. Tom served as the ecclesial priest for the North American Secretariat of Worldwide Marriage Encounter. He has also served as the president of the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors. "We want to improve communications across all levels of our movement and with the Universal Church" said Joe & Sue and Fr. Tom.
"This is an exciting time to serve our movement and our Catholic Church" said Joe, while Sue added that "it seems our entire Church is recognizing the urgency of promoting strong Christian marriage." Fr. Tom said "I feel honored and privileged to be selected to lead with Joe & Sue. We hope to further expand our programs in the United States. This is a special time for our country."
Worldwide Marriage Encounter recently celebrated its 47th anniversary and its presence in just under 100 countries makes it the largest pro-marriage movement in the world. In the United States, the movement is divided into 20 regions based on geography and language (English, Spanish and Korean). Joe & Sue and Fr. Tom will lead the United States portion of this worldwide movement.
Worldwide Marriage Encounter offers married couples the opportunity to spend time together away from the busyness of the world to focus on each other. It offers tools for building and maintaining a strong, Christian marriage in today's world. The weekend is also open to priests so they can focus on their Sacrament of Holy Orders. To learn more about the Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends online, go to
www.wwme.org or contact the WWME National Office at (909) 863-9963.
