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In May of 1999, six couples, Wayne and
Julia Pferdehirt, Dave and Nancy Comello, Mark and Bea Leidl, Dave and Beth
Latourelle, David and Diane Lins, and Frank and Julie LaBoda, came together in Madison along with John and Elaine Malakowsky of Twin Cities Retrouvaille to
discuss the need and possibility of forming Madison Area Retrouvaille.
These 6
couples had come from different beginnings in their Retrouvaille journey. The
Comellos and Latourelles had been to Rockford, IL. to make their weekends,
Liedls and LaBodas had traveled to Minnesota and the Pferdehirts and Lins had
been attendees on the first program held in Wisconsin, in Milwaukee, in
September 1998 where they met the LaBodas. In January of 1999 the Liedls and the
LaBodas met as part of the presenting team on the first
Central Wisconsin program in Wisconsin Rapids. The Comellos, Pferdehirts and Latourelles all
attended Faith Community Bible Church. These common threads and distant journeys
quickly made all involved realize the need for Retrouvaille in Madison was great
and a community was born.
John and Elaine provided a gentle push and
plans began to be made for the first program here in
Madison. In
the fall of 1999, Mark, Bea, Wayne, Julia, Dave, Beth, Dave, Nancy, David and
Diane all spent a weekend together on what would be the first official
Retrouvaille program in Madison. A formation weekend held at St. Albert the Great in Sun Prairie helped these new and willing
couples learn to write and present Retrouvaille talks. The bond formed over the
course of that weekend was the foundation on which Madison Area Retrouvaille was
built.
With Post Weekend sessions covered locally
the community continued to move forward and the first program was held at the Bishop O'Connor Center in January 2000. As of Jan. 2004, four years, 10
programs and nearly 300 attending couples later Madison Area Retrouvaille has
established itself as a place of refuge for couples in crisis. Through our
alliances with special churches like Faith Community, Mad City Church, St.
Albert and St. Maria Goretti and organizations like the Dane County Evangelical
Association and the Diocese of Madison we are able to offer pastors, counselors
and friends a resource in helping marriages in trouble.
Madison Area Retrouvaille recently
experienced its first discernment and through this enlightening and prayerful
process we were able to double the size of the MAR Board and extend our focus to
include areas like publicity and local outreach. Let's not forget that it is
only through the willingness of those who have gone before us that this ministry
exists. That is true right here in
Madison,
through the willingness of many couples we continue to grow and extend our
reach. We pray for God's continued blessings on this important ministry and on
those who work so hard to ring it to the area.
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