New England Couples' Workshop

Emilie Schuler
February 28, 2010

On Sunday, February 28th, 2010, twenty-eight matched and blessed second-generation came together in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, for the 2nd New England Couples' Workshop. While most people were from the Boston and Worcester area, we had participants who came from as far away as New Jersey and Canada.

Debby Gullery, from the National Blessed Family Department, was our main speaker. Her two presentations were "Talking about Hot Topics without Burning Up" and "The Marriage Bed." She combined True Father's words with main-stream psychology and marriage counseling in an engaging, entertaining, and thought-provoking way that had the audience in turns riveted, introspective, and laughing. She highlighted key differences in how men and women relate to each other, and gave us tools to improve our communication and unity. The presentations were followed by time for group discussions, one-on-one communication practice between spouses, and time for self-reflection.

There were also two break-out panel discussions. One for couples who are living together called, "And Three Makes Family," where older couples shared their experiences of having children, and how they combined that with school, careers, and finances. The second break-out discussion was called "Myth Busters" led by Debby Gullery and Marjorie Buessing. This discussion was focused on new couples and helping them to start out their relationship on the right foot.

The schedule was very tight, and we would have liked to have had longer to discuss these important issues, but everyone is excited to come back together soon to carry on the conversation.

The New England Young Adult Ministry plans to have four couples' workshops every year. The next one is being planned for the middle of April. We will have one taking place in Cape Cod over the summer, and then one more in the fall.

For more information about our couples' ministry, or to sign up for e-mails about future events, contact Emilie Schuler. To view all the photos of the workshop, and other albums of our Young Adult Ministry activities, go to flickr.com/youthministry.

Written by Emilie Schuler, Assistant Director of Youth Ministry in Massachusetts
Photo contributed by Masao Okano, Director of Youth Ministry in Massachusetts