Skip to content
.

Love’s Graceful Witness

Love’s Graceful Witness is our ministry to offer marriage enrichment retreats; guiding couples to live as positive witness to one another and to the family, friends, and community who need their example.

Retreats are offered annually – and as needed for your community. The retreats are structured to emphasize time for your relationship to focus on your relationship.

We understand the zany blessing of family life; having raised seven children in a small home. And we know that distractions from work, activities, and pressures to do everything perfectly can sometimes move your marriage relationship into second place. (or third, or fourth…).

This Website

Offered on this site are thoughts or relatable stories in hope they offer insight, or a connecting point with you to know you’re not alone in your joys and struggles.

We have been richly blessed through our devotion to our Christian Faith, and devotion to one another. As we continue to – imperfectly – live out our marriage vocation we desire to be a positive sign for others to desire devotion to Christ, and devotion to marriage.

About Our Retreats

We believe this marriage enrichment experience will help you hone in on expressing your particular spiritual gifts in share & service of one another, and the relationships around you – and thereby providing positive witness to marriage for all to see.

About Us

Deborah & Roger Schroeder

Deb & Rog have been regular presenters on Marriage Preparation Retreats for the Diocese of New Ulm.

They received the Diocesan Distinguished Service Award in 2012 from Bishop John Lavoir.

Deborah has a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Psychology, and Roger earned his Master’s degree in Pastoral Administration. The Schroeders assist engaged couples through the FOCCUS, and Fully Engaged inventories, and have both facilitated their parish Emmaus Retreat numerous times.

Married for 26 years and raising 7 children we know the challenges in trying to secure time for your relationship; time to have a break from organized chaos, time for deepening your relationship with the Lord, and time which allows for the conversations that lead you to grow, and to grow toward a closer union with one another and with God.

.

Relationship

This retreat will give you an opportunity to look more closely at the Sacrament of Marriage and how you are a living witness to your Sacrament.  It will also be an opportunity to “get away” and enjoy the company of each other (without daily distractions) and the company of others who also choose living a Sacramental Marriage.

Love

As Christians we believe we were created by love and for love. The love through which we were created is intended to be shared in relationship with God for God’s purposes as well as in relationship with one another (also to fulfill God’s purpose) using our set of unique and creative abilities.

As unrepeatable persons created in the image and likeness of God with both a body and a soul, the world will never be the same simply because we exist. How we choose to utilize this gift from God is our way of expressing Love. This love is expressed for God as well as for that multitude of relationships we find ourselves in; whether that be the person standing in front with us at the alter, or standing behind us in the checkout line.

It’s Love that holds us all together.

Sacrament of Marriage

Awareness of the sacramental existence of your marriage provides greater insight into the extent to which God’s Grace is imbued in your relationship. We guide couples toward emphasizing the strength of one’s faith to be used as a source of direction, and include practical tools in assisting couples to learn how to develop their own process of discernment, and accountability to their purpose .

Witness

This is especially important living in a culture that marginalizes marriage commitment.

Even those with a rock-solid marriage commitment need positive witness to marriage.

others as to the beauty and blessings of married life;

a life that is not perfect, sometimes stressful, but nonetheless still dependable, enjoyable, and fulfilling.

Resources

If you are interested in having us speak at a workshop or retreat, we would be more than happy to talk with you about your event.

There are many marriage enrichment topics which Deborah and I have experience to speak about, but we tend to focus most often on marriage issues related to faith, intimacy, communication, family life, and community participation. We especially enjoy helping couples discern paths toward a more closely united expression of faith, as well as ministry topics aimed at rejuvenating the relationship between couples.

Content can be presented in a range of formats: short sessions at formation, special marriage events, retreats, and even including multi-day events.

Regardless of the workshop/retreat content, we believe each presentation should have the distinguishable, overarching characteristic of orienting others toward understanding the blessings of having a strong faith in Christ Jesus. For that reason, we rely on Christian resources (e.g. the Bible, the Catechism, theology articles, etc.) to support content in our presentations.

We have had a wide variety of public speaking experiences, which allow us to adapt to any setting to provide topics. We will work with you to provide the right setting and format to be most meaningful to your specific audience.

We enjoy speaking at special events such as a Marriage Celebration Day or Sweetheart Dinner. The audience at such events is typically very responsive, and we enjoy bringing the full spread of emotion into the event. The theme for events is wide open – from church teaching to lifestyle challenges. The personal struggles and humorous stories we share during our presentations help us to connect with your audience, are appropriately placed to emphasize the chosen event theme.

Feel free to contact us to discuss details or any questions you may have. Refer to the contact page to get in touch with us.

Designed using Unos. Powered by WordPress.