December 17, 2023

Retrouvaille marriage help program to be held Feb. 9-11

REGIONAL
Staff report

SPRINGFIELD – A retreat for married couples who are struggling or are on the verge of divorce is being held Feb. 9-11 in the Diocese of Springfield. The Retrouvaille retreat, which is completely confidential, provides tools to help couples communicate better, resolve conflicts, and rediscover why they fell in love.

Kathy and Russ Held, parishioners at St. Michael Parish in East Longmeadow, are the coordinators for the Retrouvaille Program in western Massachusetts and Connecticut. The Helds said Retrouvaille saved their marriage.

“We would love to raise awareness during the holiday season into the new year as January is considered the divorce month,” said Kathy Held. “Many decide in the new year to call it quits,” she said.

The couple, who went through the program when their three children were young, have been married for 30 years.

 “It gave us hope when we had very little. We built on that until we got back on our feet and I can’t imagine what our lives would be like now. The easy part might have been to give up on everything, but we’ve found it was worth every effort we made to save our marriage,” said Russ Held.

Retrouvaille is a Christian-based ministry for married men and women who are on the brink of divorce. Catholic in origin, Retrouvaille has three components, including a weekend retreat led by a priest and three couples who have overcome conflict in their own marriage; 12 follow-up sessions; and monthly support meetings called CORE, or Continuing Our Retrouvaille Experience.

St. Joseph is the patron saint of the program.

For more information, call (800) 470-2230 or email helds4marriage@gmail.com. All inquiries are confidential.