By Mary Knapke

ST. ANDREW DEANERY - In 2005 Mark and Mel Fusani had been married for 11 years. Like many couples, they had begun to allow the challenges and responsibilities of daily life to overshadow the jy they once felt at simply being together as a couple.

"I had fallen into my role as provider and thought that the best way to show my love for my wife and family was to care for them financially," Mark said.

CT/MARY KNAPKE

Mel and Mark Fusani share their time and talents as leaders for Worldwide Marriage Encounter.

The Fusanis agreed that Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME) changed their live as individuals, as a married couple and as parents to Grace, 11, and Sam, eight. Parishioners at St. Francis de Sales Church in Lebanon, they now serve as area leaders for WWME in Cincinnati, Dayton, and northern and central Kentucky.

"We had allowed al that life threw at us to come between us, and we just didn't know how to handle it," Mel said, describing the situation she and her husband found themselves in before attending a WWME weekend. "We had let our differences become issues of contention insted of enjoying the excitement of being different. We forgot that we actually do complete each other because we are such opposites."

The Fusanis decided to attend a WWME weekend after learning about the experience from friends. During their own weekend, "w learned how to talk to each other about difficult and wonderful things," Mark said. "Our relationship underwent a profound transformation from living for ourselves to living to love each other unconditionally. It brought a deeper intimacy to our marriagethan we had ever experienced."

WWME allows married couples to focus on each other and their marriage for an entire weekend, away from their hectic everyday lives. During the weekend, Catholic couples and a Catholic priest deliver presentations on a serie of topics. Participating couples then have an opportunity to share with each other their joys, hurts, and concerns in a quiet, focused environment. Couples do not reflect on and discuss topics among the group as a whole, Mel said; rather, each couple tals privately in their own room.

The weekend also gives priests and religious an opportunity to focus on their own relationship with God, their community and their church. A priest is available to speak with couples throughout the weekend. "We personally ejoyed the priest's presence immensely," Mel said. "Coming to better understand his role in the church and with his people was very enriching for us."

Because they felt the weekend had so profoundly enriched their lives and their marriage, the Fusanis decded to become first a presenting couple and later, area leaders for the ministry. "Our passion for touching the lives of other couples is what inspires us to devote our time to WWME," Mark said. "We want to pass on the gift we received on our weekend and ake a difference in our troubled world, one couple at a time."

While a common misperception about WWME is that it is for couples with "bad marriages," Mel said anyone can attend WWME and find the enrichment she and Mark discovered. She added that the Retouvaille program is a more appropriate resource for couples with very troubled marriages.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends are scheduled in the Cincinnati archdiocese through 2009. For more information, visit the organization's Web site at www.wwme.rg. The WWME community of Cincinnati, Dayton, and northern and central Kentucky also has a Web site at www.esharing.org/.