Florida Catholic | Conjugal Renewal Strengthens Hispanic Marriages

Conjugal Renewal strengthens Hispanic marriages

AMY FERRARA SMITH | FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF

Published: 03.21.08

Future Conjugal Renewal programs are planned for July and September. For more information, call St. Thomas the Apostle Parish at 850-627-2350.

TALLAHASSEE | When participants at Conjugal Renewal come together for the two-day marriage workshop, they bring with them experiences from a variety of Hispanic cultures, including Mexican, El Salvadoran, Guatemalan and Puerto Rican.

“It’s like a tree from a nice place,” said Daniel Maldonado, his voice accented by his native El Salvadoran accent. “If you put it on top of a rock, you have no soil.” Maldonado and his wife, Vitalina, coordinate Conjugal Renewal three times a year for the parishioners of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee.

Many of the Hispanic immigrants in northwest Florida, he said, face challenges beyond that of language barriers and low-paying jobs when they start new lives in the United States; they face struggling marriages.

“Many of their families are in fragile situations,” Maldonado added, citing the stress of culture changes as an instigator.

But Conjugal Renewal offers Hispanics the tools needed to resolve and strengthen their relationships.

Because of the number of couples who had previously approached the Maldonados for marital advice, they recognized a need for a Spanish-based marriage workshop within the Hispanic community. They heard that Conjugal Renewal, which began in Puerto Rico, had made its way to central Florida. So three years ago, the Maldonados and nine other couples from St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Tallahassee traveled to Orlando to attend the program’s training workshop.

Although the program is designed to span three days, the Maldonados condensed it into two to make it more affordable for participants. Available to both married couples and couples approaching the sacrament of marriage, it begins on a scheduled Saturday at 7 a.m. and doesn’t conclude until 6 p.m. on Sunday.

“I tell them, ‘You’re here to work,’” Daniel Maldonado said. “There are no TVs.”

The workshop covers eight topics and encourages partners to focus on God’s plan for them as a couple.

“We give them roots so that they can understand the situation and solve problems,” he said.

Once the workshop has concluded, the Maldonados and the other volunteers divide participants into smaller groups and assign leaders. With those more intimate cliques, the couples then attend eight additional scheduled sessions.

“It goes to the needs (of the people),” said Aurora Ramos, coordinator of the diocesan Hispanic ministry department. “It takes a cultural approach.”

Because Maldonado has faith in the program’s success, his goal is to help it expand into other areas of the diocese. But to do that, he said, he first needs to reach the pastors.

“We need support for this to develop so that the whole diocese can benefit,” he said. “We need a strategic plan for how we can bring it all over the diocese.”

Ramos agreed. “The priests can welcome (the Hispanics) to the parish in this way,” she said.

Father Dennis O’Brien, pastor of St. Rose of Lima Parish in Milton and director of Hispanic ministries for the diocese, explained that whatever programs the diocese offers in English should also be offered in Spanish. This is a step, he said, to make that happen.

“I wish that every parish that has a sizable number of Hispanics would accept this program,” he continued.

Father O’Brien commended the Maldonados and the other volunteer couples for their commitment to provide a Spanish-based marriage program to the Hispanic community.

“We cannot do it alone,” assured Maldonado. “It has to be as a couple.”

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