"The guardians of hope....For couples who have lost all hope."
Pope Benedict
History
Cherish 2022
Retrouvaille is an International community of disciples committed to the continued healing of their marriages and, empowered by the Holy Spirit, sharing their stories, talents and gifts to promote and spread the healing ministry of Retrouvaille.
Retrouvaille of Grand Rapids exists to provide help for couples in West Michigan and beyond who are living with the disappointment and pain of a marriage in trouble. The program is designed to get couples to communicate, to turn to one another and begin talking at a heart-to-heart level.
We believe that every marriage, a union of one man and one woman, deserves the opportunity to survive, be healed and thrive as a covenant of life and love. Retrouvaille is the place where we, as hurting couples, found hope and so we are passionately committed to dramatically increasing the number of couples involved in our ministry.
Retrouvaille of Grand Rapids was started in 1996 by Malcolm and Jill Lofley and Carl and Sherran Esh. Retrouvaille had saved each of their marriages and they felt God’s calling to begin a program here in West Michigan. At the time Retrouvaille in Michigan was only offered in Lansing, Detroit and Gaylord which has since disbanded. That meant people often had to drive well over a hundred miles to find a program that could save their families. We started here in West Michigan with the efforts of those two couples and a donation of training and printed materials from Retrouvaille of Detroit and 10,000 flyers donated by the Catholic Information Center. And yet, despite their best efforts by 2007 there was only one couple left in Grand Rapids to carry on the program. Deacon Dan and Vicki Schneider decided that the program was significant and need to be saved so they spent a marathon session of three months writing and presenting each of the follow up or POST sessions so that the ministry could continue here in West Michigan. It was that important. Since 1997 Retrouvaille of Grand Rapids has grown from one WEEKEND a year to three with an average of 20 couples per WEEKEND. Today we have an active and vibrant board and community and many volunteers to help bring the message of God’s healing to West Michigan families. Marriage and families are that important to us. You are that important.