ject but a subject of the new

evangelization.”

The Alexander House Aposto-

late is committed to strength-

ening, educating and renewing

married couples, this is why

we strongly believe that hav-

ing a strong Marriage Ministry

in every parish is of the utmost

importance for our Church.

When marriages are in trouble

they instinctively turn to their

Parish for help and we can of-

fer the solid formation and

faithful support that they

seek.

Our COVENANT OF LOVE MINIS-

TRY seeks to create and sup-

port an infrastructure at the

parish level that will aid

priests, through the laity in

being there for the many cou-

ples who are in need of hear-

ing the Good News about their

marriage, a true New Evangeli-

zation for the heart of society.

Whether our culture recog-

nizes it or not, we know that

MARRIAGE is important. It is

the foundational structure of

the family and thus, of every

society. Blessed John Paul II

reminded us that “It is in the

family, that the mutual giving

of self on the part of man and

woman united in marriage cre-

ates an environment of life in

which children develop their

potentialities, become aware

of their dignity and prepare to

face their unique and individ-

ual destiny”. (CA 39)

This fact leads us to think very

seriously about what we are

doing as a society, and more

especially as members of the

Church to support, enrich and

educate those who are looking

to get married as well as those

couples who are already mar-

ried but find themselves with-

out direction.

In this Year of Faith, which

Our Holy Father, Pope Bene-

dict XVI has called out of a

profound love for his children.

He reminded us in his homily

at the opening Mass for the

Synod of Bishops that:

“Matrimony is a Gospel in it-

self, a Good News for the

world of today, especially the

dechristianized world. The un-

ion of a man and a woman,

their becoming “one flesh” in

charity, in fruitful and indis-

soluble love, is a sign that

speaks of God with a force and

an eloquence which in our

days has become greater be-

cause unfortunately, for vari-

ous reasons, marriage, in pre-

cisely the oldest regions evan-

gelized, is going through a pro-

found crisis. And it is not by

chance. Marriage is linked to

faith, but not in a general

way. Marriage, as a union of

faithful and indissoluble love,

is based upon the grace that

comes from the triune God,

who in Christ loved us with a

faithful love, even to the

Cross. Today we ought to grasp

the full truth of this state-

ment, in contrast to the pain-

ful reality of many marriages

which, unhappily, end badly.

There is a clear link between

the crisis in faith and the crisis

in marriage. And, as the

Church has said and witnessed

for a long time now, marriage

is called to be not only an ob-

THE HEART OF THE PARISH: TAKING MARRIAGE TO A NEW LEVEL

Love connections Love connections Love connections

Winter 2012

Proclaiming the Beauty, Goodness and Truth of Marriage

Visit us at www.thealexanderhouse.org

TAHA offers Marriage Disciples services to couples via confidential in-person, email or phone consultations. Greg

and Julie Alexander are in charge of personally training each coaching couple to be able to respond to God’s call

for helping bring healing, and forgiveness to those who need it.

For more information on our 6 step program call us at (210) 858-6195 or send us an e-mail at:

marriagedisciples@thealexanderhouse.org

2

I am Jimmy

Mancini and my

wife is Joanna.

We’ve been mar-

ried for 17 years

and we have one

amazing 11 year

old son and 2

precious children

in heaven.

We believe that

our past experiences contribute to being

Marriage Disciples because we know first-

hand what marriage is like when it is AND

when it is not Christ-centered. We built our

house on sand. After dating for 2 years, we

cohabitated and then decided to get mar-

ried a year later. We thought we had it

all. Both of us were doing extremely well

in our careers, winning sales awards and

making lots of money. We would go on

fancy vacations, drive expensive cars, and

the party was always going on at our house.

We were contracepting and we actually had

a pact that we would not have children for

a long time as they would slow us down, get

in our way...how sad and what a slap in

God's face. We were destroying our mar-

riage and didn't even know it.

We had no real relationship with God ex-

cept one of convenience and we were trying

to fill our 'God-shaped' holes with success,

material possessions, alcohol, & drugs.

Our spiritual sickness progressed and we

went spiraling downward. I finally admit-

ted to Joanna about my infidelity and we

separated.

I never stopped loving Jimmy, but I didn’t

know how to forgive him. Our house built

on sand collapsed. In my addiction, I lost

HOPE. I filed for divorce, the worst mis-

take of my life. The pain of divorce is so

horrible that I cannot begin to describe it.

While we were divorced, I too committed

adultery, not knowing that in the eyes of

the Church we were still married. Jimmy

took the advice of our marriage counselor,

and got help through a 12 step program.

Through intensive work, he recovered and

started to become the man God intended

him to be. We were apart for a year and

then we prayed a 30 day novena to Mother

Mary for “clarity and direction.” Through

our Blessed Mother’s intercession, we re-

ceived HOPE and we reconciled! The 30th

day of this powerful novena fell on June 10,

2000….when we looked at the calendar that

day we saw that it was the Feast of the

Most Holy Trinity. We had been married in

Holy Trinity Catholic Church in 1995!!!

The Holy Trinity made it abundantly clear

that we were to be together until death do

us part….and that WITH HIM, we could have

a joy-filled marriage.

Jimmy became my inspiration and I too

recovered from my disease and started to

become the woman God created me to be.

The scales were removed and the Holy Trin-

ity gave us the eyes to see that selfishness

and self-centeredness was the root of all

our problems. Having had a spiritual awak-

ening, our Catholic faith came alive. We

never knew what a treasure we had in our

Church and the amazing, powerful Sacra-

ments.

Our lives were transformed, our marriage

was healed and we were made anew!!!

The single most important thing we have

learned in order to have a successful mar-

riage is to put God in the center of our

lives and rely on Him rather than on self.

To be in harmony with God’s Will is abso-

lutely beautiful! When we look back, we

realize that the things which came to us

when we put ourselves in God’s hands

were better than anything we could have

planned. With God all things are possible

and there is always HOPE!!!

We are eternally grateful to our heavenly

Mother whose powerful intercession led us

to her Son Jesus in a very special way. We

were married on Oct 7th - the Feast of Our

Lady of the Rosary…..we’ve been praying

the Rosary together every day since the

healing of our marriage 12 years ago….and

we believe firmly that the Rosary is our

strongest spiritual weapon next to the

Holy Mass. We recommend praying the

Rosary together as a couple/family every

day…..true miracles happen.

“We never knew what a

treasure we had in our

Church and the amazing,

powerful Sacraments.”

MEET OUR MARRIAGE DISCIPLES:

JIMMY AND JOANNA MANCINI

AS

K A

MA

RR

IAG

E

DIS

CIP

LE

Q: If I forgive my spouse, does that mean I have to immediately trust again? A: Forgiveness and trust are two different things. Forgiveness should be given unconditionally, but trust must be earned. Forgiveness, like love, is not a feeling. It's a conscious act of the will. When we forgive we give up our desire for ha-tred, resentment or revenge and we put justice in God's hands where it belongs. Our feelings may not change right away, but we can still make the choice to forgive. Remember that when we say the Our Father we are asking God to forgive us as we forgive others. But just because we forgive our spouse it does not mean that trust will automatically be restored. It takes time to rebuild it. The spouse who broke the trust must be willing to do the little things that will earn trust while the spouse who was hurt must be willing to give opportunities to earn it. When our trust has been broken by our spouse it is important not to equate forgiveness with trust because when we do we risk hindering healing and restoration in our marriage.

To donate visit us at www.virtualgala.org 3

TH

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RU

E M

EA

NIN

G O

F S

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RSD

SH

IP

The Alexander House’s mission is to proclaim the beauty, goodness and truth of marriage. But what does this mean?

Greg and Julie have founded an apostolate for all married couples to know God’s intended plan for them through the

Catholic faith and the teachings of the Church. In fact, this program is so well thought out and precise, that we feel it

should be a part of every pre-Cana program before couples get married.

Tina and I have learned God’s purpose for marriage and it has infinitely enriched our own marriage. In fact, the most inti-

mate act we now share daily is to pray together each morning. That in itself has transformed our marriage from being self

-centered to being God-centered, which is how He intended the Sacrament of Marriage to be.

The Alexander House Apostolate addresses couples and marriages, in various ways through one-on-one coaching, the

Covenant of Love “Date Night” program, guest speakers and priests; all focusing on teaching us how to be better partners

to one another as God intends; not how the world does. Ever since we were

blessed to go through the Marriage Disciples process we have been financial sup-

porters because we know that every monthly donation make this ministry run and

spread this Truth. Now Tina and I have decided to become Marriage Disciples to

spread this goodness and truth to others. We have been blessed with our mar-

riage and are excited to be a part of TAHA’s mission.

PARTNERS FOR MARRIAGE: “FITZ” AND TINA FITZGERALD

Like the good steward in the Gospels, we know we are all called to make the gifts we have freely received from God’s bounty,

bear fruit. In an effort to do just this The Alexander House has decided to gift their programs to all those who need them; but

we need your generosity to help us fulfill God’s mission … we are willing to go out and bring the Good News, are you willing to

partner with us by sharing your time talent and treasure to save a marriage? Prayerfully consider if you would be able to

make a donation to TAHA. Go to www.virtualgala.org

“A DOLLAR A

DAY TO KEEP

DIVORCE

AWAY”

Never before in the history of man has mar-

riage experienced such a concerted effort

to destroy it. However, it is not the con-

cept of marriage that is sustaining the

blows, but the very ideal of what God in-

tended it to be. There are those who de-

sire to change marriage to fit their own

desires to include people of the same sex

sharing in the bond. There are those who

fail to see the “sacramental beauty” of

living marriage by God’s design and they

miss out on the very grace that allows them

to live out what they said “I do” to. And if

that isn’t sad enough, there are those who

forego marriage altogether and just resort

to living together. To make matters worse –

the majority of us just sit back and allow

this evil to prevail.

Ignorance is a great factor in this equation,

and I am not throwing stones, as Julie and I

were ignorant of these facts at one point in

our lives. But God allowed us to discover

His truths for the Sacrament of Marriage

and our lives have not been the same since.

It is because of our own struggles and many

years of working with couples in our Mar-

riage DisciplingTM and workshops that we

have come face to face with the fact

that there needs to be a comprehensive

structure that would house all marriage

ministries in every parish in every dio-

cese. This structure is in no way meant

to take over the goals of the Office of

Marriage and Family Life but to be as a

tool to empower parishes and make

available to the couples the resources

they need in order to live a happy and

holy marriage.

Our concept for this Marriage Ministry

structure has been celebrated by the

National Association of Catholic Family

Life Ministers (NACFLM), as they and the

American Bishops see a real need to

become a “Marriage-Building” Church.

The Alexander House has been blessed

to be included in several efforts

mounted by these two entities to create

idea and implement processes to make

this a reality.

The specific plan of The Alexander

House Apostolate is to have a COVENANT

OF LOVE Ministry Team in as many par-

ishes in each diocese as possible; hous-

ing not only the DATE NIGHT component

of the Covenant of Love Ministry, and the

MARRIAGE DISCIPLES (couple-to-couple

mentoring), but other ministries as well

that will minister to the various ages and

stages of the marriage life-cycle.

We realize that the project seems to be

enormous but no project is too big if you

break it down into parts. Our plan is to put

in place a Regional Coordinator for The

Alexander House in each of the 13 regions

in which the Catholic Church is divided in

the U.S. We are very happy to say that

our efforts are well on their way as we

have been training regional coordinators

for Region XIII (Arizona, Colorado, New

Mexico, Utah and Wyoming), Region VI

(Michigan and Ohio) and Region IX (Kansas,

Iowa and Missouri) These wonderful cou-

ples share with us the vision of Proclaiming

God’s Plan for Marriage to all those who

are in need.

We humbly ask you to keep this mission in

your prayers, as it is not about us - but

about doing the work that God has asked

us to do!

For the Glory of God and the Good of His Church: Taking it a step further

Imagine that there was a

plague sweeping across the

country, slowly killing 50% of

the population. Imagine you

were in possession of a medi-

cine that could prevent people

from getting sick and healing

them.

The Alexander House Aposto-

late, through their Covenant of

Love programs have just the

medicine to prevent the

plague of DIVORCE from devas-

tating more lives.

Through their own suffering

and God’s merciful interven-

tion the Alexander’s discov-

ered God’s plan for marriage.

Now that they have this

“vaccine” they need our help

for delivering the message.

For the sake of my Diocese,

for the sake of my brothers

and sisters, but most of all,

for the sake of my own chil-

dren, I so long for Greg and

Julie’s message to be deliv-

ered to every Parish in the

country: it is the medicine

that can both prevent and

heal the wounds that are so

often inflicted by the cul-

ture of death and set us on

a solid foundation toward

building a civilization of

love.

Please consider joining Greg

and Julie in the mission of

bringing God’s plan for mar-

riage to the people through-

out the world.

MADE FOR EACH OTHER

Join Greg and Julie every

Wednesday from 11 to 12 CT on the

Guadalupe Radio Network as they

discuss

Love, Relationships and Marriage

We would love to have you as our guest so give us a

call: (877) 211-3853 or send your questions/comments/

suggestions to: radioshow@thealexanderhouse.org

Love Connections is the official newsletter of THE ALEXANDER HOUSE APOSTOLATE (TAHA)

PUBLISHERS: Greg & Julie Alexander HEADQUARTERS: 3308 Broadway, Suite #400, San Antonio 78209

PHONE: (210) 858-6195 / WEBSITE: www.thealexanderhouse.org / EMAIL: info@thealexanderhouse.org

BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Greg Alexander, President, Julie Alexander, Vice President, Ted Early, Treasurer, Camille DiMaio, Secretary, Andy Perry,

Xavier Mendiola

ADVISORY BOARD: Jason & Elise Angelette, Mary Beth Bonacci, Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, Jacki Corrigan, Fr. Justin Damien Dean, Don & Lorrie Gramer,

Dr. Mary Healy, Dr. Ed Hogan, Curtis & Michaelann Martin, Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Fr. John Riccardo, Jake & Ramie Samour, Dr. Janet Smith, Christopher West

THE ALEXANDER HOUSE APOSTOLATE is a 501(c)(3) organization

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT

THE ALEXANDER HOUSE

Dr. Edward Hogan / Diocese of Saginaw

USEFUL

RESOURCES

READ THE CHURCH DOCUMENTS

ON MARRIAGE

Encyclical letter: FAMILIARIS CONSORTIO (JP II)

Apostolic letter: GRATISSIMAN SANE (JP II)

Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1601-1666

USCCB Pastoral letter: MARRIAGE– Love and Life in

the Divine Plan

Encyclical letter: DEUS CARITAS EST (B XVI)

HOME STUDY COURSE FOR COUPLES

YEAR OF

FAITH