Search
Guest Column: Yes, There Is Life After Marital Loss
-
May 16, 2023
by Michelle Barrentine
You’re divorced or widowed or even permanently separated. Now what, now that you have experienced the death of your marriage? Does this mean you are not welcome in the Catholic Faith? Do you feel isolated or abandoned at your parish or in your diocese? Does “Where, O death, is your victory, where O death is your sting” (1 Cor 15:55) make you think “I know where…it’s in my heart”? “I’m unhappy, I’m angry, I’m disorganized, I’m barely hanging on…yes, I know where death’s victory is.”
You are not alone in your feelings, although it often seems that way! But there is hope and there is life after this terrible loss. The emotions mentioned above are part of your grief journey. Yes, you are grieving the death of the marriage and what could have been, whether it involved an actual death or was due to irreconcilable separation or divorce.
Yet, nearly 50,000 people around the world over the past 48 years have found that there is still life to be lived and lived joyfully thanks to the Beginning Experience® ministry. This is a Catholic Christian ministry open to those of all faiths or none; it was established to help those grieving the loss of their marriage. The Ministry welcomes the grieving and helps them to begin their journey as a newly single person, learning to live and to love themselves, others and God again. It hopefully will help you feel part of your church, parish, family and community again. The Ministry accomplishes this purpose through its peer ministers, those who have previously suffered the death of a marriage.
Beginning Experience of Amarillo is offering a Weekend retreat Friday, Aug. 18 through Sunday, Aug. 20 at the Bishop DeFalco Retreat Center, 2100 North Spring in Amarillo. We invite you to come and learn and rediscover hope and peace. We help you to focus on your experiences and feelings and begin to deal with them. We make no judgments. We listen to you and to one another. And although we do not promise a “miracle cure,” we accompany you as you begin your healing.
Our Weekend program starts early Friday evening and ends on Sunday afternoon. The topics and presentations, created by professional counselors, educators and clergy, build on each other and lead participants toward healing and peace. We invite you or those you know who are grieving the loss of a marital relationship to join us from Aug. 18 to 20.
For more information, contact Jim Brockman via email at [email protected], or to register please visit bdrc.org/beginningexperience.org.
Michelle Barrentine is Executive Director of Beginning Experience International Ministry, Inc., based in San Antonio.
