At Mass last Sunday sitting near the front I could hear the Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist, ?Body of Christ?.

The Parishioner?s responded ?Amen?. We respond ?Amen? which means ?confirmed, supported or upheld?, ?truth? or ?so be it? according to Catholic.com. By saying Amen we are agreeing.

We are agreeing about receiving the ?Body of Christ?. The ?Body of Christ? has more than one meaning. One, receiving and intimately consuming our Lord and Savior and He becoming a part of us. Second, it also means we become part of his body, the church.

Jesus himself says in John 6:56 ?Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.?

St. Cyril of Alexandria said, about the Eucharist?s ability to unite us with Christ, "As two pieces of wax fused together make one, so he who receives Holy Communion is so united with Christ that Christ is in him and he is in Christ."

It reminded me of the song, ?We are one body, one body in Christ, and we do not stand alone? ?

Teams of Our Lady is also intended to be unifying. As we worship, all believers are united in the Eucharist. If we are part of Christ then we are also part of each other. At all times we are connected by Christ and the Holy Spirit. Teams is done as a group to bring this connectedness and unity to deepen our connection to Christ.

In Teams we are not alone. We meet together to provide mutual support. We are connected to the Lord in prayer so we are connected to each other.

-continued on following page

Vol 2 Issue 2

TEAMS OF OUR LADYSOUTH PROVINCE

Tex Ok Region | East Tex Region | Southeast Region

CONTACTS

Easter Edition, 2018

South Pr ovinceTJ & Ellen HoltSouth-PC@teamsofour lady.org Tex Ok Region Paul & Chr is Sanchez TexOk-RC@teamsofour lady.org East Tex RegionMike & Beatr ice Tow nsEastTex-RC@teamsofour lady.org Southeast RegionChad & Raquel Tr ippSouthEast-RC@teamsofour lady.orgNewslet terPhi l ip & Jena Bissai l lonsouthprovinceTeamsnews@mail.com

UPCOMING EVENTSInter nat i onal Confer ence:Fatima, Por tugal: July 16-21, 2018

1st Sout h Province TEAMS College Gat her ing: Kingwood, TX: August 25, 2018Nat ional Confer ence:Navasota, Texas: July 16-19, 2019

Next New Team s Weekend Celebrat ion in East Tex Region :Nassau Bay, TX: Feb 23 and 24, 2019

Team s of Our l ady Onl i ne Stor e:Open through Apr i l 30thhttps:// tool0418.itemorder.com/sale

We A re One Body!

-continued

It is important to remember that we may focus on what we find as individuals, couples and with our own base team but we should not ever lose sight of the bigger picture. As part of the Christ?s body we cannot ignore our brothers and sisters in Christ, nor the poor, lonely, sick or afraid.

As you prepare for Easter, please remember your fellow Team members worldwide in your prayers. Especially those that are suffering, lonely, sick, or hurting in any way. Pray for unity in prayer, in Teams and in the Eucharist.

God Bless!

T.J & Ellen

Pot Luck Dinner at Trice & Mike's House

Trice Towns, Charla Macicek, Father Adam, Lillian and Jim Burke, Chris & Paul Sanchez, Cody & Heidi Clark, TJ & Ellen Holt

Prov incial M eetingThe South Province Meeting was held on March 2 and 3, 2018 in Houston. The meeting was held in the home of Mike and Trice Towns and lead by our Provincial couple Ellen and TJ Holt. It was TJ?s birthday and we were able to celebrate it with him! A fun time was had by all.

Ellen and TJ gave an update of their meetings with the Super Region. We discussed methods to handle the growth in our region and looked at future events.

We A re One Body!

Tex Ok RegionLos A lamos Teams Los

Al amos,NM

Los Alamos, NM Team 1 at a Teams meeting

Los Alamos, NM Team 2 on their retreat

Los Alamos, NM Team 3 after Mass

Tex Ok Region

New Sector Couple Instal lation - Justin & Gia Talentino

Dr ipping Spr ings,TX

Dripping Springs Fi rst Sector Team M eeting

Dripping Springs first sector team meeting was held on January 26, 2018. It was hosted by the Dripping Springs Sector Couple, Myron and Chery Lutz. Also attending were all the responsible couples, the Regional Couple Paul and Chris Sanchez, and Father Charlie Garza, the Spiritual Counselor for the Sector and the TX OK Region.

AUSTIN,TX

The New Austin Sector Couple installation took place at Justin and Gia's Team meeting (Austin TX 09) on Saturday, February 10th. Justin is to the left of Gia (holding icon). The installation was assisted by Deacon Vincent Boyle, Austin TX 09 Spiritual Advisor. The meeting was held at the home of Camille and Stephanie Lochet.

East Tex Region

KATYSect or

M ardi Gras Celebration - St Faustina Cathol ic Chruch, Fulshear, Tx

Teams of our Lady was well represented at the Mardi Gras Celebration at St. Fatustina. Special thanks to Tom and Yvette Ramos for coordinating the event. They were able to arrange the activity with Brian Lennox, Faith Formation Director at St Faustina. Teams was able to reach out to many couples interested in

participating in our movement. In fact, we have a new Team that formed shortly after the event!

Tom & Yvette Ramos

David & Veronica Jara, Philip & Jena Bissaillon, Paola & Jose Garzon

Pi lot TrainingThe Katy Sector hosted a training session for new Pilot and Information Couples on Sunday, March 4th, 2018, at the home of Tom and Yvette Ramos. The Katy Sector Couple Jose and Paola Garzon organized the activity and the Regional Couple Mike and Trice Towns gave the training.

The Katy Sector Team?s choreographing of the event (appetizers, lunch, kid?s playground in the back yard) was flawless!

Jose and Paola Garzon, and Tom and Yvette Ramos presented the information meeting to prospective couples. It was impressive that they made the information presentation their own!

We are truly blessed to have the Katy Team as part of the movement! God is Good!

Pictured above: Jose & Paola Garzon and Tom & Yvette Ramos

East Tex RegionNew Years Eve Party - Houston Team 2

Houst on SECTor

new Sect or Coupl e

Ann & Deacon Gary Hilbig and Charla Macicek

Houston Chrismas Party - Houston Team 2

MIke & Trice Towns; Deacon Gary & Ann Hilbig; Greg, Tyler, & Mary Ckark; Patty & Jim Mishler; Charla and Larry Macicek

Mary Clark, Charla Macicek, Ann Hillbig

Tony Gonzalez, Larry Macicek, Greg & Mary Clark

January Sector M eetingTrice and Mike East Tex Regional couple hosted a wine and cheese meeting at their home in Houston. Six Sector couples along with Provincial Couple Ellen and TJ Holt were in attendance.

Our primary focus concerned discussing and planning for the New Teams weekend Celebration that was held Feb 24 and 25, 2018 in Kingwood Texas.

Front Couch: Lori & Steve Hesse, Jose & Paola Garzon;

Rear: TJ & Ellen Hollt, Daughter Ashley

Bill & Tammy Spilkerman, Brad & Michelle Snyder, Jeff & Denise Stanley,

Kingwood Sector Couples

East Tex RegionNew Teams Week end CelebrationThe New Teams Weekend Celebration was held on February 24th and 25th at St Martha?s Catholic Church in Kingwood Texas. We had 20 couples attend the celebration. The celebration began Saturday morning with a talk by Monsignor Borski.

Mike and Trice Towns started with a skit as a ?pilot couple lost over a stormy sea? about who is traveling with us.

After lunch, Paul and Chris Sanchez continued with where are we going. Next, was a skit of a Teams meeting gone ?really bad?.

Greg and Melanie Ghert led us down the endeavor yellow brick road.

The couples were divided into various groups for team building and discussions. We went to 5:30PM Mass with a delicious dinner afterwards.

Sunday morning Ellen and TJ Holt treated us on a trip down the road to Emmaus where they met Jesus.

Special thanks to the volunteers and crew who helped throughout the weekend.

- Bill and Tammy Spijkerman - Jeff and Denise Standley - Larry and Charla Macicek - Ruth and Rodney Williamson- Karen Ehlig- Bob and Carol Reilly

Lively DiscussionsTeam Building ExerciseTJ & Elen Holt

on the Road to Emmaus

Kingwood SECTor

Save the date: Next New Team s Weekend Celebrat ion for East Tex Region: February 23 and 24, 2019 in Nassau Bay, TX

East Tex Region

New Team in Lafayette Louisiana LAFAYETTE SECTor

Our first Team in the Lafayette, Louisiana area just completed meeting 5. This new team formed through the efforts of Ryan and Nicole Ward and Father Schambough, pastor at St Joseph's in Milton, Louisiana. Father Schambough serves as spiritual counselor to the team.

Team 1 includes Cole and Miranda Ruckstuhl, Luke and Kelli Tristan, Dan and Shannon Phillips, Eric and Emily Thibodeaux, Ryan and Nicole Ward, and Father Schambough. Larry and Charla Macicek, the Houston Sector Couple, piloted Lafayette Team 1.

New Team in full bloom!

East Tex RegionTestimonial - K ev in Bazazzadeh

Good Afternoon Brothers,

I enjoyed seeing all of you Saturday who could attend the ACTS reunion, and I pray for everyone who was unable to attend is well. This email will reiterate some of the points I made Saturday about Teams of Our Lady.

?Teams of Our Lady is an international lay movement in the Catholic Church, designed to enrich marriage spirituality and make good marriages better.? That quote is taken directly from the Teams website, and I couldn?t have summed it up better. Savannah (my wife) and I joined Teams back in 2012, and I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions we have made as a married couple.

Here?s basically how Teams of Our Lady works: You join a team of 5-7 married couples and meet once a month for a structured meeting. You will share a meal together, pray, read a piece of scripture, then you will have a small reading assignment each month over a book about marriage and God. Based on the reading, you will answer a question or two that you will discuss with your spouse. This gives you the tools and setting to have discussions that may have never come up, and helps to improve communication with your spouse.

To give you an example of how it has impacted my marriage specifically - before joining Teams, my wife and I would always say our prayers separately, or in silence (if we even prayed that day). What we do now is something called conjugal prayer ? every night, my wife and I will hold hands and say our prayers out loud. I must say, it is very powerful to hear your spouse praying for you. Additionally, since the ACTS retreat, in wanting to have even more prayer, we have started getting up early before work every day to do the daily readings and pray together. If not for Teams of Our Lady, we wouldn?t be at a point where we could do that.

The other thing that is wonderful about the program, is the relationships that you will build with the other married couples. Before joining Teams, we really didn?t know any of the other married couples that would end up on our team. To show you have far we have come, two of those married couples ? Greg and Lisa Getty and John and Jamie Hay, are our children?s Godparents. We love all of them dearly, and if not for Teams, we most likely wouldn?t have them in our lives.

Many other ministries are great for working on our individual faith journey, but a lot of times we aren?t working to grow spiritually in our marriage - this movement provides that. Also, please do not think that you too young, or that you are too old for Teams. When Savannah and I joined Teams, Savannah was 27 and I was 28. One of the couples on our team is in their 80?s and has been married over 60 years! You are never too old or too young to work on your marriage, especially when you are focusing on God.

If you are interested in getting more information on Teams, please email me and I will get your info to the person who is setting up the next informational session. Emailing me in no way obligates you to join Teams. The informational meetings are designed to give you a better understanding of what joining Teams will be like before you make any commitments. Additionally, it typically takes a couple of months to get a new team started. Much like ACTS, there is a lot of organization and leg work (not on your end though) that must be done for a new team to get started. Keep in mind, if you are interested in joining, a new team likely wouldn?t be ready to get started until February of next year at the earliest (so don?t worry if you are busy for the next couple of months).

I hope that each of you who are married, now or in the future, will prayerfully consider joining Teams of Our Lady. May God bless each of you.

Southeast Region

The new teams in the Fort Myers Sector are moving along with the Holy Spirit, our pilot couples, and Father Saji and Deacon Frank guiding us all. Teams 10 and 11 have started their Piloting 2 books and Team 9 has just finished Piloting 2. We are also making plans for our annual sector meeting, and sector event. It will be held on Sunday, June 24th at Ave Marie University. We are so happy to be returning there for Mass and a new tour of the Saint Teresa Museum. We are looking forward to seeing all the teams from our sector there. May God Bless you and your marriage.

Submitted by:

Linda and John Stankiewicz

Fort Myers Sector Couple

The Light Shines Bright in Fort M yers

For t Myer sSect or

Communication

Save t he Dat e!

For the 1st South Province TEAMS

College Gathering

For ALL Regional and Sect or Couples!

Sat urday, August 25, 2018 f rom 8:30 a.m . t o 4 p.m .

at

St . Mar t ha?s Fam ily Life Cent er

Kingwood TX

Babysit t ing w il l be available by reservat ion only!

A $10.00 fee w il l be charged per child. Reservat ions and fee m ust be paid by July 5, 2018. Reservat ions w il l not be accept ed af t er t he due dat e. The fee is non

refundable.

Regist rat ion form w il l be dist r ibut ed by Apr i l 5, 2018 t o Regional Couples

Newslet t er

Deadline t o subm it Issue Dat e

August 25, 2018 September 8, 2018(Birth of Mary)

November 15, 2018 December 2, 2018(First Sunday of Advent)

* Deadline t o subm it ar t icles for next newslet t er . Please subm it ar t icles and pict ures t o your Regional Couple and t hey w il l send t o us.

Endeavors

A Regular reading of the Word of God

Daily meditation

Daily Conjugal and Family Prayer

A Monthly Sit-Down

A Rule of Life

A Yearly Retreat

Fr . Caf farel is t he Founder of a Movem ent w it h in t he Church called Equipes Not re Dam e or The Team s of Our Lady. This m ovem ent , t hrough Fr . Caf farel, pursues

and prom ot es t he pat h of holiness w it h in t he sacram ent of Mar r iage.

In addit ion, Fr . Caf farel founded t wo new Movem ent s for Widows, ?Hope and Life? and Our Lady?s Frat ernit y of t he Resur rect ion ?, a secular Inst it ut e for w idows. Two m ain reasons t hat Team s have asked for t he opening of t he Cause for Canonizat ion are his reput at ion for holiness and t he cont ent of h is m essage on m ar r iage

Current ly, Fr . Caf farel is considered t o be a ?prophet for our t im es?, according t o Cardinal Jean Mar ie Lust iger , Archbishop of Par is.

A Post ulat or and Vice-Post ulat or have been nam ed t o prom ot e t he Cause of Fr . Caf farel. Fr . Paul-Dom inique Marcovit s is t he Post ulat or and Madam e

Mar ie-Chr ist ine Genil lon is t he Vice-Post ulat or .

What is t he role of every t eam m em ber t hroughout t he wor ld?

1. To give t est im ony as t o favors grant ed t hrough t he int ervent ion of Fr . Caf farel. These t est im onies should be w r it t en down and docum ent ed and sent t o:

The Post ulat or 49 rue de la Glaciére, F-75013-Par is or postulator@henri-caffarel.org

2. To get t o know fur t her Fat her Caf farel?s personalit y , h is w r it ings and t he books he wrot e.

3. To pray, so t hat t he holiness of h is l i fe be recognized by t he Church and so t hat

h is m essage and person m ay do ever m ore good in t he Church and societ y.

4. Becom e a m em ber of ?The Fr iends of Fr . Caf farel?.

How do we becom e a m em ber of t he Associat ion of t he Fr iends of Fr .

Caf farel?

Go t o t he websit e: henri-caffarel.org

Letter From the Editor

Canonizat ion process of Fr . Henr i Caf farel? If you are a Team of our Lady, you know Fr. Henri Caffarel, but you may not know he is up for canonization in the Church. This is good news and we are excited to share it with you!

May each of you be blessed with the joy of the Easter Resurrection! You are in our prayers!

-Philip and Jena Bissaillon

Fr . Caf farel is considered t o be a 'prophet for our t im es.'

Couple Challenge

God, our Father,

You planted deep in the heart of your servant, Henri Caffarel,

A fountain of love, which bound him totally to your Son

And inspired him with a wonderful capacity to speak of Him.

A prophet for our time,

He revealed the dignity and beauty of the vocation of every person

In the words Jesus addresses to each of us: ?Come follow me.?

He made couples enthusiastic about the greatness of the sacrament of marriage,

The sign of Christ?s fruitful love for the Church and of His union with her.

He showed that priests and couples

Are called to live a vocation of love.

He was a guide to widows: love is stronger than death.

Prompted by the Holy Spirit,

He accompanied many Christians on the path of prayer.

Seized by a devouring fire, he was a dwelling place for you, Lord.

God, our Father,

Through the intercession of Our Lady,

We ask you to hasten the day

When the Church will proclaim the holiness of his life,

So, that people everywhere will discover the joy of following your Son

In accordance with their particular vocations in the Holy Spirit.

God our Father, we invoke the intercession of Father Caffarel for? ? ?

(Indicate the particular favor being sought)

Canonizat ion prayer

This Easter Season, we challenge you to pray the following canonization prayer at your monthly Teams meetings. For Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst." Mt.18:20