Married Catholic Story Group

Through the profound experience of story writing and telling, cultivate greater understanding, empathy, and intimacy with your spouse. This occurs when we better comprehend each other’s triggers and how our current conflicts stem from unresolved wounds from our past. In the process, we grow in greater faith, hope, and love as we realize that our marriage is the instrument that God is using to heal and redeem our stories. 

What happens in the group?

Within a Married Catholic Story Group, we explore the stories of our life, seeing how God, our co-Author, is calling us to greater healing, attunement, and holiness within our marriage. Here’s what it entails:

• Curiosity: Story work begins with a deep exploration of our current struggles which may be rooted in our past experiences. This may involve identifying our deepest held convictions about ourselves which are often rooted in our early childhood experiences.
• Crafting: In this phase, we begin to write the story that the Holy Spirit is prompting us to write. Without much thought to spelling or grammar, we simply put words and texture to our past, which helps us make more sense of our present (write a 600- 1,000 words short story). This greater coherence that comes from writing our story is the springboard needed to bring about greater meaning in our lives, interior integration of our brains & hearts, and understanding of how God is calling us in our present lives. 
• Telling: With the courage of the Holy Spirit, we read our short story aloud within one of our Catholic Story Group sessions. Through the active engagement of the group members including our spouse, our story is further illuminated by the ways that we have been wounded and how God wants to redeem our stories to bring about greater goodness and holiness into our marriage and the world.  
• Blessing: At the end of our Catholic Story Group experience, blessings spring from our story and our engagement with our spouse and others. We will have grown in our capacity to tenderly attune well to one another, to God, and to ourselves. We will begin to experience more joy in our relationships rather than tension, conflict, and strife. Our ability to more clearly see reality and love others in our families and communities will expand.

How to Begin? 

If you are interested in hosting a married story group, please

1. identify one to two other couples who may want to participate in a couples story group. 

2. reach out to Dr. Kathryn Wessling to set up a meeting to talk about the story group schedule and answer any of your questions (kathryn@wesslingphd.com). Weekend intensive (Friday – Sunday) can be facilitated on Zoom or In-person. Alternatively, weekly sessions can be hosted on Zoom.

The fee is $550 per couple (not per person) plus travel expenses for the facilitator if the group is meeting in person.  For more information, please email kathryn@wesslingphd.com.

Who are Married Catholic Story Groups for?

A Married Catholic Story Group is for couples who want to understand how their past impacts the relational patterns that they have developed in their marriage that keep them stuck. The Married Catholic Storied Group is not designed to resolve issues related to domestic violence, addiction, or extra-marital affairs.