Lauren Alexander, who besides being Julie’s right

hand in the Alexander home, is also our Direc-

tor of Communications. She has been very busy

learning all about social media and keeping our

Facebook friends and Twitter followers up to

date with our activities and latest news. She was

recently invited to give a talk to young girls on

the importance of taking care of themselves and

the dignity they have as beloved daughters of

God. The response she received was over-

whelming, so much so that many of the girls

who heard her testimony are asking her to men-

tor them.

Our Director of Operations, Graciela, runs the

office behind the scenes but also finds time to

share her passion for the Truth wherever there

is a need. She was invited to give a talk on the

importance of Virtues in the Family to the par-

ents of Confirmation students at St. John the

Evangelist, as well as a talk about Marriage and

Love to both parents and Confirmandis at Our

Lady of Guadalupe in Helotes, TX. Graciela has

also given various talks to the Comunidad de

Matrimonios at Holy Trinity Catholic Church,

and we're happy to announce that they will soon

be the first official Covenant of Love Spanish

partner parish.

All of this would be impossible without the

blessing of our amazing team of volunteers who

are willing to share their time and friendship

with us. Thank you, to all of you!

Growth takes time, trust, and a willingness

to follow the Lord no matter where He

takes you. At The Alexander House we are

constantly amazed at the things God does

when we strive to do His will. For almost

15 years, the ministry Julie and Greg founded

in appreciation to God for having saved

them from what seemed a sure divorce has

been slowly but steadily growing. We know

there's still much to do and that we must

never become too comfortable, thinking our

work is finished. However, we have some

very good news to share with you.

Thanks to a very generous anonymous do-

nor at our benefit dinner in November 2013,

we were able to bring a full time Director of

Covenant of Love onboard --Steve Pokorny,

who has been a blessing to the Alexander

House family. Among Steve's many responsi-

bilities, he has the duty of acting as a liaison

between our partner parishes and the home

office. His position is vital to ensuring our

partners receive the care and attention they

deserve by addressing any questions or con-

cerns they may have. This is especially valu-

able for those new partners who are unfa-

miliar with how to implement Covenant of

Love successfully in their parish. His creative

attentiveness also provides the opportunity

for other projects to be developed and of-

fered to parishes and individual couples,

allowing The Alexander House to further its

mission of building a culture of marriage.

We're happy to report we now have 5 cou-

ples trained as Marriage Disicples and are

working very hard at walking with those

couples who come to us in need of strength-

ening and rebuilding their relationships. It's

been a long and slow process, but we're

working diligently to streamline it so many

more couples who are willing to serve the

Lord by serving others will have the training

and tools they need to proclaim the beauty,

goodness, and truth of God’s plan for Mar-

riage.

For a long time we have been aware of the

need to not only have good faithful Catholic

therapists to whom to refer our clients in

case of need, but also someone who can take

care of them at the home office. We are very

grateful to have Angel Estrada volunteering

with us as our in-house counselor. He brings

with him many years of experience, a vast

amount of knowledge, a passion for the Faith,

and a true sense of compassion for all those

whose lives he touches.

Not all work is limited to the office; our team

has also been keeping busy, giving talks wher-

ever there is a need to hear the Good News

about Marriage and Family. In the past

months, Greg and Julie have visited more than

25 parishes all around the country: Kentucky

in January, Michigan in February, with Texas in

between, and finally a long tour in California

in March. At this pace who knows when

they'll be home!

Steve has shared his passion for Love and Life

giving talks at different events throughout the

Archdiocese of San Antonio. At the March for

Life in Del Rio, he was the keynote speaker, in

February he was invited to give a Confirma-

tion retreat at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in

Selma, and returned again in March to talk to

the middle school students about the beauty

of the vocation of Marriage. At the University

of the Incarnate Word he challenged students

to learn “How to Have an Awesome Love

Life.”

TAHA KEEPS GROWING… THANKS TO YOU!

Love ConnectionsLove Connections From our House to your Home

“ Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a

branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it

remains on the vine, so neither can you unless

you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the

branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him

will bear much fruit, because without me you

can do nothing.” (John 15:1-5)

SPRING 2014

Once again we headed out on the Great Marriage Challenge and as it has been an all previous tours the way to the West Coast was not with-out opposition; winding our way up the steep hills of the grey and jagged edged mountains of Devils Canyon proved to be no easy task. When we finally made it to the “other side” of the mountain the descent brought on another challenge as we experienced our first blow-out while heading for Murrieta, CA. This actually gave us some time for reflection as we waited for road-side assistance to arrive. After an hour or so of waiting a white truck pulled up like a knight in shin-ing armor and a kind gentleman proceeded to fix our flat. To our amazement this angel in disguise had only one tire on his truck and it hap-pened to be the exact size we needed. Coincidence? I think not!

God allowed us to experience this season of Lent in a practical way as our Great Marriage Challenge took us to the (arch)dioceses of San Fran-cisco and Oakland, San Jose and Santa Rosa. Ed Hopfner, the Director of Marriage and Family Life Office for the Archdiocese of San Francisco and Mimi Streett, the Director of Marriage and Family Life Office for the Diocese of Oakland, filled our calendars with Marriage on Fire pres-entations and Enjoy Your Marriage workshops which resulted in getting us in front of more than 1,000 people. For us this meant praying for these couples, offering up our sacrifice and penance for them and trusting God to provide for our needs during this time.

Our California mission began with a presentation at St Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, CA where there were several priests and 75 seminarians in attendance. Not only was their re-sponse to the beauty of Marriage amazing, we later discovered many of them became the most avid pro-moters for our subsequent talks as

couples came up and attributed their being there to the invitations of these priests and seminarians. The next 15 days and 17 presentations were filled with hun-gry souls and hurting hearts of couples who were in need of help and hope for their marriages. Everywhere we went we received an overwhelming response, which made very evident there are many couples who have been yearning for not just the information but for a practical way to live out their sacrament of mar-riage. As always, God turned water into wine and there were many healings and miracles.

Talk after talk individuals and couples flooded our inbox with stories of hope and love that had been rekindled. Some cou-ples shared the devastation they were experiencing and how they were hanging on by their last thread. After a talk one couple in particular, exclaimed, “We have our divorce papers signed and we came here tonight as a last ditch effort”. Julie invited them to the upcoming Enjoy Your Marriage workshop and chided, “Come spend the day with us on Saturday and bring your divorce papers with you so we can set them on fire”. After the workshop, we are overjoyed to report, the couple made the decision to continue to work on their marriage. One participant emailed thanking us for the wonderful marriage workshop on Saturday saying “I seriously could have continued all evening listening to you. You have such a special gift. When we got home I had the biggest smile on my face and my husband asked me: "What are you so happy about?" and I responded: "What do you mean? There is HOPE." At times I have been feeling hopeless and wanted to give up. This weekend at least gave me hope. I know there is a lot of work ahead of us and I hope that once the excitement dies down a little we will still be able to continue on the right path and not a path of destruc-tion.”

Distance was the common thread in most of the couples but the daylong workshops seemed to resurrect their love for one an-other as they embraced and prayed to God for an intention or a thanksgiving in their marriage. We are always amazed to witness the many miracles right before our very eyes.

Because no one can out-do God in gener-osity we were blessed by having the pleasure to meet with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. He is the Chairman for the Subcommittee for the promotion and Defense of Marriage for the USCCB, and has been doing an amazing job in explaining the need for strong marriages. In our conversation we shared the reality that the best defense for marriage is to get people who said “I Do” to live it well and to be an attractive sign of God’s love to others. He truly is a Shepherd looking out for the flock that God has entrusted to him.

With all the blessings God has showered on us we can honestly say that the high-light of the tour was being able to meet face-to-face with the couples that have been hosting Date Night at their parishes, who through their willingness to serve other couples they have made a differ-ence for marriage; we heard several testi-monies that because of the Parish part-nering with Covenant of Love and having Date Night a number of people did not leave the Catholic Church, there is no doubt the Truth really sets us free. Several Parishes have the desire to become Cove-nant of Love partners and the requests are already coming in for our return to assist the Diocese in spreading God’s plan for marriage.

The tour was very fruitful, to say the least, from the meeting with Ignatius Press with plans to collaborate in a project for mar-riage in the near future to the couples who turned their hearts over to God and allowed Him to be the center of their marriage once again, or for many, for the first time. As always, our mission was to feed the hungry and lead them to the understanding that God is the Creator of marriage and when we live it by His de-sign we can experience the joy He in-tended.

In this Easter Season we look forward with great anticipation for the resurrection of marriage.

Alleluia!! He is Risen!!

Greg and Julie Alexander

THROUGH THE DESERT FOR MARRIAGE

2

suddenly felt called to improve the

state of marriage in the world with-

out doctorates or credentials. And

yet, we have Greg and Julie.

We are inviting you to jump

aboard the ridiculous train with us.

For we have learned that God

calls simple, ordinary people to do

His work, and to share in His plan.

He asks us to detach ourselves

from what is safe, comfortable,

worldly, budgetable, and to be

willing to have RADICAL faith that

we are being called to something

beyond our knowledge and ca-

pabilities.

It all started when we were plan-

ning the first benefit dinner and we

felt called to help out...because

we believe in MARRIAGE; but God

had a different idea for us. As we

left the committee meeting, a

number entered my head. A

shocking, frightening number since

we were just starting our business.

But, it wouldn’t leave me. I started

heating up, burning to say this

If you really think about it, God is all

about proving that the ridiculous is

possible when you trust Him; for it is

ridiculous to think that a young

teenage girl could be visited by an

angel, conceive a child immacu-

lately, and the child become the

Savior of the world. And yet, we

have Mary.

It is ridiculous to think that a Polish

actor could become one of the

greatest popes and saints of all

time, and almost single-handedly

demolish communism in Europe.

And yet, we have Blessed Pope

John Paul II.

It is ridiculous to think that a Poor

Clare nun could go from selling fish-

ing tackle to creating an interna-

tional television network. And yet,

we have Mother Angelica.

It is ridiculous to think that two suc-

cessful people in the corporate

world, married to their careers more

than each other, could tell their

children that they are divorcing,

find God, give up their incomes,

become homeless and sleep on

friends’ couches; all because they

number out loud,

but also afraid to

do so. It was a

RIDICULOUS thing

to consider. I

turned to Rob, whom I was sure

would bring me back to reality and

let us think of something more ap-

propriate that we could give to the

mission. But the Holy Spirit must

have been speaking to him, too,

because he said YES.

Rob went further than yes. He knew

that if we slept on it, we’d come to

our senses and wouldn’t go

through with it. So, that night – at

11pm, surely waking up the other

person on the phone – we commit-

ted. And then we felt peace.

It was right after saying yes and

making that call that we felt some-

thing else. God told us He cannot

be outdone in generosity, and we

would be paid back many times

over. We have...

So please join us in do THE RIDICU-

LOUS...HELP GOD save a marriage

by your financial support!

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

BEING WILLING TO DO THE RIDICULOUS!

3 THE TRUE MEANING OF STEWARSDSHIP: PARTNERS FOR MARRIAGE ROB AND CAMILLE

There is nothing that makes us happier than to share His Good News with you.

Hi Greg and Julie, I wanted to take a few moments to tell you how thankful we are for

your ministry. We are a part of our monthly COL team at St Joseph Honey Creek and

this past October were on the team for our parish couples retreat. We came to your

Enjoy Your Marriage workshop on Aug 31 in San Antonio to help give us some ideas for

the forgiveness presentation we were to give in October at the couples retreat. Well,

God had bigger plans for us! We got so much out of every aspect of the day. Every sin-

gle activity spoke to us and we completed them to the fullest. One of the things that

really came through for us was that we had been using contraception for 10 years,

since our daughter was born. I had always wanted more kids but my husband did not

and I, alone, was never able to convince him to change his mind. During your talk about

this and then the many activities that followed my husband's heart was changed so

drastically he wanted me to go off contraception and begin trying to conceive. Well, I

am happy to tell you that due to God's work through your wonderful ministry we are 10

weeks pregnant! And to top it off, we have been blessed with not one but 2 babies to

love!

Thank you both so very much for your dedication to your ministry. It is truly transform-

ing marriages!

“In order for God to do the miraculous, you must be willing to do the ridiculous.” MOTHER ANGELICA

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

EASTER 2014

What can you do to RESURRECT

your Marriage ?

1. Build each other up.

2. Be specially attentive to each other’s

needs.

3. Pray together daily.

4. Be thankful for the small things you

do for each other.

5. Make time to go out on a weekly

date.

GIRLS NIGHT OUT: MAY 30 w/ SALLY ROBB @ OUR LADY OF GRACE

COUPLES NIGHT OUT: SEPTEMBER 5 w/ FR. KEN GERACI (FATHERS OF MERCY)

BENEFIT DINNER: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6 w/ MATT BIRK

IF YOU ARE IN

SAN ANTONIO

OR WANT TO

JOIN US…Save

the date!

Love Connections is the official newsletter of THE ALEXANDER HOUSE APOSTOLATE (TAHA) a 501(c)(3) organization

Printing provided by Smith Print of San Antonio (www.smithprint.net)

From devastation to hope...Lauren’s story

As every other little girl in the world, I imagined having the

perfect fairy tale life I read about in books and watched in

movies. I thought my life was that way, after all I did have par-

ents who loved each other more than anything, who were

very supportive of me and my brother, we had everything we

could ask for, and our perfect family showed up happily to

church together every Sunday. I thought that the love and

bond between our family was a bond that could never be bro-

ken.

But the devastating fact is that my life was far from perfect…I

can still remember, with a knot in my stomach, the day my

parents told me they did not love each other anymore and

wanted to get a divorce. I felt alone, scared, hopeless, worth-

less, and wondered if maybe it was my fault or if there was

anything I could do to fix our family. But I could not; only God

could do that. Chris and I clung to each other because the

adults in our life were letting us down.

The reality is that our culture has taught us to be so con-

sumed with our SELVES that we fail to realize our everyday

choices have a deep and lasting effect on our children. Because

our families are supposed to be “schools of love and life” it is

there that we learn and understand the love and mercy of

God by what our parents teach us through their relationship.

When we see our parents giving up on each other we have no

choice, but to wonder who we are, where we come from, and

what our identity is. The confusion in my parents love for each

other left a confusion of love in my life and kept me searching

for years, until I unexpectedly hit rock bottom. No, children

are NOT doing fine when their parents are not. Today, I can

joyfully say that through God’s mercy, my parents transformed

their marriage and through their journey have helped me un-

derstand God’s love and mercy in my life.

I am asking you, on behalf of the

many children that are going

through the pain and hopeless-

ness that Chris and I went

through to, please join The Alex-

ander House in helping couples

discover the beauty, goodness

and truth of God’s plan for mar-

riage by giving hope to marriage

for our future.

To partner with us CLICK HERE.

Remember us in your will!

SAN FRANCISCO — In a city with a

reputation for homosexual activism,

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore

Cordileone, one of the architects of

California’s Proposition 8, considers

supporting couples in the sacrament

of matrimony a higher priority than

repealing same-sex “marriage”

laws.

Proposition 8, a much publicized

ballot proposition and state consti-

tutional amendment passed in 2008

that recognized marriage as only

between a man and a woman, was

overturned last year following a

U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Along with defending the principle

that children deserve both a mother

and a father, there is the need to

rebuild and restore a marriage cul-

ture by educating archdiocesan

Catholics about the sanctity of mar-

riage and its natural connection to

family, according to Archbishop

Cordileone, who was installed in the

San Francisco Archdiocese in 2012.

“The Church, and the Archdiocese

of San Francisco in particular, seeks

to fulfill the need of supporting and

strengthening couples in marriage

and family by teaching and forming

them in their faith through retreats,

seminars and ongoing programs

which provide information and for-

mation for engaged and married

couples,” the archbishop told the

Register.

Archbishop Cordileone, together

with his fellow U.S. bishops, urges

Catholics in San Francisco and

throughout the country to pray and

sacrifice for the rebuilding of soci-

ety, especially in the matters of

marriage and protecting life and

religious liberty.

Top priorities for the archdiocese’s

first marriage and family life direc-

tor hired in 10 years are strength-

ening and standardizing its diverse

marriage-preparation programs in

English and Spanish, further devel-

oping natural family planning (NFP)

education and training and intro-

ducing marriage-enrichment oppor-

tunities, such as a parish couples

program that has been successful in

the nearby Oakland, Calif., Diocese.

Among other goals are ministering

to those with same-sex attraction

and those who are separated and

divorced.

Culture of Support

As part of efforts to promote God’s

plan for marriage by establishing

more parish-based programs, crea-

tors of a nationally recognized mar-

riage support and enrichment min-

istry called Covenant of Love

(COL) will give talks and retreats in

San Francisco and other Bay Area

parishes.

“Many parishes lack ongoing mar-

riage-enrichment programs, which

nurture a culture of support for

married couples,” according to

Archbishop Cordileone. “We want to

help men and women deepen their

understanding of their own mar-

riages — and look forward to ac-

tively assisting all married couples

in this growth here in the Archdio-

cese of San Francisco.”

Last year, a task force — formed

two years ago to consider ways to

strengthen marriage in the archdio-

cese — recommended filling the

marriage and family life director

position, which had been vacant

because of budget constraints. (The

archbishop is currently considering

the task force’s other recommenda-

tions.)

Selected six months ago to fill the

position was Ed Hopfner, who

headed the Oakland Diocese’s mar-

riage and family life department

under then-Bishop Cordileone. In

Oakland, Hopfner placed special

emphasis on marriage preparation

and enrichment and education pro-

grams, priorities he brings to San

Francisco.

“We need to educate people, but we

also need to strengthen marriages

— to offer resources for marriages

that are struggling or to prevent

them from struggling; to strengthen

them and help them to flourish,” he

explained.

Many dioceses have marriage-prep

programs and offer help for couples

going through marital difficulties,

but fewer offer marriage enrich-

ment that can help couples grow

and deal with problems in their

marriages before they get out of

control, Hopfner said.

“We want to have some kind of pro-

grams that people can plug into,”

said Hopfner, who hopes to see

each San Francisco parish establish

a marriage ministry.

Church in the Bay Area Works to Strengthen Marriages

and Help Hurting Couples

by SUSAN KLEMOND 03/10/2014 National Catholic Register

Have a ‘Date Night’

While in Oakland, Hopfner encour-

aged the introduction of COL, which

was created by Greg and Julie Alex-

ander of San Antonio. Now he is

working to bring it to San Francisco.

One of COL’s parish-led programs

called “Date Night” brings couples

together to focus on issues includ-

ing understanding God’s plan for

marriage, communication, forgive-

ness and healing, chastity and

prayer.

Inundated with negative media im-

ages of marriage, couples often

don’t learn the Church’s view of the

sacrament. Parishes need the tools

to provide marriage support and

enrichment, Greg Alexander said.

“Typically, with the exception of

Marriage Encounter, the Church

never offers anything else for mar-

riage enrichment; so here couples

are, trying to live this lifelong mar-

riage relationship, never having any

additional resources or tools to be

able to do that,” he said.

Scott and Julie Genung helped

found a COL program at their par-

ish, St. Michael, in Livermore, Calif.,

last year, with the goal of inspiring

couples to have God-centered mar-

riages, Scott Genung said.

Up to 20 couples, along with several

mentor couples, attend monthly

meetings that usually include a talk

or video, small-group discussion

and one-on-one time for couples.

The parish didn’t have a marriage

ministry before this, Julie Genung

said. “Just being involved in the

parish, we see the need to have a

ministry that does appeal to mar-

riage,” she said. “That’s the heart of

our faith.”

Fifteen couples — from the newly

married to those married many

years — have attended Date Night

meetings at St. Joseph Basilica in

Alameda, Calif., and the five-couple

core team that organizes the pro-

gram hopes to encourage nearby

parishes to get involved.

“The most important thing in my life

on this earth right now is my mar-

riage,” said core team member Rob

Call. “I want to give attention to

that and get support from the

Church and my community. That’s

why I was interested in this.”

In bringing them together with

other couples, God is also helping

individual couples grow closer,

added Michelle Call. If couples see

their marriages as a sacrament and

blessing from God, they will want to

invest in the great marriage God

intends for them, she said.

Help for Difficult Situations

While ministering to San Francisco

married couples, Hopfner said the

archdiocese hopes to reach out

more to the separated and di-

vorced, whom he said often feel

alienated from the Church.

In a recent talk, Pope Francis said

pastors should search for ways to

minister to divorced and separated

Catholics, “so that they do not feel

excluded from the mercy of God,

the fraternal love of other Christians

and the Church’s solicitude for their

salvation,” and help such persons

keep the “faith and raise their chil-

dren in the fullness of the Christian

experience.”

On Feb. 28, the Holy Father reiter-

ated the need to help couples who

are hurting from failed marriages:

“How beautiful love is, how beauti-

ful marriage is, how beautiful the

family is, how beautiful this journey is

— and how much love we too [must

have], how close we must be to our

brothers and sisters who in life have

had the misfortune of a failure in

love.”

Supporting the separated and di-

vorced would be easier if parishes had

programs for married couples,

Hopfner said.

Ultimately, supporting marriage is

also about caring for and nurturing

children, according to Archbishop Cor-

dileone, who stated that it’s not pos-

sible to be consistently pro-life with-

out being pro-marriage.

“The challenge is one of rebuilding

and restoring a marriage culture,

which begins — and certainly doesn’t

end — with preserving the principle

that children deserve a mother and a

father and that society should do eve-

rything it can, and offer all necessary

support, to help insure that children

get what they deserve.”

Register correspondent Susan

Klemond writes from St. Paul, Minne-

sota.

National Catholic Register (contd’)

ARCHBISHOP SALVATORE CORDILEONE OF

SAN FRANCISCO (CNA)

www.thealexanderhouse.org