Father Dennis O’Brien Selected to Worldwide Marriage Encounter Leadership Team

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif., Nov 21, 2022 -- Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME), the original faith based marriage enrichment program, recently selected a new United States leadership team. The new United States leadership team is Peter & Sheila Oprysko from Oakland, NJ and Fr. Dennis O’Brien from Pensacola, FL.

"We are very excited that Peter & Sheila and Fr. Dennis are leading Worldwide Marriage Encounter's efforts in the United States. They share our vision to renew the Sacraments of Marriage and Holy Orders, and to help assist U.S. Bishops in their strong support for marriage and the family, "said Tony & Sue Morris and Bishop Michael Warfel, the Worldwide Marriage Encounter North American Secretariat leadership team.

Peter & Sheila have been married 43 years and involved in WWME since 1986. They have served in many roles for WWME including local and regional leaders for Worldwide Marriage Encounter. They were also chair couple for the 50th Anniversary WWME Convention in 2018. Peter serves as an inside sales manager for a national power systems company and Sheila works at the archdiocese of Newark.

Fr. Dennis attended the weekend in 1998. He has been a priest for 41 years and has served in parishes in the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. He also was a missionary priest in Duran, Ecuador for 11 years. He has presented weekends in both the United States and Ecuador and has served in leadership roles at the U.S. region level and was also the National WWME Priest in Ecuador.

"This is an exciting time to serve our movement and our Catholic Church" said Peter, while Sheila added that "it seems our entire Church is recognizing the urgency of promoting strong Christian marriage." Fr. Dennis said "I feel honored and privileged to be selected to lead with Peter & Sheila. We hope to further expand our programs in the United States. This is a special time for our country."

Worldwide Marriage Encounter recently celebrated its 54h anniversary and its presence in just under 100 countries makes it the largest pro-marriage movement in the world. In the United States, the movement is divided into over 20 regions based on geography and language (English, Spanish and Korean). Peter & Sheila and Fr. Dennis will lead the United States portion of this worldwide movement.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter offers married couples the opportunity to spend time together away from the busyness of the world to focus on each other. It offers tools for building and maintaining a strong, Christian marriage in today's world. The weekend is also open to priests so they can focus on their Sacrament of Holy Orders. To learn more about the Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends online, go to www.wwme.org or contact the WWME National Office at (909) 332-7309.

Media inquiries should be directed to: Dick & Diane Baumbach at (321) 544-3440 or dickanddiane66@bellsouth.net.