ALUMNI UPDATE
Partners in Marriage and Evangelization
Rose and Dennis Wingfield earned their MAPS degrees together. Now they minister together supporting Christ-centered marriages.
Darci Swisher
INTO THE VINEYARD
Alumni Advancing the New Evangelization
T
hey were clearly meant to minister side-by-side, even before they earned master’ s degrees in pastoral studies from Sacred Heart one year apart.
A widower and a widow whose shared faith brought them together fifteen years ago, Dennis and Rose Wingfield know their own relationship has been enriched through participating in and leading marriage programs. In 2006, while Dennis was discerning a vocation to the permanent diaconate, the Wingfields realized that marriages were being“ enriched, saved and fed” through the Covenant of Love program they had brought to St. Michael Parish in Livonia.
Ultimately, Dennis opted to continue this ministry he and Rose had already began, and he applied the classes he had already completed at Sacred Heart toward the MAPS degree. His wife soon joined him.
Rose graduated from Sacred Heart in
2017 and Dennis in 2016. As both chose the New Evangelization as their concentration, they were able to schedule many of the same classes.
“ It was really great to learn that information together and study together,” Rose says. Dennis— a retired engineer— points out that even though he and Rose graduated a year apart, and some of their classes were different, their final grade point averages were an identical 3.778.
Both Dennis and Rose focused on marriage for their practicums. Dennis examined the use of couples’ Bible study as an evangelization tool and its effectiveness in bringing husbands and wives into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Similarly, Rose explored the topic but with using the Alpha parish evangelization program as the outreach tool. Each of their research yielded the positive results that they anticipated, given the role of Christ in their own lives and marriage.
“ We’ re convinced your relationship to Christ is critical in your marriage relationship,” Rose says. To that end, they have taken the knowledge they gained in the Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies program and launched a new ministry initiative, Calling Couples to Christ( callingcouplestochrist. org). Its mission is“ to help couples live Christ-centered, joy-filled marriages” through services such as marriage mentoring, marriage retreats, and couple-to-couple coaching.
“ Our studies at Sacred Heart equipped us to effectively minister by forming us on the human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral levels,” Dennis says.
“ The Wingfields’ marriage ministry
22 Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Fall 2017