The Vatican has appointed alumna Mary Rose Verret ’04 and her husband, Ryan, as consultants to the Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life. The Verrets, who are founders of the dynamic Witness to Love ministry, will collaborate with other experts and leaders from around the world in this new consultancy role, addressing contemporary challenges facing families, advocating for the sanctity of marriage, and promoting the well-being of families within the Church and society.
“It is a great honor to be entrusted with this role by Pope Francis,” said the Verrets in a press release. “We are committed to serving the Church and contributing to the important work of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life. Witness to Love has been a labor of love for us, and we look forward to extending our efforts to support families and marriages on a broader scale.”
The Verrets founded the Witness to Love ministry in 2012 — a marriage prep program that pairs engaged couples with married couples in their respective parish communities, providing engaged couples with a model of sacramental marriage and mentors who help them become involved in parish life. Since 2012, the Witness to Love ministry has spread to over 500 parishes in four countries and has been greatly successful in helping couples to have happy and holy marriages.
According to Mary-Rose Verret, her experiences at Christendom were integral to the ministry starting in the first place. The formation she received, and the community life she was a part of at Christendom, shaped her view of marriage and helped her to see the importance of being welcomed into a faith community, an integral aspect of Witness to Love.
“At Christendom, I was in a really intense, concentrated, really impactful witness of the students and teachers,” says Verret. “I got to experience being in a community where everyone is focused on the same goal of getting to heaven and understanding the faith and learning together.”
In December, the Verrets were informed that they had been nominated for this new consultancy role. Recognizing the Verrets’ commitment to the Church’s teachings on family and marriage, Pope Francis invited the Verrets to contribute their insights and experiences as dicastery consultants to further the Church’s mission of supporting and strengthening families worldwide. The Verrets are the only North American married couple to be appointed to such a role with the Vatican Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, and will serve a five-year term in the role.
They will follow in the footsteps of Christendom College President Dr. Timothy O’Donnell, who was named an advisor to the dicastery, then called the Pontifical Council for the Family, in 2002 by Pope St. John Paul II. His advisory role was later renewed by Pope Benedict XVI and by Pope Francis as well.
For more information on Witness to Love, visit here.