St. Louis-area military couples are invited to attend a Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend at Fort Leonard Wood Jan. 27-29.

The weekend teaches couples techniques for better communication to help them manage the stresses of war and separation. Three Catholic couples and a priest will lead the weekend program.

The upcoming weekend follows a successful weekend last January at Fort Leonard Wood, which was the nation's first Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend for military couples.

One of the couples that put on that weekend was Col. Don Bailey, a brigade commander at Fort Leonard Wood at the time, and his wife, Mary.

"There is a real phenomenon called separation anxiety, where you start pushing each other away," Mary Bailey said.

"When the soldier is gone, the family has to readjust their lives," she said. "Dad isn't going to be there. You can't call him, you can't kiss him, and you can't hug him. Suddenly, I had to be a single parent. I had to be capable and independent and do it all myself."

Then as the time approaches for the serviceman to come home, she said, "you have to undo it all, turn around and accommodate. I went through a conscious process of deciding to allow Don back into our lives."

The challenges facing military couples is why Bishop John J. Kaising, who is auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, sent a letter last year to the 383 Catholic chaplains in all of the military services asking them to consider becoming involved in Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends.

A "weekend is a real gift for you and your parishioners during this critical time in our history," Bishop Kaising said.

It will provide communications tools, he said, "to help couples develop happy and healthy marriages." 

Interested couples can call (314) 469-7317, or they can register online at the Web site www.stl.wwme.org . The program is open to active and retired military and to all religious expressions.