The Notre

The Notre-Dame Teams celebrate this December 8 the 75th anniversary of their Charter, written in 1947 by Father Henri Caffarel. Three couples – Catherine and Christophe Bernard, responsible for the France-Luxembourg-Switzerland region, Marie and Marc des Robert, Odile and Sylvain Delye – testify to the incredible timeliness of the founder’s intuitions, which today guide 75,000 couples through the world.

At the very beginning, the Notre Dame Teams, they are four young couples wishing to live their marriage in the light of the Christian faith. Well inspired, they turned in 1938 to Father Henri Caffarel who offered to accompany them. During the Second World War, the movement grew and couples organized themselves into teams to meet. Like religious orders which define themselves according to a rule, Father Caffarel, whose cause of canonization is in progress, write it Charter of the Teams of Notre-Dame in 1947 to unify and structure the movement. It is published on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. A date that is not insignificant: the Teams are indeed placed under the patronage of the Virgin Mary because, for Father Caffarel, “there is no better guide, to go to God, than the Mother of God” .

Based on the Charter, the Equipes Notre-Dame developed rapidly in France, Belgium and Switzerland, then in Europe, South America and North America. In 1992, the Pontifical Council for the Laity recognized the Teams of Our Lady as an international association of the faithful under private law. In 1997, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Charter, Pope John Paul II presented the Équipes Notre-Dame as a “ferment of renewal in the Church”. Today, the Équipes Notre-Dame bring together nearly 9,000 couples in more than 2,000 teams in France, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Worldwide, they support nearly 75,000 couples in 70 countries.

Unabated development. “Every year, and in all regions, there are arrivals of young couples, who come to renew the teams”, affirm Catherine and Christophe Bernard, responsible for the Notre-Dame Teams for the France-Luxembourg-Switzerland region for four years. . “While the number of team members is relatively stable in France, the movement is developing strongly in Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic countries,” they point out.

A response to a need: supporting couples

Why haven’t the 75-year-old Teams of Notre-Dame ageed, and continue to attract new couples? No doubt because they meet a need, and this need has been the same for 75 years.

Already in 1947, Father Caffarel introduced the charter in these terms: “We live in a time of contrasts. On the one hand divorce, adultery, free union, neo-Malthusianism triumph; on the other, families are multiplying, which aspire to an integrally Christian life. But leading a Christian life in a society where marriage is devalued is not easy. This is why, to hear the team members, to be accompanied, to train, to pray together, to help each other between members of the same team, is a vital need to maintain a conjugal spirituality.

“Father Caffarel knew the human soul well. If the historical context has changed, the men are the same, and their weaknesses too”, confide Marie and Marc des Robert, married for 12 years and members of a Notre-Dame team for 8 years in Verdun. “The Teams give us anchor points, which are certainly demanding, but if we don’t stick to them, we quickly let ourselves fall into a form of spiritual mediocrity”, they acknowledge.

“Without support, without landmarks, without fraternal mutual aid, the couple, in today’s society, feels that they are in danger”, believe Catherine and Christophe Bernard, married for 38 years and members of the same Notre-Dame team in Nancy since 33 Years. “The primary motivation of couples who join Équipes Notre-Dame is to make their marriage last, and to make their spouse their first neighbour. “A feeling shared by Odile and Sylvain Delye, 23 years of marriage and team members for 14 years on the side of Alençon: “We are convinced that we need these beacons developed by Father Henri Caffarel. The longevity of our marital relationship depends on it. Monthly meetings give regularity, dynamism, they make us move forward in faith and grow as a couple. And they continue in our daily life, through the duty to sit down and the concrete points of effort. »

The Teams of Our Lady have the essential goal of helping couples to strive for holiness. No more no less.

Helping, accompanying, supporting couples: a need that is more relevant than ever in a society where the institution of marriage is in crisis. In this sense, the Teams of Our Lady are fully in line with Pope Francis’ call to take care of couples: “We must emphasize the importance of family spirituality, prayer and participation in the Sunday Eucharist , encouraging couples to meet regularly to promote growth in the spiritual life and solidarity in the concrete demands of life” (amoris laetitia).

Holiness as a couple: an immutable and universal objective

To grow in one’s spiritual life, to be nourished by the teaching of the Church, to listen to the Word of God, to take care of the other and of the couple relationship, to tend towards a conjugal spirituality… So many aspects which converge towards a one and the same goal: holiness in and through marriage. Father Caffarel summed up the ambition of the movement as follows: “Teams of Our Lady have as their essential goal to help couples strive for holiness. No more no less “.

“It takes a lifetime as a team to get there! exclaim Catherine and Christophe Bernard. But the intuitions of Father Caffarel allow real progress. Moving forward step by step, helping each other mutually, choosing concrete points of effort, setting an accessible rule of life, entrusting all of this to the Lord in prayer, are so many beacons that show the way.

The holiness. It is this same objective that has animated the couples of Équipes Notre-Dame for more than 75 years and that still applies to everyone today. An immutable and universal objective, which no doubt explains the appeal and topicality of Equipes Notre-Dame. An ambition that each couple is called upon to make their own in order, following spouses Martin, Beltrame Quattrocchi, Leseur, Ozanam, Rugamba… to taste the joy of love and shine, or, in the language of Pope Francis, to become missionary couples.

The spirit of mutual aid

A goal that is difficult to achieve alone. Hence the team structure, made up of 4 to 7 couples, and the roped party spirit. “The team members have in common this desire to grow, to be pulled upwards, to go in the same direction, on this path of holiness”, confide Marie and Marc des Robert. But the spirit of a rope party also means relying on others, helping each other, encouraging each other. “Sharing with the other team members, it helps not to be discouraged”, testify Marie and Marc. For Odile and Sylvain Delye, the time of sharing which opens each meeting invites them to put themselves under the gaze of others and allows them to ask for help, to benefit from their experience, from their prayer.

Courtesy of Marie and Marc des Robert.

“Isn’t it an illusion to pretend to help your friends to lead a spiritual life if you don’t first help them to overcome their worries and difficulties? asks Father Caffarel in the Charter. “This is why the couples of Teams of Our Lady widely practice mutual aid, both materially and morally, obeying the great instruction of Saint Paul: ‘Carry one another’s burdens, and thus you fulfill the law of Christ” (Ga 6.2)”.

A very rich fertility

Certainly the path is demanding, even arid at times, but unanimously, our team members testify to an exceptional fruitfulness. “Teams of Notre-Dame have guided our whole life”, confide Catherine and Christophe Bernard. “Before, we didn’t pray a lot! And the couple’s prayer was really occasional. Now we pray and we pray together every day! Being part of a team has also helped us to understand what it means to love, to overcome crises, and to progress in a prodigious way on our journey of faith. »

Marie and Marc des Robert live in Bar-le-Duc but their team meets in Verdun. Every month, they make almost two hours of journey in the evening. “It’s not always easy but we never regret the trip! The fruits are felt far beyond the team meeting: in everyday life with daily prayer, through the duty of sitting down, and through the prayer of the team supporting us mutually”.

Courtesy of Odile and Sylvain Delye.

As for Odile and Sylvain Delye, they underline how much the concrete points of effort are engines to move forward in their spiritual and married life. “It’s difficult, it’s demanding, personally I had a little trouble with personal prayer,” confides Sylvain, “but talking about it with several people is motivating! “. For Odile, the Equipes Notre-Dame allow her to root her faith. “It happens to have movements towards the Lord, but it can remain punctual, temporary. If they are not ordered, supervised, the spiritual life dies. Teams of Our Lady help me to deepen my faith and my relationship with Christ. »

Another fruit, the friendships that are woven between the team members. It is this faithful and dynamic friendship between members of the same team seated at a wedding table that made Odile and Sylvain want to join the Équipes Notre-Dame. A form of unconscious but very real testimony.