What is teams?
Teams is a movement for married couples. Typically a Team is a group of 4-6 couples who make a commitment to meet monthly over a simple meal to reflect on and share their life experiences and to deepen the shared spirituality of the couple. Teams is a world-wide Movement associated with the Catholic Church and exists in 92 countries and all continents.
The Teams Movement, known internationally as Equipes Notre Dame, began in 1939 in Paris. It is now one of the largest lay movements in the Catholic Church.
What Teams members have said about belonging:
- “Teams has enriched our marriage, faith and spirituality”
- “We enjoy sharing our lives with other people and hearing from them”
- “It is an important thing we do as a couple”
- “Our Team has become a trusted small community. It is almost like another family”
- “We learnt a lot from the other couples ”
- “Sharing our story in a small group of couples who make a commitment to meet every month for a meal, listen to each other and support our spiritual journey is a truly enriching experience”
- “It’s not all serious. We get a lot of fun and pleasure from each other’s company as we’ve grown in trust and friendship”
Oceania Info (PDF)
International Info (PDF)
Our Mission
‘Together, in Christ, towards love, happiness and holiness…’
The Teams movement recognises that all Christians are called as individuals to live a selfless life and be constantly open to love. By regularly administering to one another through the gift of non-judgemental listening and openness, we become more tolerant and understanding of others, and more aware of the spiritual dimension in every person.
By sharing our struggles, joys and discoveries, we promote understanding and trust. This adds depth to the relationships of couples, and between couples and the wider community. A real community emerges when faith, love and trust are gradually built up between people.
Within Teams, couples help each other to follow Christ more fully and aim to put their love at His service.
Married couples of All Ages
A chance to Discover
A Time to Share
A Moment to Listen
Team Endeavours
The regular reading of the Word allows team members, not only to know God, but especially to root themselves more deeply in the Gospel. It makes each spouse enter into direct contact with the person of Christ. This personal contact is the pillar of any spiritual life since “ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” (Bl. John Paul II)
The Teams of Our Lady invites each member to read the Word of God regularly, making time to read a passage of the Bible, especially the Gospels, and meditating on it in silence in order to understand better what God is saying to us through Scripture.
We are called to make time for the Lord, for an intimate moment with Him, and to live in His presence. Daily prayer develops in us the ability to listen to God. It means making time to be alone with God who loves us. It is a time of silent ‘heart to heart’ listening to God, of discovery and of welcoming God’s plan for us. There are no rigid rules for praying: each person decides what is appropriate for them in terms of when, where and how. What seems most important to develop this deep union with God is perseverance and regularity.
Christ is present in a very special way when the couple pray together. Conjugal prayer becomes the common expression of two individual prayers and should come naturally from a life shared together. If the husband and wife each have their own style of prayer, then it is important that they try to develop a common way of praying, in order to discover and experience a new dimension to their married life.
When there are children, it is important to set aside a special time for family prayer. The home is the first place of learning for children. It is for the parents to pass on the faith to them and to make the home a place where they feel at ease with prayer.
The Sit-down is simply a period of time set aside by a couple each month, spent in a calm atmosphere, in the presence of God, looking at their lives together. Today, with the speed and turmoil of a busy lifestyle, it is essential that we make time for each other. It is vital that we sit down, look closely at ourselves and our marriage, to recall the ideal that brought us together and finally, to pray for guidance.
The Rule of Life is an Endeavour which permits and encourages a personal review of those aspects of our life which we should change or improve. As with the other Endeavours, it leads us in the direction of spiritual and personal growth. However, different from most of the Endeavours, the Rule of Life pertains more particularly to each person of the couple. The Rule of Life is not an objective attainable in itself, but it is a means, a tool to help us to move forward. It must be reasonable and accessible, at the same time demanding, but tied to what is truly essential in our life.
Thus, if the Rule of Life has as its objective to bring progress in the Christian life, we must make an effort in three areas:
to free ourselves (from what?);
to nourish ourselves (with what?);
to discipline ourselves (in what?).
“To draw up a Rule of Life, we must first come to know ourselves, our weaknesses and hurts, the points we need to work on. Others can help us choose this rule. What better way to avoid deluding ourselves? Of course, a spiritual journey does not advance smoothly or regularly. Rather, we often have to stop and ‘take our bearings’ in order to set out again in the right direction. That is why we must revise our Rule of Life periodically.” (Alvaro and Mercedes Gomez-Ferrer)
Team members are encouraged to make sufficient time each year for a retreat, as couples if possible, so that they can reflect on life in the presence of the Lord. The retreat is a special time to stop, to listen and to pray. It is an opportunity to be recharged spiritually. It is also a special time for an examination of self and of one’s life in general – particularly the direction of one’s growth. This Endeavour asks each couple to make every year a residential retreat of at least 48 hours, husband and wife together as far as possible, as Christ calls us to do: “Come away to some lonely place by yourselves and rest for a while.” (Mk. 6:31).