by Gordon Nary
Gordon: Tell us about your childhood and family.
Christian: I was born and raised in a French Catholic family in Morocco. I had a wonderful family: Mom, Dad, Grandfather, and two older brothers. One of my uncles was a Franciscan priest, and one of my aunts was a Franciscan nun, both serving in Morocco.
Times were uncertain. In 1956, there were large and violent riots against Europeans and Jews living in Morocco. After that, we were always prepared to leave the country at a moment's notice, with suitcases packed and some money hidden.
As a child and early teenager, though, life was good. I loved the liturgy, processions, and going to Mass every Sunday and on holy days, especially at Christmas and Easter. I attended an all-boys elementary school run by the Christian Brothers. I particularly enjoyed when the brothers told us stories of missionaries and martyrs. I wanted to be a missionary and a martyr, simple.
When I was around six or seven, I asked the Lord to send me to Hell in exchange for freeing all the souls there. It didn’t work, of course, but it reflects the kind of fervor I had as a child. I was also nicknamed “the little priest”, not always in a nice way.
As an older teenager, I drifted away from the Church, but when I eventually returned, the precious memories of my childhood faith came flooding back and played a crucial role in my journey.
Gordon: What college degrees did you earn, what was your favorite subject, and why?
Christian: I attended college in Montpellier, France. It was the first time I lived in France. I studied Economic Sciences and graduated with a master’s degree.
I didn’t really have a favorite subject, though I might say marketing was enjoyable. My focus was on earning a degree and finding a fulfilling job. I knew I couldn’t take over my dad’s land surveying business or start one in Morocco, and I wasn’t certain about living in France. I was more interested in other countries, like Canada, the USA, or Australia.
Gordon: Who is your favorite saint, and why?
Christian: St. Luke. I love reading his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. These were my favorite readings when I returned to the Church, and they still are.
I also have a deep devotion to Our Lady and love how St. Luke narrates her life in his Gospel. Among contemporary saints, my favorite is St. John Paul II. All our programs are based on his Theology of the Body.
Gordon: Who is your favorite author and book, and why?
Christian: That’s a tough one. Right now, I’m enjoying Saint Joan of Arc by Mark Twain—it’s his masterpiece. The writing is vivid, and the descriptions of actions and emotions are beautifully crafted.
My favorite chapter is about the king’s coronation, where the oil flask brought by an angel for the baptism of King Clovis—the first Catholic king of France—is used. This same flask was used to anoint every French king since Clovis.
I have a special devotion to St. Joan of Arc. One of our daughters is named Jehanne, spelled the same way St. Joan signed her name. Currently, we’re in the second year of a nine-year novena to St. Joan of Arc for France, praying for it to become the worthy elder daughter of the Church once again.
Gordon: Tell us about your family.
Christian: Christine and I married in 1977 in Burgundy, France. As a just married couple we lived a few months in Columbus, Nebraska. We went back to France and lived a good life in Burgundy. I traveled a lot internationally for my job. Then we joined the Community of the Beatitudes in the South of France and we left for Denver in 1999, still for the Community of the Beatitudes. Then, in 2004, we moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and left the Community of the Beatitudes.
So, yes, many changes for the family. We have five daughters, sixteen grandchildren, and one great-grandson. Two of our daughters live in France with their families, while three are in Colorado. One of them is single.
We are blessed that all five of our daughters attend church and have raised their children in the Faith. Of course, we are not a perfect family—one of our daughters and her family estranged themselves from us four years ago.
Gordon: What was your first job, what were your responsibilities, and what did you enjoy most about it?
Christian: My first job in 1977, a few months after graduating, landed me in Columbus, Nebraska—a drastic change from Montpellier, France. I worked for an irrigation company for 15 years, managing sales and marketing for a large territory covering Europe, parts of Africa, and the Middle East. This required frequent travel. When I was not traveling I worked from home.
For the first months I was in Columbus, Christine was in France, and we prepared for our marriage by mail, yes already then and she handled all the wedding arrangements. I made my first overseas business trip six months after starting that job, and during that first trip, we got married. My uncle, the Franciscan priest, officiated our wedding in an 11th-century church in Burgundy.
Two days after our wedding, I left for Africa alone—no honeymoon. On our way back together to Columbus, Nebraska, we had a 24-hour stopover in Omaha, which we jokingly called our honeymoon. Christine often reminds me that I still owe her a proper one. I enjoyed visiting different countries, meeting with people from different backgrounds. It was very challenging.
Gordon: Tell us about your parish and what you find most rewarding about it.
Christian: We belong to Corpus Christi Parish in the Diocese of Colorado Springs. It’s a vibrant community with two wonderful priests who celebrate Mass very reverently. Confessions are available before every Sunday and daily Mass.
The church is filled with young families and children of all ages, including many babies trying to outdo the choir! There’s also a strong presence of altar boys, even at daily Masses, and the parish consistently fosters priestly vocations in our diocese. Daily Adoration is also available. This is the most rewarding about our parish.
Our parish offers various beautiful ministries for all ages and walks of life. It’s truly a thriving community.
Gordon: Tell us about the Catholic Community of the Beatitudes.
Christian: After we both returned to the Church, Christine and I wanted to give our entire lives—everything—to the Lord. However, it was challenging to find a way to do that as a married couple with children.
We began visiting the Community of the Beatitudes in various locations and finally joined in 1990, remaining members for 14 years. In 1998, the Community was invited by Archbishop Charles Chaput to establish a house in Denver, Colorado. The archbishop extended the invitation but didn’t assign us a specific mission. We didn’t know what to expect when moving to Denver.
In 1999, our small group—which included our family with three of our five daughters, two sisters in habit, one laywoman, and two seminarians—came together for the first time before leaving for the USA. We prayed for guidance and asked the Lord, “What do you expect us to do here?” In a very charismatic way, we opened the Bible and received the passage from Acts 9:6 about St. Paul’s conversion: “Go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
That was enough for us.
The day after we arrived in July 1999, we met with Archbishop Chaput. He asked the Community to share its love for the Jewish roots of our Faith and the beauty of our liturgy. To Christine and me, he said, “Do something for families.” I suggested marriage preparation, and he responded, “Yes, marriage prep.” This is how CatholicMarriagePrep.com started.
Gordon: When did you and your wife begin serving as Directors of the Office of Marriage and Family Life for the Diocese of Colorado Springs, and what were your primary responsibilities?
Christian: After leading the Community in Denver for four years, Christine and I took a sabbatical. During that time, we developed and launched the online version of Catholic Marriage Prep. This was at the request of the Archdiocese of Denver, which wanted to assist engaged couples living in remote areas of the Rockies who couldn’t participate in parish-based marriage preparation programs.
In 2004, we moved to Colorado Springs and began working in a parish. It was then that we met Bishop Michael Sheridan, who asked us to reopen and manage the Diocese of Colorado Springs’ Office of Marriage and Family Life, which had been closed for years. At that point, we left the Community of the Beatitudes because we couldn’t balance both commitments.
Our first task as directors in 2005 was to standardize marriage preparation across all parishes. We implemented a step-by-step marriage prep program, trained couples to guide engaged couples using inventories like FOCCUS and Prepare-Enrich, and made the program accessible to all parishes.
We also launched initiatives to address broader issues. We introduced a Year of Awareness about the dangers of pornography and provided resources for overcoming it. In 2014, we inaugurated a Year for Marriage and Families, during which we encouraged parishes to hold monthly Holy Hours for marriages. We also began hosting an annual Wedding Anniversary Mass and gave numerous presentations on Theology of the Body at parishes, deacon meetings, the U.S. Air Force Academy, Peterson Air Base, and even in Okinawa, Japan. For four years, we organized the Rocky Mountains Catholic Men's Conference for the three dioceses of Colorado.
During this time, clergy from our diocese asked us to develop a Baptismal Prep program, while clergy from other dioceses requested a Quinceañera program. We were asked specifically that both programs had to be based on the Holy Scriptures, St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, and that they followed the online, one-on-one mentor-led pedagogy similar to our marriage prep program.
We served the diocese for 16 years.
Gordon: What have you learned about Catholic marriage in the United States?
Christian: Our understanding of Catholic marriage in the U.S. has developed over time. The first thing that surprised us was that marriage prep was mandatory, which is very important. It was not required in France.
Immediately, we realized that there was an urgent need to provide engaged couples with the right spiritual tools. We were already familiar with St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body through a theologian in France who had been one of Pope John Paul II private advisors. Christine and I both felt it was the ideal foundation for a marriage preparation program.
When we gave our first in-person class to a group of engaged couples, they were happy, but we weren’t satisfied, we wanted the engaged couples to be more engaged. Before we planned the second session, Divine Providence led us to a professional pedagogue who introduced us to the Heuristic method. This method emphasizes to start asking questions that prompt deep conversations before presenting the Church’s teachings. Afterward, when couples have received the Teachings of the Church, they can reflect on what they initially thought and align it with the Church’s answers.
We also call this approach the “Jesus’s method.” For example, in Mark 8:27-30, Jesus first asks, “Who do people say that I am?” It allows His disciples to reflect and answer about what they heard or learned. Then Jesus follows with, “But who do you say that I am?” This is when Peter gives his own deep and personal answer: “You are the Messiah”.
We’ve learned that engaged couples deeply crave truth—not opinions or interpretations, but the unbiased truth. Many have limited religious backgrounds or lacked examples of strong marriages in their families or communities.
While books and videos can provide knowledge, they’re not enough. Otherwise give them the Bible, it’s all there. A “one-size-fits-all” program, like an in person single-day, or a weekend, retreat, or a video based program don’t equip couples for a lifelong marriage. Each person is unique, each couple is unique. Engaged couples deserve personalized, one-on-one mentorship from married Catholic couples they can trust.
They also need time for meaningful conversations with each other to discern whether they want to invite Christ into their marriage.
This is what our program, CatholicMarriagePrep.com, offers. It’s an online, one-on-one mentor-led program that’s deeply needed because marriage in the Catholic Church in the U.S. is in a dire state.
In 1970, there were 426,309 marriages in the Catholic Church in the U.S (CARA source). Today, that number has dropped to about 85,000, in 2023, a decline of 80%, despite a 25% increase in the Catholic population during the same period.
Gordon: What are some of the factors that contribute to a successful marriage?
Christian: Great question! Many counselors offer excellent advice, like how to communicate well, handle finances, raise children, respect one another, and nurture intimacy. These are all very important.
However, only the Catholic Church can provide the best foundation for marriage. Our role is to help couples understand that marriage is a vocation—a path they choose to go and bring their spouse and children to Heaven and to be a witness to others.
The simple answer is this: build a Christ-centered family.
And it's our vision: Build Christ Centered Families, one Family at a Time!
A marriage rooted in faith will have the strength to overcome challenges and fulfill its divine purpose.
Gordon: Thank you for an exceptional and incisive interview