Corey Manning was preparing for the priesthood when he felt a call to leave seminary and to be open to marriage. At first, the call was daunting.
“I was struggling with leaving at the time because I really wanted to be a priest,” Manning said. He struggled to believe that he could be holy and married at the same time.
But through prayer, he realized that marriage is about “living a life of true holiness” just as much as any other vocation.
Now married with three children, Manning, 33, has devoted his career to supporting holy marriages and families, first in college ministry and then as the director of faith formation for St. Michael and St. Mary in Stillwater. He said his new role as the director of the Office of Marriage, Family and Youth in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which he began on May 2, furthers his call.
The office’s mission is “to assist and encourage all Christians to fulfill their call to holiness.” The mission encompasses marriage preparation, men’s ministry, small groups and respect life outreach, among other ministries. Manning said that the office’s mission aligns with his own efforts to strengthen and support families.
“The natural call is to marriage and family,” he said. But “that natural call doesn’t mean we’re not called to holiness … Our Lord chose the family to become incarnate into and begin the salvation of the world.”
Family prayer is essential for holy families, Manning said.
“Try to figure out how to do it and then stick to a plan,” he recommended, although he added that family prayer can look different on different days and in different seasons of life.
Holiness in marriage is sometimes “having screaming kids on your shoulder at Mass and working through it and not giving up when it’s tough,” he said.
Community is also an important part of strong family life — something that parish-based small groups can foster, Manning said, as they are encouraged by Archbishop Bernard Hebda in his post-synodal pastoral letter, “You Will Be My Witnesses, Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room.”
“I was excited when (the) archbishop and the Synod chose small groups for year one,” he said. “The family is the original small group, but then you link a bunch of families. Now (parishes feel) a little smaller, everyone knows each other’s name.”
Among all the apostolates his new role will oversee, Manning said he is “really excited to listen” to what families and parishes need to live out their call to holiness.
“I think we really need to look at this time and place in our culture and our society and … figure out how the Church, the archdiocese and the parishes can better support marriages and families,” he said.
