The Marriage and Family Enrichment Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization to support and further the mission of the Marriage and Family Enrichment Program established by the Jesuit priest founder, Fr. Chu Quang Minh, 40 years ago.
Marriage and Family Enrichment gatherings
About us
The Marriage and Family Enrichment Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to enriching communities by providing families and couples with the tools, education, and support systems needed to build healthy, lifelong relationships.
It is not counseling. We offer a retreat program for married couples, followed by monthly and quarterly meetings that strengthen their ongoing relationships centered on the Holy Family.
The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) that supports and furthers the mission of the Marriage and Family Enrichment Program, established by the Jesuit priest Fr. Chu Quang Minh forty years ago as a movement for couples in the Vietnamese Catholic community. Wayne Lee founded the Foundation to carry that conviction into the families around him.
The meetings are mainly in Vietnamese today. The program has been translated into English, and the Foundation raises funds to carry it to the next generation, in English. Each meeting runs three to four hours and includes a Cana dinner, for networking and bonding.
Our mission
We believe that strong families are the foundation of thriving communities. Through education, resources, and community support, we empower couples and families to navigate life's challenges with resilience, love, and purpose.
Our vision
A world where every family has access to the knowledge, tools, and community they need to flourish — regardless of background, circumstance, or stage of life.
Serving San Diego, across San Diego County.
Heart on Fire
Wayne Lee unpacks his memoir, Gift of Faith, and the conversion behind it. The videos support the Foundation's fundraising. Free to watch, no sign-up.
Elsewhere
Other people's shows and channels. The links go to their sites, not ours.
A testimony interview about the escape from Vietnam, the Navy, Medjugorje, and the marriage and family work that followed.
In this life-changing episode of Istoryang Katoliko, I sit down with Bro. Wayne Lee—a former U.S. Navy commander, high school teacher, and Catholic convert—who shares the miraculous and supernatural journey that brought him back to the Catholic faith. Once a boat refugee from Vietnam who fell into a life of promiscuity and was on the brink of divorce, Bro. Wayne’s life was radically transformed during a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. There, he experienced an apparition of the Blessed Mother, received what he calls an illumination of conscience, and witnessed Eucharistic signs that confirmed God’s mercy and love. His 9-year-old son also saw Jesus on the Cross, bleeding and smiling—a vision that changed their entire family forever.
Adrian Milag TV
Wayne's conversion testimony in a conversation with Catholic apologist Alex Jurado.
An interview with Doug Llewelyn about the Foundation, the Navy years, and the memoir.
Listen to the episode →Read the press release →
Wayne H. Lee is a retired Navy combat veteran, educator, author, and founder of the Marriage and Family Enrichment Foundation. A survivor of communist Vietnam, Lee draws from his harrowing journey as a refugee and decades of military service to inspire and educate families and young adults
Close Up Radio
Programs
What we offer is formation and community, not counseling or therapy. If your marriage is in crisis, please start with your parish or a licensed marriage and family therapist.
Married couples
A guided Gospel reading and reflection, followed by time to talk about marriage. It is for couples who want to keep growing, not couples in crisis.
Youth groups and young adults
Faith formation for young people, followed by a Sunday Gospel and homily reflection led by Wayne Lee. It is shared with the Heart on Fire community.
Families and the wider community
Families from across the community meet for scripture sharing, reflection and fellowship.
Anyone, anywhere
A weekly reflection on the Sunday Gospel, published on the Heart on Fire channel. Listen, think about your relationships and carry one intention into the week.
The whole community
Community members tell their own stories of how faith changed their families. The Foundation began as one of these.
Recently
Photographs from the Foundation's own rooms. This is what turning up actually looks like.
Calendar
Where and when we meet. Two dates are still being set.
A workshop for couples to strengthen communication, deepen connection and build strong bonds.
1:30 pm – 4:30 pmHoly Spirit Church Rectory
Youth faith formation, followed by a Sunday Gospel and homily reflection by Wayne Lee. It is shared with the Heart on Fire community.
10:30 am – 12:45 pmHoly Spirit Church
Date to be confirmed
Families from across the community meet for an afternoon of faith, fellowship and reflection.
Date to be confirmed
Community members tell their own stories of what faith changed in their families.
Nobody learns to stay married alone.The Marriage and Family Enrichment community
Journey of Faith
Forty years ago a Jesuit priest, Fr. Chu Quang Minh, began a program for married couples in the Vietnamese Catholic community. The Foundation exists to support and further that mission.
Wayne H. Lee came to it by his own road: out of Vietnam at fourteen by fishing boat, rescued at sea by a U.S. Navy submarine, thirty years an officer in that same Navy, then a conversion he has spent the years since explaining. He tells all of it in his memoir.
Governance
A refugee who became a Navy officer, a linguistics professor of eighteen years, a parish faith-formation director, and the founder of a consulting firm.
President
Featured in the Wall Street Journal as a distinguished leader. At fourteen he escaped communist Vietnam by fishing boat and was rescued at sea by a U.S. Navy submarine. He went on to a mechanical engineering degree, more than thirty years as a U.S. Navy officer, and deployments supporting operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa. He is the author of Gift of Faith: A Foretaste of Heaven, a memoir of the journey from refugee to Navy officer, educator, and nonprofit founder, written so faith-lapsed Catholics might find their way back. A high school teacher, catechist, and Naval War College graduate, he has taught college and high school engineering, information technology, and business for over a decade, and is pursuing a doctorate in business administration and information technology.
Vice President
A linguistics professor in Russian and French at San Diego State University for over eighteen years. A devout Catholic with a zeal for teaching young adults the skills to become successful members of society. Adopted as an orphan, she believes in the Foundation's mission from lived experience, and serves to strengthen marriage and family as the bedrock of society.
Treasury
Director of Vietnamese bilingual education and faith formation for children and youth ministry at Holy Spirit Catholic Church for over six years, and a dedicated leader committed to the Foundation's mission of enriching families and communities.
Secretary
An award-winning content leader with a twenty-year record in writing and editing, fifteen years in business development, and a decade in management. Named to DCA Live's Power Women of GovCon 2024, a Marketing 2.0 Outstanding Leader in 2024, and a Technology Rising Star by STEM Women of Color in 2022. As founder and CEO of Kanda Consulting she handles document preparation across environmental engineering, international development, and IT, and has built business development pipelines and gate review processes for commercial clients and U.S. federal civilian agencies.
Accountability
The details a stranger needs to check us out, in one place.
Journey of Faith
Has a reflection, a meeting, or a conversation here made a difference in your family? We would be grateful to hear it, and honoured to share it.
Share your storyGive
Your gift supports the Marriage and Family Enrichment Program as we transition the program to include the next generation from Vietnamese to English.
The Marriage and Family Enrichment Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law, and you will receive a receipt for your records.
EIN 47-4089783
Donations are handled on MAFE Foundation’s own secure payment page. Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and ACH bank transfer are all accepted, and you receive a receipt for your records.
Donate →
