The Launch of a Love Story…
In the summer of 1967, two college students met in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Carol Reed, was working a summer job with her sister at a small restaurant. Roger Naill, was visiting the Cape with his family. When the Naill family stepped into the restaurant, Roger’s older sister introduced him to — not Carol, but Jane, another waitress, whom she had met at the laundromat. Roger took Jane out on a date that evening. But the next day, when his friends came to visit, Carol joined the group, along with a few other girls, to be blind dates for the evening. That’s when something changed. “The next date, Roger asked me out instead of Jane!” said Carol. According to Roger, he fell in love right away.
That first date launched a relationship of love and fidelity that has carried Carol and Roger Naill through years of a happy marriage and family life to this day. What struck Carol the most about Roger was his courtesy and politeness. “I was very taken by how respectful he was. A really, really nice guy,” she recalled. Over the next few weeks, they met each other’s families. Soon after their first date, Carol and Roger went to the movies — along with Carol’s siblings, Roger’s parents, and some cousins. From the beginning, their courtship was always in harmony with their family lives. “My father was very taken with Roger,” said Carol. In March 1969, on Carol’s 21st birthday, Roger proposed to Carol, and the two were married in September of that year.
The newlyweds moved to the Boston area, where Roger attended the MIT Sloan School of Management after graduating from Princeton University. There, they had their first daughter, Sara. A few years later, the family moved to New Hampshire, where Roger completed a Ph.D in operations research, and where another daughter, Megan, was born. In 1977, a new job opportunity brought the Naills to Arlington, Virginia, where they have lived ever since.\
Growing in Faith
Carol grew up Catholic and attended Catholic school, but Roger had not been baptized and did not have much faith formation growing up. It was their family life together that led him to a conversion.
Twelve years into their marriage, soon after Megan had received her first Communion, Roger found himself sitting in church and thinking to himself, “I wished I believed in God.” What followed was, as Carol put it, a “St. Paul experience without the drama.” In a moment, Roger knew that everything he had heard proclaimed by the Catholic Church was true, and he knew that God loved him personally. A few months later, at the Easter Vigil, he was received into the Catholic Church. The entrance of faith into Roger’s life deepened their marriage bond in a noticeable way. “The girls even referred to it as ‘B.G.’ and ‘A.G.’ — before grace and after grace!” Carol said.
Committed to their shared faith, the Naills started attending daily Mass together. One day, a friend invited Roger to attend a spiritual retreat for a weekend. On that retreat, Roger learned about St. Josemaría, Opus Dei, and the opportunity to grow in holiness through ordinary life. Soon afterwards, both Roger and Carol began receiving regular spiritual direction from a priest of Opus Dei.
On October 6, 2002, Pope St. John Paul II canonized the founder of Opus Dei, and Roger and Carol found themselves in the audience near the front row, thanks to a friend who had gotten them tickets. When Carol saw all in one place the statue of Our Lord on top of St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father, and the portrait of St. Josemaría, she felt God was asking something more of them.
Inspired by the new saint’s message of universal call to holiness, Carol and Roger felt called to dedicate their lives to that message. Soon after coming home from Rome, both asked for admission to Opus Dei — Carol in November, and Roger in December, right after finishing a novena to the Immaculate Conception. For the Naills, the new perspective on ordinary work and family life as a means of sanctification was transformative. “Opus Dei changed our lives,” said Roger.
A Revolution of Love
This newly discovered vocation also brought them in contact with Stonecrest, where Carol began attending weekly formation classes in Christian virtue. “Stonecrest Home Arts introduced Carol to some wonderful women who appreciated the gift of Opus Dei, and she shared that with me,” said Roger. “I also became aware of the beautiful vocation of the numerary assistants who lived there. This [vocation of caring for the home and family] is a special part of Stonecrest’s mission. Stonecrest also provided Carol with … opportunities to print publications and provide speakers who could help women grow in our love for our family, marriage, and home life. Such a joy!”
One aspect of Stonecrest’s mission that has meant a lot to Carol in particular is the central role of the family in evangelizing society. “It’s the family that’s going to change the world,” she said. “[Formation of the family] – that’s the need that Stonecrest serves.”
That particular message lies at the heart of a book project that several friends of Stonecrest, including Carol, helped launch. Revolution of Love: The 21st Century Home is a collection of photographs and quotations from Pope Francis, St. Josemaría, and others with the focus of promoting happy Christian homes in the modern world. “Looking back, it was perfect timing,” Carol reminisced about the book, which was published not long after the 2015 World Meeting of Families. And in the midst of the Year of the Family that continues through June 2022, Revolution of Love remains particularly relevant today.
Carol described how the values of home and family life that Stonecrest encourages have always had a special place in their lives, from saying grace and having meals together to attending Mass together. Throughout his career, Roger always prioritized attending daily Mass and having meals at home with his family, even when that meant turning down job opportunities that would require frequent travel.
Dreams For the Future
Roger and Carol still live in the same neighborhood where their daughters grew up. Sara, Megan, and their families live nearby, so the Naills have the joy of spending lots of time with their children, sons-in-law, and 12 grandchildren. In 2019, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and they look forward to their oldest granddaughter’s wedding this April.
Because Opus Dei and Stonecrest have had such a positive impact on their lives, the Naills expressed excitement about Stonecrest’s continued growth and move to Virginia. “As a friend put it to me, God wants to bring the Work to Virginia, to families in the suburbs!” said Carol. “Then, more families can learn to embrace the universal call to holiness … described in the documents of Vatican II and articulated so well by St. Josemaría.”
Sophia Martinson is a wife, mom, and freelance culture writer for various publications. In the summer of 2014, she had the joy of participating in a hospitality training program run by the Stonecrest staff and learned a lot! Her blog, Homemaker Hopeful, explores the skills of taking care of home and family.