Worldwide Marriage
Encounter
What is Worldwide Marriage Encounter?
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And to do so openly and honestly in a fact-to-face, heart-to-heart encounter with the one person they have chosen to live with for the rest of their lives.
It's not a retreat, not a marriage clinic, nor a group sensitivity training, nor a problem solving weekend. It's a unique approach aimed at revitalizing your marriage.
This is a time for you and your spouse to be alone together. To rediscover each other and together focus on your relationship for an entire weekend, away from the distractions and tensions of everyday life. Every marriage deserves that kind of attention.
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The weekend begins Friday at 7:30 p.m. and ends Sunday afternoon. A series of presentations is given by a team of 3 couples and a priest. Each presentation allows you and your spouse a rare opportunity to look at yourselves as individuals, then to look at your marriage and your relationship to one another, and finally to look at your relationship to God, the Church and the world.
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Marriage Encounter is for couples who are happily married and desire to deepen their own love relationship. A marriage can never be too good. The weekend is designed to expand and deepen the joys a couple share together whether they've been married for a short time or for many years.
Marriage Encounter is also for priests and religious who want to enhance their relationship with God's people and develop an even deeper appreciation of their own vocation.
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NO! The weekend is Catholic in orientation and is expressed in the tradition and understanding of the Catholic Church. It is presented in a way that couples from all faith expressions have come away from a Marriage Encounter experienced strengthened in their own religious beliefs. The weekend is open to all, and space is reserved on each weekend for couples of other faiths.
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YES! The weekend is oriented strictly to each individual couple. The presentations are given to the group as a whole. After each presentation the husband and wife have time in the privacy of their room for their own personal discussion. There is no group discussion.
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The weekend presents each couple with the opportunity to get off the "modern world treadmill"; to stop and take a fresh look at the two of them, their marriage and priorities. The weekend teaches a communication technique which permits each couple to explore important areas of their relationship in a spirit of love and understanding. By continuing the newly acquired technique begun on the weekend, husbands and wives continually grow closer together to live more joyful and purposeful lives.
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A non-refundable but transferrable registration fee insures your reservation. The weekend is not supported financially by the Church, but by your donations on Sunday of the weekend. Each couple is given a blank envelope and asked to make an anonymous contribution. No one is ever denied the opportunity to experience a Marriage Encounter Weekend because of lack of funds.
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Marriage Encounter is one of the most successful and dynamic marriage enrichment experiences in the world today. The word encounter, drawn from the Spanish encounter means "reawakening" or "meeting again".
Since Marriage Encounter's beginning in the United States in 1968, couples and priests have volunteered their time and energies to bring Marriage Encounter Weekend to couples everywhere.
Today millions of couples in over 94 countries have experienced the beauty and the gift of the weekend. They want to share that experience with you, because "they found something worth passing on".
"Mary and I have been married for 25 years and we thought we knew everything about each other. Thanks to Marriage Encounter we're really getting to know one another better."
"Before Marriage Encounter, all Jim and I ever talked about were the kids, his job, the house or money. Now we talk about us."
"Tony and I have been married for five years. During that time I've gotten ahead in my job and settled down nicely into my career. Marriage Encounter showed me how I can get ahead in my marriage too."
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Telephone numbers of a local couple with more information.
To find contacts in a specific geographic area or for your faith expression, click here;
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This page last updated on April 19, 2005.