Worldwide Marriage Encounter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marriage Encounter is a weekend program designed to help married couples improve their marriage and solve problems before they escalate into divorce or separation. The Worldwide Marriage Encounter organization operates on a mission of renewal in church and seeks to change the world by assisting couples and priests to develop fully intimate and responsible relationships. A further attraction of the program is the community that is created with other married couples over the course of the weekend.
While the program began in the Catholic church, today the organization holds similar weekends for various Protestant denominations as well. Similar programs, called Engaged Encounter and Pre-Cana Encounter, are held for couples considering marriage. There is also a branch called National Marriage Encounter, which holds interfaith weekends for couples of any or no faith.
Over the course of the weekend, Marriage Encounter tries to instill in the couples a pattern of communication that will serve them for their entire married life. At the same time, the couples are encouraged to include God in their life together. Organizers say that a Marriage Encounter is not a retreat, marriage clinic, group sensitivity training, or a substitute for counseling, though elements of these are included in the program.
Priests and avowed Religious are also encouraged to attend the sessions. The same principles of love, commitment and communication that help married couples stay together can be applied by the priest or Religious to his or her parish or community.
Marriage encounter weekends are made step by step:
- Getting to know oneself
- Viewing life as a couple
- Considering communities and the church
The basis of these weekends (which are independent of age, formation, and finances) is the Worldwide Marriage Encounter movement promoted by Fr. Chuck Gallagher SJ, a Jesuit priest active in the Christian Family Movement.
