Worldwide Marriage Encounter - Diocese of Orange County, California
What is Marriage Encounter?
Click here to watch a video about Marriage Encounter
Marriage Encounter is the most successful and dynamic marriage enrichment experience in the world today. Since its beginning in the United States in 1968, couples and priests have volunteered their time and energies to bring the Marriage Encounter Weekend to couples everywhere. Couples from all over the world 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.
The Marriage Encounter weekend is a positive and personal experience offering married couples an opportunity to learn a technique of loving communication that they can use for the rest of their lives. It's a chance to look deeply into their relationship with each other and with God. It's a time to share their feelings, hopes and dreams with each other.
The emphasis of the Marriage Encounter weekend is on the communication between husbands and wives. It is not a time to look at the past, but rather to look to your future together. The weekend provides a conducive environment for couples to spend time together, away from the distractions and tensions of everyday life, while encouraging them to focus on each other and their relationship.
Marriage Encounter is a Catholic expression open to all happily married couples, regardless of faith, race, age, education, or financial status. It is not necessary that you be married in the church.
What is it not?
It's not a retreat, marriage clinic, group sensitivity, or a substitute for counseling. It's a unique approach aimed at revitalizing Marriage. If you have a troubled marriage, please contact Retrouvaille.
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. Every marriage deserves that kind of attention! The weekend is a positive, simple, common sense experience between husband and wife, that revitalizes marriages by helping couples to see what their relationship could and should be.
Who is it for?
Any married couple who desires a richer, fuller life together. A marriage can never be too good. Marriage Encounter is designed to deepen and enrich the joys a couple share together, whether they have been married for only a short time, or for many years. Marriage Encounter is also for priests and religious who want to revitalize their relationship with the people of God and develop an even deeper appreciation for their own vocation.
Why would priests or other religious attend?
The Marriage Encounter Weekend is designed in such a way that both priests and religious can participate fully. The principles of love, commitment and effective communication translate quite readily to the relationship between a priest and his parish or any group to whom he ministers as well as to a religious community.
Priests who have made an Encounter weekend call the experience "life-enhancing."
Worldwide Marriage Encounter invites you to attend. Please take advantage of our networking process by which we can help you get a replacement for the weekend you choose to attend. Follow this link for more information.
Is there a specific religious orientation to the weekend?
Marriage Encounter does present God as a focus for a successful marriage. There are many faith expressions of Marriage Encounter Weekends - Catholic, as well as several Protestant and other faith denominations. While the Weekend may be presented in a given Faith expression, each is open to couples from other orientations. The opportunities of the Weekend go beyond the boundaries of any one faith expression. Go to the main Worldwide Marriage Encounter site www.wwme.org for denominations other than Catholic.
What happens at a Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend?
An atmosphere is created on the weekend in which the couple can concentrate exclusively on one another. A series of talks are given by a team of married couples and a religious in the particular faith expression (priest or minister). Each presentation allows you and your spouse a rare opportunity to look at yourselves as individuals, then to look at your marriage and relationship to one another, and finally to look at your relationship to God and to the world. The weekend starts on Friday night and runs until about 5:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Meals are provided.
Marriage Encounter starts with the love you have for your spouse and helps you to build, expand, and deepen that relationship. The Weekend shows you the way to do this and provides you with the means - the rest is up to you! The only talent one must have to make a Marriage Encounter is the talent to love, and a desire to make a good marriage even better.
Does the weekend respect the couple's privacy?
YES! The weekend is oriented strictly to each individual couple. You concentrate on your spouse to such an extent that you are hardly aware of the other couples present. 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 sharing using the communication technique they are learning on the weekend. There is no group discussion.
How does a Marriage Encounter enhance a marriage?
The fundamental difference between marriages that are good, average or poor is the level of communication between husband and wife. In all marriages, there are times when we take each other and our relationship for granted. 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 you, at your marriage, and at your priorities. You learn a communication technique which allows and encourages you to explore the important areas of your life together in a spirit of love and understanding. The weekend experience offers every couple the insights, the tools, and the confidence to enrich their marriage and to strengthen their love for one another. For many couples, "Their Weekend" is one of the most significant experiences of their lives. By continuing the newly-acquired technique begun on the weekend, husbands and wives continually grow closer together to live more joyful and purposeful lives.
While not an essential part of the experience, the availability of a community of others who have shared the Weekend and who share similar values provides a supportive environment for even further growth. For information on the Diocese of Orange County Community, click here.
When and Where?
Marriage Encounter Weekends are held four to six times a year at a local motel. In some cases, there is a waiting list for the weekends. For more information on dates and applying, click here.
How much does the weekend cost?
On the weekend, you will be asked to make a donation. This donation will cover the expenses of lodging, food, and materials for the Weekend.
A non-refundable application fee of $90 is required to confirm your reservation, food and lodging. There is limited capacity, so early application is encouraged. If you are ready to apply, you will find a application form here.
No couple is ever denied the chance to renew their marriage because they are facing financial difficulties. This concern should not influence your decision to attend a Marriage Encounter Weekend.
Worldwide Marriage Encounter is a tax-exempt organization. The Internal Revenue Service has ruled that donations made in connection with the Weekend, including the non-refundable deposit mentioned above, are deductible only to the extent that the contribution exceeds the amount of goods and services received. Information as to that amount will be given to couples attending the Weekend.
Contributions made on or in connection with the Marriage Encounter weekend are made confidentially.
What do couples say about the weekend?
Here are some comments from couples who have been encountered. If you would like to read other reasons why you should attend, follow this link.
How do I get more information?
To have information sent to you, or to have someone call you with more information, you may e-mail John & Catherine Arthur at arthurs6@me.com.
You may also call the main Worldwide Marriage Encounter number at (800) 795-LOVE (795-5683).