What is a Marriage Encounter?
Marriage Encounter is designed to give married couples the opportunity to examine their lives together.. a time to share their feeling, their hopes, disappointments, joys and frustrations.. and to do so openly and honestly in a face-to-face, heart-to-heart encounter with the one person they have chosen to live with for the rest of their life.

The emphasis of Marriage Encounter is on communication between husband and wife, who spend a weekend together away from the distractions and the tensions of everyday life, to concentrate on each other.

It's not a retreat, nor a marriage clinic, nor group sensitivity. It's a unique approach aimed at revitalizing Christian 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. Every marriage deserves that kind of attention!

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 shares together, whether they have been married for only a short time, or many years. Marriage Encounter also provides support and encouragement to priests and religious who are dedicated to their vocation in life.

Do you have to be Catholic?
The weekend is Catholic in orientation and is expressed in the tradition and understanding of the Catholic Church. It is open to all, and so a certain number of spaces are reserved each weekend for couples of other faiths.

What Happens at a Worldwide Marriage Encounter?
A series of presentations are given by a team of Catholic couples and a Catholic 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 . The weekend starts at 8:00 PM on Friday night and runs until about 4:30 PM on sunday afternoon.

Does the weekend respect the couple's privacies?
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 discussion.

How does a Marriage Encounter enhance a marriage?
The encounter weekend reaches 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.

When and Where?
Marriage Encounter weekends are held regularly at local motels and retreat houses. In some areas there is a waiting list for the weekend. So, registration several months in advance may be advisable.