What is a Marriage Encounter?

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. 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.

It's not a retreat, marriage clinic, group sensitivity, or a substitute for counseling. It's a unique approach aimed at revitalizing 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 share together, whether they have been married for only a short time, or for many years.

For marriages with a deep breach of trust, Retrouvaille is available.

Is there a specific religious orientation to the weekend?

Marriage Encounter does present God as a focus for successful marriage. There are many faith expressions of Marriage Encounter Weekends - Catholic, Jewish, and several Protestant demoninations. While the Weekend may be presented in a given Faith expression, each is open and welcome to couples from other orientations. The opportunities of the Weekend go beyond the boundaries of any one expression.

For more information on Worldwide Marriage Encounter, including the names of contacts in other geographic regions or for specific faith expressions, please click here; or call 1-800-795-LOVE (5683).

The Detroit Area Worldwide Marriage Encounter is a Catholic expression.

What happens at a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend?

A series of presentations are given by a team of married couples and a religious in the particular faith expression (priest, rabbi, 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 at 7:30 on Friday night and runs until about
5:00 on Sunday afternoon.

Is this a private weekend?

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 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.

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.

What does the weekend cost?

Worldwide Marriage Encounter is a tax-exempt organization. The Internal Revenue Service has ruled that donations made in connection with the weekend, including the $25 - $100 non-refundable deposit (depending on the area), are deductable 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.

How do I get more information?

Still need more information about Catholic Worldwide Marriage Encounter in Detroit? Please click here.

For more information on Worldwide Marriage Encounter in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia, please click here;