My husband and I have been encountered since 2000 and have been a presenting couple for Marriage Encounter since. There is nothing like it because you focus only on each other and your own marriage. We are having a diocesan workshop on Marriage and Family and am interested in learinging about other day or weekend retreats. If you’ve never been on a marriage encounter weekend, it is extrememly effective!
Time for Two
Posted by Lisa Hendey in Marriage on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 3:00 PM
Reader Shannon reached out to me this past week with the following query:
Hi! I’d like to find a good Marriage retreat, and I was wondering if you have any suggestions. Looking around on the internet, it’s so hard to know what’s good and what isn’t. My husband and I have 2 free plane tickets and would like to use them to fly to a really great retreat that we can both attend. Any ideas?
Friends, I’m turning to you for your suggestions. I can point Shannon to a few resources, including Worldwide Marriage Encounter and Retrouvaille for those whose marriages need a “lifeline”. But like Shannon, I’d love to hear your recommendations for great marriage retreats in your home parish or diocese. Please share your recommendations in the comments below, along with links for more information if you have them.
When I was growing up, my mom and dad were very into the Marriage Encounter movement. As parents of five, they prioritized taking time alone with one another to refresh and renew their marriage. Greg and I have had the opportunity to travel alone without our boys (usually when he had a conference to attend) but I’m sad to admit that we’ve never attended a marriage retreat. Now that he has been in the Church a few years, I think his heart might be more open to doing this if we could find a terrific retreat in a special spot.
How about you? Have you and your spouse had the opportunity to attend a retreat together focusing on the topic of marriage? How did it benefit you as a couple? Have their been lasting repercussions in your marriage and spiritual lives?
Comments
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We are in the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis and have participated in a day-long retreat for Newly Married Couples married up to eight years. We have enjoyed their keynote speakers, break-out sessions, opportunities for the sacraments, prayer, and couple time. Although an overnight weekend would be great, most of the couples have young children and find it difficult to get away for more than a Saturday. Babies are of course welcome to attend with mom and dad, but finding a sitter for the rest of the kids for more than a day is complicated. The retreat happens on the first Saturday of February each year. You’d be able to find the info on the archdiocesan website for sure.
We did an Engaged Encounter retreat when we were engaged and although it was good couple time, our evaluation was that it wasn’t our “style” and it certainly was less-than-Orthodox when it came to issues like contraception. My understanding is that the Marriage Encounter weekends, while very good, use lots of journaling to one another, coupled with discussion. We have friends who LOVE to communicate in this way, but it’s just not how my husband and I communicate with one another. I would recommend evaluating based on how you and your spouse communicate. If you love LOTS of writing (after every talk and every prayer service or liturgy) than Marriage Encounter would be a great fit for you.
We have also participated in a weekend long (local, so not overnight) Theology of the Body worksop with Christopher West. Our parish hosted Christopher a few years ago and it was absolutely excellent. Not really a retreat, but a great springboard for discussion between married couples.
http://www.saintmeinrad.edu/programs_program_detail.aspx?progid=342&prog=edu&sub=prog
This link is for Be My Valentine: A Married Couples Retreat, at St. Meinrad Archabby in Indiana. It is a beautiful and peaceful place! My husband and I have been to a retreat there and enjoyed it very much. I don’t think we can go to this Valentine one, which is very disappointing! I do recommend St. Meinrad’s retreats though.
My husband & I have been “Encountered” since May 94. We were presenting team for several years, also. It was one of the best things we have ever done for our marriage! Molly, above, indicated there is writing on the weekend. . .yes there is, but it is NOT term paper type of writing; and we write not be understood, but to understand ourselves.
Another retreat we have heard about is “Living in Love” which is supposed to be more “male friendly”. We have attended this yet, but look forward to the opportunity.
I have to 2nd the Theology of the Body comment with Christopher West. We went to a 2 day retreat earlier this year and it was amazing. Understanding (or revisiting) the ultimate beauty of spiritual union with your spouse as it was meant to be by God - what could be a better retreat? It has been monumental in my marriage. Plus - it is very fun to practice! I also agree that it depends on what your marriage is most in need of right now. I have often thought of marriage encounter - but we are not very into journal writing. We spend hours and hours talking so what was great about TOB was it gave us new information and insight into areas neither of us were completely fluent in. I think if spicing up the communication between spouses is critical right now - then a program structured to facilitate dialogue might be the right direction for you. Good luck and report back! Can’t wait to see the other responses!
Catholic Familyland in Ohio has a great retreat called the “Get-away Marriage Weekend” It would certainly be worth traveling to! You can learn about it here: http://www.familyland.org/content/Content.aspx?CategoryID=118
Check with your local Catholic Retreat House. Many times they run “married couple retreats” during the year. My husband and I did go on a Marriage Encounter about 15 years ago. At the time, it was very good for us. My husband is not a “writer”, even though it was short sometimes, he really did not like it, and sometimes make things more difficult between us. I on the other hand, love to write. It was not a good fit. My husband felt intimidated sometimes. The ME movement is a great movement, don’t get me wrong, but as in all things, it might not be the right fit for your marriage. We have been on marriage retreat days and they have worked for us. It’s all about what you put into it, is what it comes down to. I"ll pray that you and your spouse find a special place to go.
I would encourage you all to check out NAME - it is not Catholic, but it is great. The use the bible of course to base all their weekend retreat teachings on, so some might not be exactly in-line with our teachings, but the relationship building portion of the weekend, and the facing issues portion is great. It is Evangelical, but if someone from the Catholic Church could get ahold of some of their stuff and Catholicize it, that would be great. BYW, the people who run it are all former Catholics, some some of their stuff is very Catholic, even though they might not realize it. Like Leo Godzich studied Greek for 6 years under a RC Greek Scholar priest. Also, if you Google “Covenant Marriage”, you will find alot of good retreats, unfortunately most of them will be non-Catholic but have good biblical basis for our covenant marriage commitments we make. Please bring back what you learn to our church and help us build strong marriage conferences like NAME - they have couples to couples counselling too. (Your Sister-In-Christ from Canada.) We bring in alot of RC Lay speakers from the US to our Annual Conference here in Alberta - http://www.catholicfamilyministries.com GOD BLESS
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