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Worldwide Marriage Encounter Columbus, Ohio
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Helping Couples Stay Madly In Love
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| The following article
originally appeared in the Catholic Times:
Helping couples stay madly in love By Jim and Mary Sturgeon “There’s a new world somewhere they call the promised land…and I’ll be there some day if you will hold my hand…I still need you there beside me no matter what I do…for I know I’ll never find another you”. People who have been on a Marriage Encounter weekend often find their eyes welling up with tears as they hear that song, for it brings back memories of perhaps the most special weekend in their lives. In some cases it makes couples who’ve been married for two years or 30 act like honeymooners. The secret is one discovered by millions of married couples around the world who have participated in Marriage Encounter. The weekend is a crash course in communications. It is for good marriages, where couples feel they might be starting to take each other for granted. A Marriage Encounter weekend helps couples stay madly in love with each other. Even though it is a Catholic weekend, it is not restricted to Catholics. Couples of all faiths are welcome to participate. What happens on a Marriage Encounter weekend? The experience for each couple is very personal. The weekend teaches a technique for communications or dialogue. It urges the growth of a couple’s relationship. Couples are then encouraged to practice the technique for the rest of their lives. The group leaders share life experiences and then present leading questions through which the couples are urged to examine their thoughts and feelings. Husbands and wives are then urged to write their answers in the form of letters to their spouses. What the couples do with this communication is totally up to them. The need to be vulnerable and honest is why the M.E. weekend is aimed at good marriages. It’s not a counseling session for troubled marriages or a last ditch attempt to regain lost love. Instead it’s an opportunity for marriages with strong, loving foundations to reach new heights. The goal of Marriage Encounter is to renew marriage relationships in the hopes of changing the world – making it a better place in which to live. It implies that if there were more couples in love, the world would be a different place. One couple’s weekend experience describes the goal…Robert, married 36 years, was “dragged” to an M.E. Weekend by his wife. (Rarely are both husband and wife equally enthusiastic about going) . At the end of the weekend, Robert told the other couples about his reluctance, and then announced, “I’m not going home with my wife.” A hush fell over the room…and then Robert said, “I’m going home with my bride”.
For more information about Marriage Encounter in the Central Ohio area, Call or write Paul and Marilou Clouse, 740-746-9003 Rt. 1 Box 616, Sugar Grove, OH 43155 or see WWMEColumbus.org |
