MARRIAGE ENRICHMENT

WEEKEND

A Marriage Enrichment Weekend is a residential workshop for sacramentally married couples. It is a unique opportunity to enjoy quality time away from the distractions of work, children and other everyday interruptions and to enrich your marriage relationship.

The aim of the Weekend is to create a warm relaxed atmosphere in which husband and wife can explore and share their feelings, hopes, joys, fears, needs and differences in private. It provides a positive and thought provoking experience by helping couples communicate and listen more effectively to each other.

Participants learn new techniques of communication to help them build and enjoy a deeper richer relationship which they can continue to use at home. They also receive handouts and are encouraged to take notes.

A Marriage Enrichment Weekend is for couples with good marriages, at any stage of married life, who are open to the possibility of something more. While the Weekend has a Catholic ethos, it is open to married couples of any faith or of none who would not find such ethos to be an issue for them. However, please note that Marriage Encounter is not an alternative for couples who believe they are in need of counselling.

THE  MARRIAGE ENRICHMENT WEEKEND PROGRAMME

The weekend is residential, held in suitable venues, from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. The format is a series of presentations by three couples and a priest, who share deeply on their personal experiences of different aspects of married life and ordained ministry.

The presentations encourage couples to consider their understanding of themselves, their relationship with each other, with God and the world around them. Following each presentation, couples are encouraged to reflect as individuals on what they have heard and then talk together in private.

This pattern of presentation, reflection and dialogue continues throughout the weekend. It is an intensive programme which provides the couple with the opportunity to get away from the pressures of life and concentrate on each other and their relationship. There is no group work because the focus is on the couple's own relationship.

The presenters have themselves experienced the weekend and then received further training in the aims and concepts of Worldwide Marriage Encounter.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Marriage Encounter receives no financial support from outside bodies. Its work is financed solely through the donations of couples who have attended weekends. There are no paid personnel in Marriage Encounter. The team couples and priests present the weekend on a completely voluntary basis.

Marriage Encounter has a ‘Paying it forward’ philosophy, wherein couples who have experienced the weekend are given the opportunity to make a confidential donation towards the cost of a future weekend for another couple.

Couples pay a non-refundable deposit of €100 (£85) which is transferable if the couple or organisation has to
postpone or reschedule. The cost to Marriage Encounter of each couple attending the weekend is c. €450(£375)
(inclusive of deposit) which covers accommodation, two breakfasts, two
lunches, one evening meal and tea/coffee breaks. However, it is the policy of Marriage Encounter that cost should
never be a deterrent to any couple wishing to experience the weekend and all donations are anonymous.

ORGANISATION

Marriage Enrichment Weekends and other activities in the Republic of Ireland are presented by Catholic Marriage Encounter in Ireland which is a not for profit company registered in Dublin; Registration No. 573439; Registered Address: Suite One, 1-3 Fitzwilliam Street Lower, Dublin 2, D02 AW70, Ireland. 

Marriage Enrichment Weekends and other activities in Northern Ireland are presented by Catholic Marriage Encounter Northern Ireland which is a charitable trust registered with the Charity Commission, Northern Ireland; Registration No. 101458-0; 

Each organisation has its own governance and is financially independent but both cooperate and share human resources together; both are affiliated to the Worldwide Marriage Encounter movement.