Worldwide Marriage Encounter Scheduled Feb. 6-8

Amarillo—A Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend is scheduled Friday, Feb. 6 through Sunday, Feb. 8 at the Bishop DeFalco Retreat Center, 2100 North Spring.

For over four decades, Worldwide Marriage Encounter has been a leading movement in offering married couples the gift of a Weekend experience to enrich their relationship. The Weekend is now offered in more than 90 countries.

Here are several frequently asked questions about Worldwide Marriage Encounter:
What is a Worldwide Marriage Encounter?
“The Worldwide 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 is a chance to look deeply into their relationship with each other and with God. It is a time to share their feelings, hopes and dreams with each other.
“The emphasis of the Worldwide 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 is not a retreat, marriage clinic, group sensitivity, or a substitute for counseling. It is a unique approach aimed at revitalizing Marriage. It truly is a marriage enrichment program.”

What happens on a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend?
“It is like many marriage enrichment programs, however Worldwide Marriage Encounter is unique in that a series of presentations is given by a team of Catholic couples and a priest. Each presentation allows you to look at yourself as an individual, and then to look at your relationship to those with whom you live and work and to whom you minister. Finally, you are led to look at your relationship with God, the Church as a whole, and the world. Married couples view all these relationships in terms of their own vocation, but the principles are freely applicable to the priesthood and religious life as well. The atmosphere is relaxed and non-invasive. Most participants say they are hardly aware of the others in attendance.

I have heard that dialogue is an important part of the Weekend…
"Dialogue is the communication technique taught on the Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend. A priest/religious who is making the Weekend dialogues with the priest on the ministry team, or another priest/religious who is also making the Weekend.”

At the current time, an earlybird registration fee of $75 is available as a Valentine’s Day gift, according to Harry and Arlene Haiduk, Amarillo contact couple for Worldwide Marriage Encounter. For additional information, contact Harry or Arlene Haiduk at 674-7110 or 674-7112. The Haiduk’s can also be contacted via email at [email protected]. Couples can also apply online at www.meoklahoma.org.