National Marriage Encounter

Family Encounters
The purpose of the Family Encounter is to give the opportunity to each family to make a deep and intimate loving dialogue in the Lord. It focuses on the renewal of the family as an individual unit rather than the renewal of the family life in the United States or the Church. In renewing the individual unit, the secondary result may be a new life and consecration within the Church by families dedicated to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Though this may be a slower process, we believe it is a more lasting approach.

The family has the chance to make a deep intimate and loving dialogue in the Lord. "Dialogue" is not used in the sense of the written feeling, the daily communication of Marriage Encounter. In the Family Encounter sense, it is a critical and insightful reflection on my own life and is to be shared with other family members. The key to the Family Encounter is the personal reflection, rather than the "dialogue." The more members of a family discover themselves, the more they have to share with each other. So self-reflection is shared - received - and accepted by the family. Then and only then can the talking or "communication" take place.

The rhythm of the weekend is very familiar to those in Marriage Encounter

The "dialogue of Marriage Encounter" is built upon the Covenant or commitment of Marriage. In the Family Encounter, the sons and daughters do not have that same type of covenant relationship. Sons and daughters will eventually move on to form their own covenants and commitments. So the "Dialogue" is different, because the type of commitment is not the same as in Marriage. But, "Dialogue" is the same as in the Marriage Encounter in the sense of sharing of two interior worlds that are received and accepted. So again, it is a two-way street - each freely sharing. This is an important realization, especially for parents. The two-way relationship is the total reality.