You don't have to be married to let Marriage Encounter enrich your vocation.  As a priest, you may well have promoted Worldwide Marriage Encounter among your parishioners, students, friends, family. You may have participated in Marriage Encounter Weekends as part of the ministry team. You're no doubt aware of the overwhelming popularity of the Marriage Encounter movement, its effectiveness in bringing couples closer together and - often - transforming or even saving marriages.

But Marriage Encounter for priests?  Yes. The Marriage Encounter weekends are designed in such a way that both priests and religious can participate fully. The principles of love, commitment and effective communication translate quite easily to the relationship between a priest and his parish or any group to whom he ministers.

Priests who have made an Encounter weekend call the experience "life enhancing".

"I am a priest from St. Louis. I made my weekend on December 1-3, 1995. At first I thought, What am I doing here? It didn't take long for me to experience a reawakening of my committment to love God's people, to embrace them and Jesus himself does. The weekend also helped me to see that ministry is really a dialogue between God and His people and He called me to help people encounter God daily.  The joy I felt on the weekend was the same joy I felt when I was ordained a priest on May 21, 1983. Today, I continue to meet in my local community. In doing so, the spark of Joy and Love for God and his people are rekindled. I highly recommend a weekend for any priest."
-Father Marty Mulvihill, St. Louis, MO.

"The weekend helped me to be more human and to get closer to my people and they have been the first one to tell me that." - Pastor, Inner City Parish, St. Louis.

"Through the techniques of the weekend, I was better able to get in touch with my feelings which allowed me to minister to my people in a more sensitive way in their struggles and joys. My homilies came more alive as I began to share my own life experiences in a more relatable way." - College Professor, Springfield, Illinios Diocese.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter invites you, the diocesan of religious-order priest, to consider the following questions and answers, perhaps write or call for further information, and plan to join us for a renewing Encounter weekend soon.