History of Engaged Encounter

The seeds of Catholic Engaged Encounter were planted by a couple in Detroit, MI in 1968.  Concerned about the growing incidence of separation and divorce, a group of couples and priests came together to develop and present the first pilot weekends in 1975 in New York.  The response was immediate, by both the engaged couples attending the weekends, and the couples and priests presenting the weekends. By the end of that year more than 100 couples and 50 priests were trained to give weekends throughout the United States. A lay ministry was born!

The first Engaged Encounter weekend was presented in the Arlington Diocese in 1978, brought here by the Diocese of Baltimore.  In a short time, Engaged Encounter in Arlington was presenting weekends to several hundred couples a year preparing for marriage in the Catholic Church.  Today, the Arlington Diocese EE Community presents 20 weekends a year, serving about 600 engaged couples each year.  Each weekend is attended by up to 30 engaged couples. Most of the couples who present the talks on the weekend are couples who have been through the Engaged Encounter weekend experience themselves.  The weekends have been held in various hotels around the Northern Virginia area, having long outgrown the retreat facilities located at Missionhurst in Arlington because of size limitations.

Our Purpose is to prepare engaged couples for the sacrament of marriage by providing a life-giving view of marriage and by challenging couples to communicate openly and honestly with each other. Our specific goals include:
• To strengthen marriage and family life.
• To help develop a contemporary theology of marriage. As married couples we have a great deal to offer from our experiences. We share these openly with the engaged couples.
• To call our Church to a fresh view of the gift of marriage preparation.
• To help make Catholic Engaged Encounter available in every diocese in the U.S.
• To develop weekends which meet the languages and needs of multicultural groups.

The National Organization of Catholic Engaged Encounter strives to be a truly national family. We have an established structure, which sustains local communities and reaches out to new areas in this country and around the world. The United States national family consists of an Executive Team (a couple and a priest) who directs the activities of the United States National Board. This Board consists of teams that represent the five US districts. These five districts correspond to the five geographical regions: Northeast, Midwest, South, North Central States, and the West. For more information about Catholic Engaged Encounter in other areas, visit our national website: www.engagedencounter.org.