World Wide Marriage Encounter: Fathers in Love, Mothers in Love, Families in Love.

World Wide Marriage Encounter: Fathers in Love, Mothers in Love, Families in Love.

Dr. Fr. Davis George, Former Indian Ecclesial Team (NET) and Asian Ecclesial Team (AET), WWME.

Dr. Fr. Davis George, Former NET and AET, WWME.

Dick and Patricia Alexandro came to India 40 years ago to share their couple love and transforming experience of the WWME weekend.  They sold everything they owned in the US and came over to India listening to the voice of God as did Abraham in the past.  What an adventurous journey of faith they embarked upon beckoning to the call of Jesus to share his unconditional love and covenantal relationship with couples, priests and religious.  Fr. Peter writes “Dick and Pat spent 10 months here and I think their lives were truly blessed (even with the cross) because of their generosity towards God.  They left on Valentine’s Day Feb10th 1973 because they wanted to give God a Valentine gift of their coupleness.”  How can we ever thank God for the great and daring step taken by Dick and Patricia, supported by the founder Father WWME India, Fr. Peter D’Souza?  On this occasion we salute them and place on record our deep indebtedness for what they are to all of us and for what they have done to light the lamp of WWME India burning so brightly till today.  “We are only channels of His love and presence to each other every day through the way we communicate His love and concern” says Fr. Peter D’souza.

It is befitting that the Worldwide Marriage Encounter – India, is holding a National Convention to celebrate 40 Years of WWME in India from October 13-16, 2013. The event would be conducted at Sarvodaya, St Pius X College Campus, Goregaon, Mumbai. The theme is ‘Go, Grow, Glow, - Faith and Love in Action’. His Eminence Cardinal Oswald Gracias will inaugurate the Convention.  The overwhelming response from encountered couples, Priests and Religious to be part of the great event is indeed heartwarming and this would provide much needed impetus to once again to cast out into the deep.  We are deeply indebted to our NET, Errol, Madhulika and Fr. Melvyn for their dynamic and visionary leadership which made all of us to be part of this great event and our special thanks to ME Mumbai for translating the vision into reality.  I do remember so many of our Team Couples and Priests who have generously contributed their love, time, talents and treasure without counting the cost to make WWME  what it is today. The same legacy is continued by all our team members all over the country. I have been always inspired by the team couples all these years as they have been leading WWME through their relationship and the Catholic Church is lucky to have such dedicated lay leaders who have shown their love for the church in action. The encountered Couples, Priests and Religious have kept the weekend experience growing and glowing through their dialoging way of life and widening the circle of influence by recruiting many more couples and Priests to experience the weekend.

We live in a world of great scientific and technological advancement.  We can speak to the person on the moon easily, but we find it difficult to speak to the person under the same roof.  We become strangers in the middle of a crowd.  We have witnessed today a steady increase in divorce, broken marriages, broken relationships, broken dreams resulting in broken families, wounded humanity and orphaned children.  Pope Francis said that Christians should be messengers of hope and joy in today’s world.  And that is what marriage encounter weekend experience can offer to the world.  We need to focus on the domestic Church, couple relationship, commitment in Priesthood and Religious life- in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, in prosperity and in adversity, until death do us part. 

Pope John Paul II said, ‘I place much of my hope for the future in Marriage Encounter.’  Later he wrote, “Love then is not a utopia: it is given to mankind as a task to be carried out with the help of divine grace. It is entrusted to man and woman, in the sacrament of matrimony, as the basic principle of their ‘duty,’ and it becomes the foundation of their mutual responsibility: first as spouses, then as father and mother. In the celebration of the sacrament, the spouses give and receive each other, declaring their willingness to welcome children and to educate them. On this hinges human civilization, which cannot be defined as anything other than a ‘civilization of love’.” – Letter to Families, no. 15

Pope Benedict XVI speaking at an audience with Worldwide Marriage Encounter leaders from across the world made strong comments in support of the movement.  “Marriage Encounter, yes! You are doing such important work in our church, especially in this world we live in,” Pope Benedict said as he spoke with David & Bronny Lea and Fr. John Rate, Worldwide Marriage Encounter International Coordinating Team.  The pope went on to say, “I will pray for you and your movement.”

Over 75,000 people experienced the life-giving Weekends in almost 90 countries around the world.  This year Worldwide Marriage Encounter is celebrating 40 years of ministry in India and Europe.   It is indeed a matter of great pride that WWME  is having weekends in China and Russia.  Our IET Tony & Cathy and Fr. Emile, expressed the hope that Worldwide Marriage Encounter would reach even more countries in the years ahead.  “The need to strengthen marriage and family throughout the world has never been greater,” they stated. 

Worldwide Marriage Encounter has been offering weekend experiences for over 43years and is considered the original faith-based marriage enrichment program.  The programs are continually updated to keep abreast of changes in society, and WWME now offers evening and half-day programs that are presented at parishes and other church facilities.  The weekend program, traditionally presented as an overnight experience at a hotel or retreat center, can also be presented at the parish where the couples return to their homes in the evenings.   WWME has a presence in over 90 countries, which makes it the largest pro-marriage movement in the world.  Today the WWME programs are presented in Local languages all over the world.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter offers married couples the opportunity to spend time together away from the busyness of the world to focus on each other.  Fathers in love, Mothers in love, families in love. It offers tools for building and maintaining a strong, Christian marriage in today’s world.  It also offers similar skills of building and maintaining a strong Priesthood and Religious Life.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends start on a Friday evening and end on Sunday afternoon. Participants hear presentations by a couple and a priest and later write their thoughts and feelings to share in the privacy of their room. There is no group discussion. Weekends are held in various locations, including hotels and retreat centers. Worldwide Marriage Encounter is a non-profit organization and all donations from the weekend are used to continue offering additional weekends throughout the country and the world.

Married couples, who want to learn more about making their “good marriages, better” can find Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends that are presented all over the world.   Marriage encounter weekend can make a good marriage into a great marriage and a good Priesthood into a great Priesthood.  Always two sacraments on a journey to build up a better world based on better relationships to build a civilization of love. This is the only way- Love, the way shown by Jesus.

Let us revisit Worldwide Marriage Encounter Vision & Mission Statements and take proactive steps to translate them into reality of our relationships.

Vision: “Love one another as I have loved you.” – It is indeed a challenge and opportunity.

Mission: Worldwide Marriage Encounter’s Mission of renewal in the church and change in the world is to assist couples and priests to live fully intimate and responsible relationships by providing them with a Catholic “experience” and ongoing community support for such a lifestyle.

Dr. Fr. Davis George, Director, St. Aloysius Institute of Technology, P.B. No.28, Near Ekta Market, Gaur Bridge,
Gauraiya Ghat, Mandla Road, Jabalpur (M.P.). PIN- 482 001. Tel: 0761-2601154 (O), 2601156 (R)
Mob: 9425152081, 8965019795, Email: dgoerge55@gmail.com, Websites: www.saitjbp.org, www.frdavis.in