Catholic Engaged Encounter

About this Class

What Should We Bring?

We encourage couples to bring: comfortable, casual clothes; a bathrobe (dorm style rooms); personal items (shampoo, toothpaste, etc.); snacks to share, e.g., fruit, cake, cookies, chips, pretzels; and, a musical instrument if you want to play at Mass on Sunday.

Schedule

The weekend begins with registration at 7:15 a.m. on Saturday morning and ends late afternoon on Sunday.

The Archdiocesan Center is located within the Archdiocese of Hartford in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The Center is set on 80 acres of woodland three miles north of Hartford, CT, and is home to a beautiful gothic style main chapel which has the distinction of being one of the most beautiful in the state.

What is Catholic Engaged Encounter (CEE)?

CEE is recognized, both nationally and internationally, as a quality, highly effective, marriage preparation program designed to meet the needs of today's engaged couples.

The Engaged Encounter is a weekend experience during which each couple can concentrate exclusively on one another, free of the tensions, pressures and interruptions of the world. It is a quiet weekend specifically designed to give the couples planning marriage an opportunity to dialogue about their prospective lives together - their strengths and weaknesses, their desires, their ambitions, their goals, their attitudes toward money, sex, children, family, their role in the Church and society - in a face-to-face way.

The Engaged Encounter fulfills the Hartford Archdiocesan requirement for marriage preparation as an approved alternative to Engaged Couples Conference/Pre-Cana.

Who is it for?

It is for couples planning marriage in the Catholic Church who desire to deepen, develop and enrich their lives together.

What happens at an Encounter?

Presentations are given by married couples and a priest or religious who share personally from their own experiences. The engaged couple is stimulated to discuss privately with each other on all aspects of married life.Topics covered during the weekend include self-awareness, human sexuality, communications, decision making, Natural Family Planning, vocation, sacrament, unity and more.

This is not a sensitivity session, nor are there any group dynamics. Rather it is a private experience in a quiet and informal setting. Personal reflection and couple dialogue are the main thrust of the weekend.

What should we expect to gain from the weekend?

Through personal sharing, the members of the presenting team talk about what the Sacrament of Matrimony means to them and describe experiences in their relationships with each other and with God. These stories are meant to encourage you to explore your own attitudes and expectations about love and marriage and various ideas and tools to help the two of you continue to grow closer through the years. Strategies are designed to help meet both present and future needs:

Communication Needs

Engaged Encounter introduces couples to communication techniques they can use effectively to foster a deeper knowledge of each other, explore differences, and deal with disagreements.

Spiritual Needs

Each couple comes to realize that marriage is a sacrament and a vocation, and that God and prayer are essential to a fruitful marriage.

Personal Needs

Each person is challenged to develop insight into the influences of family background and life experience on his or her personality, communication, and decision-making styles. Each person's goals, expectations and motives for marriage are also clarified.