The Engaged Encounter Weekend offers couples a unique opportunity to look at their commitment to each other in a deeper way as they prepare for marriage in the Roman Catholic Church.

Couples experience in-depth, personal, private marriage preparation in peaceful surroundings during a weekend dedicated just to them. A weekend away offers the unique opportunity to deepen their relationship free from pressure and distractions of the outside world. The weekend is interactive for the couple, providing each couple private time to work on their relationship. This is different from the lecture format of the Part One and Part Two Programs.

Sacramental marriage is the emphasis of the weekend. Preparing for this union, couples learn to communicate more effectively. Marriage in the Catholic Church is a holy, permanent bond. Couples learn why matrimony is a sacrament, how that effects their lives, and what the commitment means.

Traditions each person brings to the marriage from the families they have grown up in are explored. Blending traditions and making new family traditions are discussed as the couple plans to become their own, new family.

Intimacy in marriage is discussed, with an emphasis on all sharing all parts of their lives together with each other to form an intimate bond of husband and wife.

Couples explore their preparedness for marriage in the Church, learn more about each other, prepare for a deeper and more meaningful life together, and discover if they are ready for a Sacramental Marriage in the Catholic Church.

The weekend is presented from a Catholic point of view, but is open to couples where only one person is Catholic, as long as the couple is preparing to marry in the Catholic Church.  About a third of all couples attending Engaged Encounter in the New York Diocese are interfaith couples. Interfaith couples can explore how their individual faiths are similar, how they are different, and how they will prepare to raise children in the Catholic faith.

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