In today’s busy world, it is becoming harder and harder for couples to carve out time just for themselves. One great way to get away—and get connected—is to attend a Marriage Encounter weekend.

The next Marriage Encounter weekend in the Atlanta area will be held June 16-18 at the Radisson Hotel at Northlake.

World Wide Marriage Encounter (WWME) began in Spain in the 1950s and came to the United States in the mid-1960s. WWME has more than 50 years of history in enriching Christian marriages and adding vitality to relationships between priests, deacons, sisters and other Religious and the communities they serve. Now present in more than 80 countries around the world, WWME brings a Catholic message of the importance of sacramental love to many thousands of couples each year.

The vision statement adopted from Scripture by WWME is: “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). By teaching communication techniques that allow people to build trust and intimacy in their relationships, each WWME weekend serves to strengthen marriages, families and the church.

The goal of WWME is to help married couples develop an open and honest relationship and to learn to live out a sacramental relationship in the service of others. The WWME weekend experience is designed to give married couples the opportunity to examine their lives together—a time to share their feelings, their hopes, disappointments, joys and frustrations, and to do so openly and honestly in a face-to-face, heart-to-heart encounter with the one person with whom they have chosen to live the rest of their lives.

An Encounter weekend is a time for spouses to be alone together, away from the distractions of work, kids, chores, and all other responsibilities. It’s not a retreat, a marriage clinic, or group sensitivity. The program provides a unique approach aimed at revitalizing Christian marriage by encouraging couples to rediscover each other and together focus on their relationship for an entire weekend. Every marriage deserves that kind of attention.

A Marriage Encounter weekend is designed to make good marriages great. This experience will deepen and enrich the joys a couple shares together, whether they have been married for only a short time or many years. Marriage Encounter also provides support and encouragement to priests and Religious who are dedicated to their vocation in life.

For more information or to register for the weekend, call (866) ATL-WWME (285-9963) or go to www.wwmeatlanta.org.