The story of Marriage Encounter began in 1952, when a young Spanish Diocesan Laborer Priest, Father Gabriel Calvo, began developing a series of conferences for married couples.

Their focus was on the development of an open and honest relationship within marriage and learning to live out a sacramental relationship in the service of others. Each presentation ended with a question designed to encourage the couple to look at the concepts presented in terms of their own relationship.

In 1962, Father Calvo presented the conferences as a weekend retreat to 28 couples in his native Barcelona. The experience enjoyed immediate success and rapidly spread throughout Spain as the Encuentro Conjugal.

For approximately 10 years The Marriage Teams of Pope Pius XII, as the presenting teams were called, traveled throughout Spain with this series of conferences for married couples.

The weekend spread to Latin America and under the aegis of the Movimiento Familiar Cristiano (MFC) to Spanish-speaking couples in the United States.

The Encounter movement began its growth in the English-speaking world, at the close of the Christian Family Movement (CFM) Convention at Notre Dame University in 1967. The Encuentro Conjugal received the active support of CFM.

By November 1968, American couples and priests were conducting weekends. A National Executive Board was formed and Marriage Encounter remained affiliated with CFM.

In the Diocese of Rockville Center, N.Y., under the leadership of Edward and Harriet Garzero, CFM President couple, and Father Charles Gallagher, S.J., the movement was growing rapidly. Philosophical differences with the National leadership began to appear.

In New York, stress was placed on the follow-up to the weekend as well as on the weekend itself. There was strong emphasis on the development of a Marriage Encounter “community” to provide support for living the values learned throughout the weekend - especially for the “dialogue” as a technique for communication through the sharing of feelings.

In addition, the renewal of the sacrament of matrimony was a strong focus as a means for renewing the Catholic Church. The Long Island leadership of the “New York Expression” of Worldwide Marriage Encounter was the result.

Thus, Worldwide and National Marriage Encounter exist today as two different expressions of the original Encuentro Conjugal of Father Gabriel Calvo.

In the fall of 1971, the New York group made the decision to spread the experience throughout the U.S. and other parts of the world.

At about the same time, Worldwide Marriage Encounter began its international expansion, sending team couples in July of 1972 into Belgium and England. That expansion continues today and the worldwide weekend is now offered in Latin America, Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, the U.S. and Canada. The weekend is given in over 90 countries.

In 1978, the International Council for Worldwide Marriage Encounter was formed and includes leadership teams (couple and priest) from seven secretariats: Asia, South Pacific, Pan-Africa, Europe, U.S., Canada and Latin America. Lee and Jan Kremer and Fr. Rich O’Brien are the current International Coordinating Team.

Although the Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend is meant as a Catholic experience, it has always provided openings for couples of other faiths. In 1971 the weekend was introduced to the Jewish and Episcopal faiths. Worldwide Marriage Encounter provided initial financial support and guidance and their programs flourished.

The spread of the weekend to other faiths continues. Twelve Protestant and Greek Orthodox expressions are now affiliated with Worldwide Marriage Encounter.

Today the Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend is offered to Catholics in 160 local areas

in the United States - 19 of them Hispanic - in 48 of the 50 states. It is estimated that about 3,000,000 couples, priests and religious have experienced the weekend.

The leadership for the U.S. Secretariat is presently Scott & Karen Seaborn and Fr. Tom Griffith, SVD , 2210 East Highland Ave, Ste 106, San Bernardino, CA 92404-4666.

This article is taken in part from one written by Frank & Barbara Jelinek and Father Dick Reis, 1983. Corrections and updates were completed by Denie & Dee Stemmle, 1991, Russ & Janet Baker, 1998, and Ted & Mary Harden, 2004.