tanyaziegler

Since Retrouvaille (retrouvaille.org) has been mentioned a lot in the Unschooling forums for parents who need help with their marriage, I thought I would also pass along that the Catholic church has a marriage encounter program that appears to follow the same weekend format for couples who are NOT in distress.

The marriage encounter for married couples not in distress is called "Worldwide Marriage Encounter". The website is wwme.org, and I believe some state chapters also have their own website (mine does for Arizona).

The weekend format appears to be the same as Retrouvaille, but there are not any scheduled follow-up meetings. Instead, on the website there is a page for "After Your Weekend" suggestions.

The fee schedule also appears to be the same. You are asked to pay an upfront registration fee, and during the weekend program you will be asked to give a freewill donation with the caveat that no couple is turned away if they cannot pay. The only difference I noticed for my local chapter is that the registration fee is less for the WWME vs. Retrouvaille.

I have taken Sandra's suggestion seriously to make my marriage a priority over unschooling. Retrouvaille is mentioned a lot in unschooling forums, so I thought I would mention the Worldwide Marriage Encounter as a sister program to Retrouvaille for anyone who may, like myself, like the idea of a program similar to Retrouvaille, but feels Retrouvaille may not exactly fit your needs.

Sandra Dodd

-=-I have taken Sandra's suggestion seriously to make my marriage a priority over unschooling. Retrouvaille is mentioned a lot in unschooling forums, so I thought I would mention the Worldwide Marriage Encounter as a sister program to Retrouvaille for anyone who may, like myself, like the idea of a program similar to Retrouvaille, but feels Retrouvaille may not exactly fit your needs. -=-

Thanks.
People don't need to be Catholic to benefit from those things.

Also:

Lori Odhner has a site (Caring for Marriage), an annual conference (in Pennsylvania), and a free daily mailing (Marriage Moats), too, that might be helpful.

http://caringformarriage.org/marriage-moats/
Archive: http://archive.aweber.com/marriagemoats

Lori and her husband are fourth-or-more-generation members of a church called The Church of the New Jerusalem, and sometimes something comes up in one of the daily writings that's particular to that, but most of the ideas are "religion neutral," and it's easy enough not to worry about the idea of what happens to marriage after death, and to use the practical thoughts and tools regardless of your personal philosophy.
I spoke at one of Lori's conferences, and have known her for Kirby Dodd's whole life (she and Carol Rice-McClure were my first La Leche League leaders).

Sandra

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