Welcome to the Worldwide Marriage Encounter Community!
Dialoguing encountered couples strive to make their marriages happier and more joyful every day. Located here are key resources to continue the journey to live a more joyful married life simply by using dialogue.
On this page are tips to live an encountered couple lifestyle. Use any of the FREE guides found here to find events in your area.
Check back frequently (even daily!) to find dialogue questions, video presentations, and to discover more facets of living as an encountered couple to ensure your marriage is running at top performance!
Contact Us with your questions or feedback!
Register Now for our 2025 Marriage Enrichment Events!
Dialogue Questions & Tips
First, choose an area to dialogue about:
CHILD RAISING
DEATH
DECISION MAKING
FRIENDS
GOD AND OUR FAITH
HEALTH
IN-LAWS
JOBS
MONEY
POSSESSIONS
PRAYER
USE OF TIME
SEX
SUPERIORITY
Next, choose one of the following question formats to dialogue about your chosen area:
1. Why do I want to dialogue in this area? HDIFAT?
2. What do I hope to gain in this area? HDIFAT?
3. What do I like best about you in this area? HDIFAT?
4. What do I like least about you in this area? HDIFAT?
5. What do I like best about myself in this area? HDIFAT?
6. What do I like least about myself in this area? HDIFAT?
7. What do I like best about us in this area? HDIFAT?
8. What mask do I wear in this area? HDIFAT?
9. When am I least open to listen to you in this area? HDIFAT?
10. In this area, what feeling do I find most difficult to share with you? DIFALD
REFLECTIONS TO SHARE WITH ONE ANOTHER – use for loving discussion
I affirm another person when I recognize that he/she is good, worthwhile and lovable, precisely the way he/she is. . .period.
1. How am I presently recognizing (affirming) my husband/wife?
2. How would I like to be affirmed and recognized by my husband/wife?
3. To become more fully human and lovable and at the same time achieve a greater growth in my married life, how can I:
a. Be more myself?
b. Stop hiding my emotions?
c. Stop holding onto my fears, especially of hurting other people’s feelings?
d. Be more assertive?
e. Be gentler with myself?
4. How can I be more aware of the unique goodness and worth of my spouse?
5. How can I delight in my spouse’s goodness without trying to possess him/her?
Find over 2,000 dialogue questions here!
Questions are organized by the topic areas below that relate to you, your life, and your relationship(s).
Just click any topic to go to a page and choose related questions!
Happy dialoguing!
Children and Parenthood
Conflict
Death
Decision Making
Education
Friends
God and Faith
Health
Holidays/Seasons
Jobs/Work
Money
Possessions
Prayer/Spirituality
Reaching Out With Love To Others
Relatives
Romance
Self
Sexuality
This and That
Us as a Couple
Use of Our Time
Any family can try Family Dialogue with hope of success by using these suggestions and by avoiding the pitfalls described here. Most importantly, if you as a couple have a positive attitude toward the possibility of success in your own family with Family Dialogue, it will most probably work for you like it does for thousands of families.
WHEN & HOW OFTEN TO HAVE FAMILY DIALOGUE
From the experience of families from all over the country, we’ve discovered that once a week is most worthwhile for Family Dialogue. But each family has its own wants and needs and should adjust so that this time together offers relaxation and a positive experience for everyone. More frequently than once a week, though, can be burdensome to some families. However, dialoguing every day while you’re on a camping vacation, for example, can be a uniquely special experience for your entire family.
Family Dialogue less than once a week allows families to lose touch with each other between times, and any benefits that have been gained in the previous family dialogues may be lost, so choosing the optimal time each week for a family “date” will help your family members to plan and look forward to it.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)
This Scripture passage tells us that the Word IS God. In our Bible, we have God present in a special way. We like to think of Scripture as God’s love letters… written to us and for us… to reveal Jesus and ourselves in relationship with Him. Scripture dialogue is a tool – a means of responding to the love letters of our Father.
Couples need not fear Scripture dialogue questions because of unfamiliarity with Scripture.
You will gain much from dialoguing on the Word of God to help your growth as a couple.
Experience the growth your heavenly Father desires for your relationship. God IS love. And being in relationship is His desire for us.
(If you don’t like your relationship after completing these 90 questions, we guarantee you get your old relationship back!)
These questions are to help make your dialogue deeper and richer. You won’t use more than a couple of them during any given dialogue.
1. Tell me more.
2. Is it like. . .and then describe how you think he wants you to feel. How you imagine it is to feel the way your spouse is feeling.
3. How does your feeling make you feel physically?
4. What helps you to describe it more fully?
5. What other feelings are there?
6. How does it feel to feel the way you feel?
7. Have I ever described a feeling like yours to you? Tell me about how you remember that feeling of mine. How does it compare with your present feeling?
8. Have you ever felt this way before? How does it compare with those other times?
9. What have I said or done in past dialogues that helped you get out your feelings more?
10. What intensifies your feeling—lessens it?
11. How do you feel about revealing this feeling? Is there a difference in your reaction in the reflection and the dialogue?
12. Let the spouse know where you are in reaching out to his/her feeling.
13. Tell what helps you to respond better, to comprehend more.
14. Tell whether you are prejudiced toward him/her at this moment and what helps you to become more prejudiced.
15. Tell whether you have any real desire to feel his/her feeling now and what helps you to want your spouse’s feeling.
16. Spouse should tell you how he/she feels about your questions or your responses.
- Everyone will have the opportunity to share; no one has to share.
- All that is shared in this room stays in this room, just like during the experience. Confidentiality and acceptance are what makes sharing so special and powerful in Worldwide Marriage Encounter.
- Share for yourself only, not you and your spouse, or about your spouse or about what someone else has shared.
- Share only what has been shared with your spouse first. Avoid big surprises. Avoid the temptation to use your sharing time to try to teach others in the group, or help them in any way.
- Listening is as great a gift of self as sharing.
- Giving advice is the opposite of accepting someone’s sharing of self.
- Don’t interrupt or comment on another’s sharing.
- Sharing is not a time to teach, to judge, or even to help anyone else. “Oh, you shouldn’t feel that way,” might be meant as a kindness, but this is rejection and can turn off someone else’s sharing.
- Husbands and wives do not necessarily share one after another unless they want to. Not sharing together can allow more careful listening.
- Your sharing is a gift to your spouse as well as to others.
- Let quiet pauses between sharing be a preparation time for the next speaker.
- Don’t be put off if someone else shares essentially what you wanted to say. A sharing has just as much meaning coming from more than one, and your spouse may need to hear it from you.
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. For approximately 10 years “The Marriage Teams of Pope Pius XIII,” as the presenting teams were called, traveled throughout Spain with this series of conferences for married couples. They asked the participants for reflection upon themselves, their relationship with each other, and with God.
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.
Journey Groups & Community Activities
A Journey Group is a time to laugh, dream, and gain encouragement with other married couples who share your values. It’s an opportunity to continue your couple dialogue, receive support and prayers from each other, and become closer as a married couple. We currently offer 6 online and various area in-person Journey Groups that meet once a month for continued growth in our relationships. We always have a short presentation followed by a 10 & 10 and an open-sharing question. You’re always welcome!
Virtual Journey Groups
We encourage you to attend a monthly Journey Group via Zoom if you cannot attend an in-person Journey Group. Each month we offer 4 different evenings and 6 virtual Journey Groups for you to connect online.with other encountered married couples who value their relationship. If other couples from your geographic area also attend a virtual Journey Group, it’s possible that you can form a local in-person Journey Group. Click here to see our current Virtual Journey Groups and how to contact them!
Join An In-Person Journey Group!
Click on the North American Area closest to you to find activities, Journey Group locations, support couple names, and contact info Information for each Area is updated as it is received from its Contact couples.
Invite Couples You Know
to Experience Marriage Encounter!
to Experience Marriage Encounter!
Sample email message:
[Your spouse’s name] & I think the two of you deserve to attend a Marriage Encounter experience. We think you two have a strong and happy marriage and would enjoy the opportunity to “celebrate” it by attending the upcoming [virtual / weekend] experience on [date or inclusive dates] at the[venue name] in [city & state].
Download
It’s easy to invite couples from your congregation! Just download Tune-Up Talk 1 or Tune-Up Talk 2, practice reading them a bit, and then make a special appointment to tell your pastor all about your experience.
Share
Your personal story is the strongest tool you have to invite other couples to the experience – so Post, Tweet, Like and Share !
Register Now
for these 2025 Experiences!
Manchester, Connecticut
Thu, Feb 20, 2025 • 6:30 – 9:30 pm ET
Fri, Feb 21, 2025 • 6:30 – 9:30 pm ET
Sat, Feb 22, 2025 • 7:30 am – 5:00 pm ET
Learn More!
Gladwin, Michigan
Fri, Mar 21, 2025 @ 7:00 pm EDT thru
Sun, Mar 23, 2025 @ 3:00 pm EDT
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Streetsboro, Ohio
Fri, Apr 25, 2025 @ 8:00 pm EDT thru
Sun, Apr 27, 2025 @ 4:00 pm EDT
Learn More!