Resources
/ History
Help recover and preserve our WWME history
Jack & Karen Baker
with Jan & Lee Kremer
The history of Worldwide Marriage Encounter may vary depending
on who is telling it. The history included here is, to the best
of our knowledge, accurate for the years it covers. We would like
to gather as much information from you, our readers, to add to the
history. Many of the people who created the history of our movement
are no longer involved and we may never reach them without your
help. If you know some of these people please help us gather information
from them. We want to hear their stories and publish them in eMatrimony
in an attempt to gather and confirm as much of the history as we
can. Please send any of the history that you can gather to
. In an attempt to confirm the history we ask that you
send information about the source, who they are, when encountered
any additional resources they might have to confirm their story.
We ask that if it is possible that we be given email addresses or
telephone numbers of the resources. Thank you for joining us in
this effort to document our family history.
Our Ancestry
1952 – Father Gabriel Calvo, a young Spanish
Diocesan Laborer Priest began developing a series of conferences
for married couples. For approximately ten years teams of couples,
who became known as “The Marriage Teams of Pope Pius XIII”,
presented conferences throughout Spain.
1962 – Father Calvo presented the conferences
as a weekend retreat to 28 couples in his native Barcelona. The
experience was a great success and rapidly spread throughout Spain
as the Encuentro Conjugal.
1967 – A Mexican couple and an American missionary
priest from Mexico presented the Weekend to seven couples and a
couple of priests at the close of a Christian Family Conference
(CFM) Convention at Notre Dame University. Encuentro Conjugal received
the active support of Pat & Patty Crowley, founders of CFM,
who invited Spanish couples and priests to come to the United States
to present Weekends in both Spanish and English.
1968 – 50 couples and 29 priests accepted
the invitation and presented Weekends in the United States. Fr.
Chuck Gallagher attended a Weekend in New Jersey and the dream of
the Worldwide Marriage Encounter Movement began.
1969 – In January 1969 American couples and
priests are conducting Weekends. Jamie & Arline Whalen, a New
Jersey couple, called together couples and priests who had presented
two or more of what was now known as Marriage Encounter Weekends
to form a National Executive Board. Marriage Encounter remained
affiliated with CFM and met for a second time during a CFM Convention
late in 1969 at Notre Dame. This meeting was convened to develop
guidelines for the Weekend and to coordinate the development of
the movement in the U. S. and Canada.
Worldwide Marriage Encounter
1969 - Fr. Chuck Gallagher, two other priests
and couples from New York give 22 Weekends. As each Weekend finished
they learned more and made changes to make the Weekends even better.
Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME) begins developing under the
leadership of Fr. Charles Gallagher, S.J. and Edward & Harriet
Garzero. The songs from “Man from LaMancha” are added
to the Weekend. The Weekend went from Long Island, NY to Buffalo
and Sioux City, Iowa. The Marriage Encounter symbol consisting of
a heart symbolizing life, the two circles husband and wife and the
cross symbolizing the church is created. The song I’ll Never
Find Another You (There’s A New World Somewhere) by the Seekers
is adopted as “our song”.
1970 – New York reaches out to Grand Forks,
North Dakota. The importance of Daily Dialogue and the sharing of
our feelings are recognized as the important cornerstones of Worldwide
Marriage Encounter.
1971 – A decision is made to “encounter”
the United States. The gift of WWME spreads through Pennsylvania,
New Jersey and North Carolina, and through September of 1972 the
following cities – Washington D.C., Boston, Detroit, St. Louis,
San Antonio, New Orleans, Kansas City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Santa
Barbara, and San Francisco. The Catholic expression of WWME begins
interfaith reach out to the Jewish and Episcopal denominations.
1972 – Worldwide expansion begins with a
reach out to Belgium. The first National Convention is held in Hicksville,
New York. WWME begins to organize in regions within the United States.
WWME is offered in England.
1973 – The “Weekend” is offered
in Chile, India and Ireland. The Second National Convention is held
in Hicksville, NY. The World wide Family of Worldwide Marriage Encounter
is created. The first Spanish-speaking Weekend is given in Brooklyn.
Due to philosophical differences two distinct programs of Marriage
Encounter developed. Both exist today. One is Worldwide Marriage
Encounter the other National Marriage Encounter both have the origin
from Encuentro Conjugal.
1974 – The Weekend is taken to Australia,
France, Japan, Mexico and Germany. Spanish speaking Worldwide Marriage
Encounters begin in San Antonio, TX. and spread to Brooklyn, Los
Angeles and Puerto Rico. 100,000 couples are “encountered”
in the United States. The Third National Convention is held at St.
John’s University in NY. A nationwide hour-by-hour Prayer
Vigil for religious vocations begins with the start of the Holy
Year.
1975 – The first Worldwide Convention of
Worldwide Marriage Encounter is held at St. John’s Univ. in
N.Y. A pilgrimage is made to Lourdes and Rome. Weekends are offered
in Spain, Indonesia, Brazil and Okinawa.
1976 – The Fifth National/Second Worldwide
Convention is held in Philadelphia. Worldwide Marriage Encounter
has been offered to 750,000 couples. As one country reaches out
to another the Weekend spreads to Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Korea, Guam,
Bolivia, Holland, Yugoslavia, Peru, Columbia, Guatemala, Philippines
and the Virgin Islands. WWME participates in the 41st Eucharistic
Congress in Philadelphia.
1977 – Weekends are offered in Rome, Korea,
(Korean Speaking), Fiji, Argentina, South Africa, Kenya and New
Zealand. The first European Secretariat meeting is held in Belgium
and Canada organizes their Secretariat structure.
1978 – WWME is ten years old and holds its
first International Council meeting formed at Cuernavaca, Mexico
with the Seven Secretariats of Asia, South Pacific, Pan-Africa,
Europe, United States, Canada and Latin America. The first contact
is made in Poland with Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, now Pope John Paul
II.
Worldwide Marriage Encounter continues to be the strongest pro-marriage
movement in the world now presented in over 87 countries and made
available in twelve faith expressions.
Click
hear for a printable version (PDF, 79KB)
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