Marriage Encounter and CSsR...
Fr Andrew Burns CSsR is currently in our Middlesbrough community in the John-Paul Centre. Here he shares with us some insight into his ministry with Marriage Encounter.
"Since September 2012, I have been the priest member of the National Executive Team for Marriage Encounter in England and Wales. Together with Phil and Rita Jackson of Rubery in Birmingham, we lead the Marriage Encounter Community in this country. Throughout the country there are about 250 couples who have experienced the Marriage Encounter Weekend and who continue to support one another in their couple relationships by meeting together in small groups for ongoing formation and enrichment. Many more than this will have experienced the weekend and have decided not to have such a close involvement.
Each year, Marriage Encounter Weekends are presented in seven centres around the country by two or three married couples and a priest. The weekend focusses on the couple's relationship with each other, and by offering them a way of personal sharing, helps them to communicate at a very deep level. This helps them discover afresh the love that brought them together in the first place, the love that is God's gift to them, the love that is also their mission. The same dynamic works also for priests and religious as they look at their commitment to their priesthood and/or their vows as being somewhat parallel to the commitment of marriage. The possibility of sharing with another (priest, religious or married couple) is a tremendous support. I would recommend a Marriage Encounter Weekend to any of the confreres to help deepen their own commitment to their Redemptorist life and mission and, as a bonus, to deepen their awareness of the realities of the married state.
The Engaged Encounter Weekend is based on the same formula as Marriage Encounter, but directed towards those who are preparing for marriage. These can be residential or non-residential weekends and are presented in ten venues around the country each year.
As a member of the National Team, I attended a meeting of the European Council of Worldwide Marriage Encounter from 6-9 February at Siracuse in Sicily. National Team Couples and their priests came from 13 countries of Europe to share the experiences of their own countries while planning for the future of the movement in this part of the world. Many of the difficulties we experience in this country concerning the perceived decline in the understanding and appreciation of the nature of Sacramental Marriage are shared by other countries. It is valuable to be able to share how they respond to the challenges and what are the potential difficulties we might face in the future. On the positive side, however, it was marvelous to experience the hospitality of the Sicilian Community, who welcomed us into their homes and showered gifts on us at every opportunity. Sicily is one of seven regions in Italy for Marriage Encounter, and they have over 500 active couples, meeting regularly and participating in a variety of weekends for young people, for families and for deepening their own relationships. I am told that many of the things they are able to do in Italy were experienced here in Britain in the 1980's.
On the home front, we continue working to promote both Marriage and Engaged Encounter Weekends. Our National Board consists of couples from five regions. At present we have no representative couples from the North West or the North East. We meet three times a year for a period of ongoing formation and to evaluate the weekends that have taken place and to plan for the year ahead. Our ongoing formation comes from what we receive at the European Council, which also meets three times each year. So my Marriage Encounter timetable for the year so far looks like this:
January 24-26 Team Weekend Birmingham
February 6-9 European Council, Sicily
March 8 North East Memorial Mass, Shotton Colliery
March 15 North West Regional Day, Otley
March 21-23 National Board, Princethorpe
April 4-5 Team Preparation for Minsteracres/New Outline Workshop
May 9-11 Marriage Encounter Weekend, Minsteracres
May 15-18 European Council, Budapest
July 11-13 National Board, Princethorpe
October 23-26 European Council, Belgium
Oct 31-Nov 2 Presence Weekend
Nov 21-23 National Board, Princethorpe
I hope this gives you some idea of what I get up to. Maybe it will encourage you or some of the other confreres to experience what Marriage Encounter can do for them – and what they might be able to do for Marriage Encounter themselves."
(The photo is of Fr Andrew Burns CSsR with Phil & Rita Jackson at the recent European Council Meeting in Siracuse, Sicily. The Mass is in the Shrine of Our Lady of the Tears. Google: Madonna delle Lagrime)
