The history of Worldwide Marriage Encounter began in 1952 when a Diocesan Worker Priest from Spain, Father Gabriel Calvo, started developing a series of conferences for married couples. The focus was on the development of an open and honest relationship within marriage and learning to live a sacramental relationship in service to others. Each presentation ended with a question designed to encourage the couple to look at the presented concepts in relation to their own relationship. For about ten years, the “Pope Pius XII Marriage Teams,” as the presenting teams were called, traveled throughout Spain presenting this series of conferences to married couples. They asked participants to reflect on themselves, their relationship with each other, and with God.

In 1962, Father Calvo presented the conferences as a Weekend retreat to 28 couples in Barcelona. The experience was an immediate success and quickly spread throughout Spain, called the “Encuentro Conyugal” (Marriage Encounter).

Jaime and Mercedes Ferrer, one of the first couples involved in the conferences in Spain, along with Father Calvo, went to the International Confederation of Christian Family Movements (CIMCF) in Caracas in 1966. This is where the “Encuentro Conyugal” was born within the New World. The Weekend spread through Latin America and, under the sponsorship of the Christian Family Movement (CFM), to Spanish-speaking couples in the United States.

The Encounter movement began to grow in the English-speaking world when, at the end of the Christian Family Movement (CFM) Convention at the University of Notre Dame in 1967, a Mexican couple and a missionary priest from Mexico presented a Weekend to seven couples and a few priests. The Encuentro Conyugal received active support from the Christian Family Movement and from Pat & Patty Crowley, the founders of the movement, who invited Spanish-speaking couples and priests to the United States to present Weekends in both Spanish and English. In the summer of 1968, 50 couples and 29 priests accepted the invitation and presented Weekends in the United States.

By January 1969, American couples and priests were conducting Weekends. A couple from New Jersey, Jamie & Arline Whalen, coined the term “Marriage Encounter” for those couples and priests who had presented one or more Weekends. A Board was formed with Jamie & Arline as the first executive couple. The Encounter Matrimonial remained affiliated with CFM. The second Board meeting was held in 1969 at Notre Dame in conjunction with the CFM Convention. The first task of the Board was to develop guidelines for the Weekend and coordinate development in the U.S. and Canada.

In the Diocese of Rockville, New York, under the leadership of CFM President couple Edward & Harriet Garzero and Father Charles Gallagher, S.J., a young retreat master, the movement began to grow rapidly. Philosophical differences with National Leadership began to emerge. In New York, the emphasis was on follow-up after the Weekend as well as on the Weekend itself. There was a strong emphasis on the development of the Marriage Encounter community to provide support for living the values learned during the Weekend, especially for the “dialogue” as a communication strategy through the sharing of feelings. Additionally, the renewal of the Sacrament of Marriage was a strong focus as a means to renew the Catholic Church. The Leadership of Long Island in the “New York Expression” of Marriage Encounter separated from the National Council. The New York Expression formed Worldwide Marriage Encounter. Today, Worldwide and National Marriage Encounter exist as two different expressions of the original Encuentro Conyugal of Father Gabriel Calvo. In the fall of 1971, the New York Group, which for a whole year had sponsored Weekends every week in the New York area, decided to extend the experience throughout the United States and other parts of the world. Teams traveled to Grand Forks, North Dakota, with the assurance of financial aid, training, and support from the New York family until the new unit could support itself. The only condition was that as soon as the area could sustain itself, the same assistance would be given to other areas. By December of the same year, the Weekend had reached Santa Barbara, CA, the site of the first Marriage Encounter Weekend on the West Coast.

At the same time, Worldwide Marriage Encounter began its international expansion. Team couples were sent to Belgium and England. The expansion continues. The Weekend is now offered in Latin America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia, as well as in Canada and the United States. The number of countries where the Weekend has been held so far is a total of 86. In 1978, the International Council was formed and includes ecclesial leadership teams (couple and priest) from seven Secretariats: Asia, South Pacific, Pan-Africa, Europe, the United States, Canada, and Latin America.

Although Worldwide Marriage Encounter began as an experience within the Roman Catholic religion, it has always had its doors open to couples from other religions. Many of these couples have seen the potential that the Weekend offers for the renewal of the church within their own denomination. In 1971, the Weekend was introduced to the Jewish and Episcopal religions. Worldwide Marriage Encounter provided the financial support and initial guidance needed for these expressions to flourish. The extension of the Weekend to other religions continues. An Inter-Faith Council meets twice a year for the sake of communication and support. Ten Protestant religions are now affiliated with WME. They, together with the Roman Catholic religion, make up the Inter-Faith Council. The other religions are Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal/Anglican, Presbyterian, Brethren/Mennonite, Reformed, United Methodist, Adventist, United Church of Christ, and Orthodox.

Affiliation with WME requires a commitment to fidelity to the WME outline (with the exception of necessary theological changes), that all team members be of the same religion on a Weekend and support the daily dialogue technique as a practice and value.

Today, the Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend is held in more than 150 local areas within the United States (approximately 50 of them are Spanish-speaking) across all 50 states. In 2006, approximately 640 Weekends were presented to about 11,400 couples (these numbers do not include the SDS of Protestant religions). It is estimated that since 1968, around 2.2 million people have experienced WME SDS in the United States.

The U.S. Secretariat Council of Worldwide Marriage Encounter is composed of a leading team (1 couple and 1 priest) from each of the nineteen (19) Sections in the U.S., plus the U.S. Ecclesial Secretariat Team. The National Office is located in San Bernardino, California. The basic philosophy of Worldwide Marriage Encounter is based on the belief that the Sacraments of Marriage and Holy Orders are called to the unity of the couple and the priest. For the married couple, this means first and foremost the call to unity with each other. That unity in love is a sign.