Columban priests were involved in the Marriage Encounter program in South Korea since its beginnings, and the program has helped thousands of couples improve their marriages.
By Fr. Sean Conneely

It was a Sunday evening in March 1976 when Columban Father Brendan McHale knocked at my door in Seoul, Korea. When I greeted him, there was no need to ask what he had done over the weekend. Like the Apostles on Pentecost Sunday, he excitedly told me about his experience at a Marriage Encounter weekend.

Fr. Brendan was flying high like a man drunk on new wine as he quoted some slogans of the Marriage Encounter program: "Love is a decision," "God doesn't make junk," and "Couple power can change the world."

I had never heard of Marriage Encounter, and I certainly did not understand all he said, but Fr. Brendan's enthusiasm was infectious. I was soon caught up in what seemed like the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and renewal of life in this man.

Participants in a Marriage Encounter weekend earlier this year in Seoul, South Korea, like this couple pictured with Fr. Sean Conneely, learned communication skills designed to enrich their marriages.

I soon found out what Marriage Encounter was all about. Worldwide Marriage Encounter, as it is now known, offers a weekend program designed to let married couples learn techniques for loving communication.

They can then take these communication tools and use them for the rest of their lives. The weekend gives the couple a chance to look deeply into their relationship with each other and with God.

When I found out when the next Marriage Encounter would be, I decided that I, too, wanted the excitement and joy Fr. Brendan found in such a short time. The weekend program he had attended was the first Marriage Encounter ever in Korea.

When I attended the weekend program that September, I did not get quite the exhilaration that Fr. Brendan felt, but that weekend and the follow-up meetings have influenced my life ever since.

My ministries and personal life did not allow me the time to devote to this ministry to married couples, but I kept in touch with the program and watched in amazement as it quickly spread throughout South Korea.

The Good Word Spreads
Fr. Gabriel Calvo started Marriage Encounter in Spain in the late 1950s, and the program was organized into the now-familiar weekend at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana in 1967.

Maryknoll missionary Fr. Don McInnis introduced the program to Korea in 1976 along with Jim and Jan Clark, a married couple who were based in Seoul with the U.S. Army.

To put together the weekend programs in English in 1976, Fr. Don and the Clarks brought in Marriage Encounter couples and a priest from Los Angeles and New York. Couples and priests were invited to attend from Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Guam and Singapore.

Fr. Don and the Clarks became the "disciples and missionaries" who spread the good news throughout the Pacific Rim and Southeast Asia about Marriage Encounter and how the communication skills it teaches benefit marriage.

Through their efforts and other like-minded people, the program spread like wildfire throughout Korea and has kept growing ever since.

In March 1977, the first Marriage Encounter program in the Korean language was presented. This called for devoted couples and priests to volunteer their time to translate printed materials, train other couples and make Marriage Encounter presentations.

By the end of 2005 in Korea, more than 70,000 couples and 1,500 priests and Sisters had participated in Marriage Encounter weekends. In February 2006, we had a small ceremony and liturgy to commemorate the beginning of Marriage Encounter in Korea.

In July 2006, the 1,000th Seoul Marriage Encounter weekend was held. In March this year, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the first Korean-language weekend.

Early Marriage Encounter critics said the program would never work in the Asian culture, but as one U.S. priest said in 1976: "If the program is of God and has truth and goodness to give, it will fit into any good culture and will improve it."

History proved the priest right. In a time when divorce is commonplace worldwide, Marriage Encounter offers hope and stability to many couples who need renewal in their marriage.