A Marriage-Changing Weekend Program for Couples . . . Experienced Virtually Online . . . from the Comfort of Your Home
TO REGISTER FOR THE VIRTUAL ONLINE WEEKEND RETREAT:
Virtual Online Marriage Retreat - August 25-28, 2022
Sponsored by the Low Country Community
Register today at HelpOurMarriage.org or
Call 843-898-6700 for Additional Information
The Virtual Online Retrouvaille Weekend Program may be just what your marriage needs! Spend a weekend focusing on your marriage and learn how to reconnect with each other in the privacy of your own home. Retrouvaille is a marriage program that teaches a way to communicate with your spouse on a feeling level. It will provide encouragement, hope, and practical tools to help rebuild your marriage. You will listen to engaging talks from married couples, just like you, that have navigated the path of reconnecting a disconnected marriage. Then, you privately share guided exercises that allow you to practically apply the concepts you have learned. You will learn powerful communication tools that will help you to stay connected for years to come!
The program begins Thursday evening from 6:30-9:00 pm; Friday from 6:30-9:00 pm; Saturday from 8:30 am – 6:00 pm; and concludes Sunday from 8:30 am – 1:00 pm. There are ample breaks and mealtimes allotted to break up the day. A complete schedule, program materials, and workbooks will be sent to you prior to the weekend.
Retrouvaille (pronounced Retro-vi with a long i) is a non-profit ministry and program costs are affordable. Most Retrouvaille Weekends, held in hotels or retreat centers in communities throughout the U.S, typically have weekend costs between $900-$1,250 per couple. The Virtual Online Weekend Program is offered for only $199 per couple, which is a considerable savings since there are no added costs for accommodations and you can participate in the full program from the privacy of your own home. A voluntary donation will be asked for at the end of the weekend to cover program costs.
Most couples live in the misery of a struggling marriage for nearly six years before seeking help. Some couples turn to counseling for answers, often with no resolve. Others divorce and end their marriages, while others continue to live in misery for the sake of their children or because they do not believe in divorce. No matter how difficult your problems may seem, there is help and hope for a better marriage. Retrouvaille is a program that is Catholic in origin, however, couples of all faiths or no faith basis are invited to participate. No couple will be denied marriage help due to financial challenges and scholarships are available.
Pope Francis, who has encouraged couples who are struggling to seek help from the Retrouvaille program, noted, “A period of crisis in a marriage is frightening and painful, but it also can be an opportunity for growth, especially if the couple receives the support of others who have survived similar crises.” Retrouvaille is a couple-to-couple ministry for people experiencing difficulty in their marriages. Pope Francis said the program is a gift to those involved, but also to the Church. “To be credible, one must have experienced a time of crisis”, he said. “It cannot be a theoretical discourse, a ‘pious exhortation’; it would not be credible. Members of Retrouvaille have been in crisis and have been wounded”, he said, but “thanks to God and with the help of your brothers and sisters you have been healed; and you have decided to share this experience of yours, to put it at the service of others.”
Retrouvaille is a three-phase program for marriages that helps couples face their marriage challenges in a productive and healthy way. It begins with the online weekend program, followed by online post weekend follow up sessions, and ongoing monthly marriage support offered online, as well.
Phase 1: The Retrouvaille Weekend Experience
Retrouvaille begins with a weekend experience in which couples are helped to re-establish communication and to gain new insights into themselves as individuals and as a couple. This part of the program is presented by three couples and a clergy member. The presenting team has experienced disillusionment, pain, and conflict in their own lives and offer hope as they share their personal struggles of reconciliation and healing. You and your spouse will find courage and strength in the realization that you are not alone in your struggle. You will not be asked to share your problems with anyone else. However, you will be encouraged to put the past behind you and to look beyond the hurt and pain, to rediscover each other in a new and positive way. The Retrouvaille Weekend provides tools to help you with communication, forgiveness, and trust. It teaches a dialogue process of meaningful communication on a feeling level.
Phase 2: The Post Weekend Sessions
A series of follow-up presentations is the next important phase of the Retrouvaille healing process. The hurt and pain of a struggling marriage cannot be healed in a single weekend experience, though it is a positive start. The Post sessions include a series of 2-hour talks by additional couples that expand on the Weekend concepts. The Post sessions are offered, over either a 6-week period featuring two talks on Sunday afternoons or 12-week period featuring one talk on a Thursday evening. Most couples, without a doubt, find this to be one of the most productive components of the program and where the most growth in the marriage occurs.
Phase 3: Monthly Support (CORE)
The final phase is a monthly small-group support meeting, called CORE (Continuing Our Retrouvaille Experience). It allows for a casual and supportive interaction with other couples who have attended the Retrouvaille program. This monthly meeting continues to reinforce the communication tools learned on the weekend and it is a positive and welcoming online experienced that allows couples to form strong and lasting bonds as they continue to heal their marriages.
Take time to rediscover each other – to get back to what matters.
A communication technique that will be marriage changing
To express feelings in a way your spouse can better understand
Work to resolve conflict in healthier, more productive ways
Forgive freely and completely by rebuilding trust
Increase your commitment―and your closeness to each other
A few words from couples that have attended the program:
“We thought we were unbreakable. And then we broke. We fell in love. But real life wasn’t far behind, and addiction nearly tore us apart. Our Retrouvaille Weekend Retreat taught us to invest in each other and work to strengthen our marriage―no matter how unfixable our problems seemed. We learned tools to help us to better communicate and with God's help, we were able to put our marriage back together. We are a living miracle of this program.”
“We looked like the perfect couple. But the reality of our marriage was very different.
We were headed down a path of divorce. Our house was built on a foundation of anger. Irreconcilable differences. Constant separations. Marriage counseling sessions that left us feeling more frustrated than healed. We knew we needed help. We loved each other but could not figure out how to make it work. We did not want to become another divorce statistic. The Retrouvaille Program helped us to turn our marriage around. And it can do the same for you.”
“A Retrouvaille Weekend was exactly what we needed to get our marriage back on track. We learned to communicate in ways that were deeper than we had ever shared before. Our marriage had been dealt a swift blow by infidelity and we were unsure if our marriage could survive. While we had lots of work to do on ourselves and our marriage, but this program was life changing for us.”
“We were so busy with work and raising a family that we lost sight of our marriage. We became so disconnected that even our children noticed it. We knew we needed help to better communicate and learn to make our marriage a priority. We put so much emphasis on everything else, our intimacy had simply vanished. We asked the grandparents to watch our kids, so we could focus on each other for the weekend. Our Retrouvaille Weekend gave us the tools we needed to bring our marriage back together. We are forever grateful for the tools we learned on our weekend.”
“It didn't matter how big our house was. What mattered was that there was love in it. As a couple, we had been focusing on all the wrong things. We were too concerned with making more and having more than with our marriage and our family. We needed help to refocus on each other and to learn how to communicate with each other better. Our Retrouvaille Weekend was just what we needed to help us focus on what was important – our marriage and family.”
TO REGISTER FOR THE VIRTUAL ONLINE WEEKEND RETREAT:
Virtual Online Marriage Retreat - August 25-28, 2022
Sponsored by the Low Country Community
Register today at HelpOurMarriage.org or
Call 843-898-6700 for Additional Information
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