oct 1, 1967 - Marriage Encounter

Description:

Couples attending a Marriage Encounter workshop near Boston in 1972. Traditional notions of marriage came under a variety of economic and psychological stresses in the 1970s. Many Americans turned to therapeutic solutions to preserve, or improve, their marriages. Marriage Encounter, founded by priests in the Catholic Church, was one organization that offered couples the opportunity to talk openly about marriage and to learn new skills for navigating the difficulties couples faced. Marriage Encounter was one among dozens of such organizations, both religious and secular, to rise to prominence in the 1970s.


Many Americans worried that the sexual revolution threatened marriage itself. The notion of marriage as romantic companionship had been a middle-class norm since the nineteenth century. Throughout most of the twentieth century, Americans saw sexual satisfaction as a healthy part of the marriage bond. But what defined a healthy marriage in an age of rising divorce rates, changing sexual values, and feminist critiques of the nuclear family? Only a small minority of Americans rejected marriage outright; most continued to pursue monogamous relationships codified at some point in marriage. But many married people sought help in coping with the economic and psychological stresses of domestic life.

A therapeutic industry arose in response. Churches and secular groups alike established marriage seminars and counseling services to assist couples in sustaining a healthy union. A popular form of 1960s psychotherapy, the “encounter group,” was adapted to marriage counseling: couples met in large groups to explore new methods of communicating. One of the most successful of these organizations, Marriage Encounter, was founded by the Catholic Church. It expanded into Protestant and Jewish communities in the 1970s and became one of the nation’s largest counseling organizations. Such groups reflected another long-term shift in how middle-class Americans understood marriage — not simply as companionship or sexual fidelity but as a deeply felt emotional connection.

Added to timeline:

Date: