Helping to save a Marriage: Retrouvaille

During the past year Korea had 143,000 divorces. The overall divorce rate, which is the number of divorces among the population during a given year, per 1,000, has been decreasing since 2003, reported an article in the Catholic Times. However, the number of divorces for those married over 20 years is 26 percent of the total divorces, and this continues to increase. Divorce of those in their twilight years is 2.4 times what it was ten years ago. Those married less than four years have 24.7 percent of the total divorces.

The article introduces us to the Retrouvaille (rediscovery) Movement website, which is the second time this blog has treated the Retrouvaille Movement.The Movement provides a program that begins with a weekend for married couples, followed by post weekend sessions. The program is prepared for those who are having difficulty in their marriage and want help in overcoming the obstacles that are preventing healthy communication.

Retrouvaille began in Canada in 1977 and has been enthusiastically received since then throughout the world. Their primary objective is restore the ease of communication between spouses that has been lost during the trials of a difficult marriage. A main reason given for divorce is the inability to deal with personality differences, resulting in misunderstanding the needs of the other and stifling communication.

The programs, although started under Catholic auspices, are open to all regardless of belief. Saving their marriage is upper most in the intentions of those present during these weekends, which are concerned with restoring trust and the willingness to forgive, the first stepping stones for many of them to a new way of communicating between husband and wife. All is accomplished without personal revelations to others; the privacy of each couple is preserved.

Even the newly-wedded are seeking to enroll in the weekends. However, this creates a problem because there is currently not enough supervising couples and priests to oversee the running of the weekend.  The next program will begin in June, with the hope they will have more volunteers willing to supervise the weekends.  The archbishop of Seoul, in his talk to the representatives of the Retrouvaille team, expressed the hope that they will be able to expand the programs to include other religious groups, and even society at large.