Are you a couple yearning to get more involved in a Parish Ministry but haven't found the "right" one yet? Do you have one Friday night, Sunday afternoon, or one weekend a year that you could commit to support our young adults?
 
Or, are you a priest who can commit one weekend a year to affirm the sacramentality of marriage?
 
If so, you may be the couples and the priests we have been looking for to help us in the Catholic Engaged Encounter ministry.

 What is Catholic Engaged Encounter?
Catholic Engaged Encounter (CEE) is a weekend experience which offers the engaged couple a unique opportunity to examine and deepen their commitment to one another and gives them a better view of what a good Christian marriage involves.

These weekends are scheduled every month at either Benedictine Sisters Conference Center or St. Bernard's Abbey in Cullman, Alabama.

A Little History of the Ministry in This Diocese
CEE began in the Birmingham Diocese in 1978 with 40 couples making a weekend. In 2003, the community held 11 weekends with 285 engaged couples attending. This represents approximately 50 percent of the marriages in the Birmingham Diocese in 2003. We cannot expect to reach all engaged couples without growing our community of committed volunteers.

How Can You Become Involved?
There are many ways a couple can get involved in this ministry.

Presenting Team – write presentations following the National Catholic Engaged Encounter Outline and present at least two weekends annually.  Couples are gently guided through the writing process by an experienced team couple.

Host Couple – attend a weekend experience and help the presenting teams by offering support, running errands, “ringing the bell”, and assisting in any other matters that may arise.

Prayer Couple – pray for the engaged couples during the weekend.

Set-up and Wrap-up Couple – greet couples when they arrive on Friday night, help prepare the meeting room for the presentations or arrive on Sunday after the weekend to inventory and put away the supplies used on the weekend.

Registration Couple – receive registration forms from the engaged couples and prepare the necessary information reports for each weekend.

Supply Couple – maintain the inventory of supplies and insure the engaged couples and presenting teams have all the necessary supplies, workbooks, etc for each weekend.

For more information about
the Birmingham CEE community contact

Steve and Kristi AuBuchon (256) 230-0483
Athens, Alabama
(or via email at CEEBirmingham@gmail.com)

Kent and Teresa Tucker at (205) 956-0910
Birmingham, Alabama
 kteresatucker@bellsouth.net