Offering hope and support for the widowed, separated, and divorced.

Local programs are being announced for the fall. Please visit the various areas' tabs for further details.

BE History In October 1973, Sister Josephine Stewart and Ms. Jo Lamia, her friend who was divorced, attended a Marriage Encounter, a weekend program to strengthen marriages, at the Catholic Renewal Center of North Texas. They intended to develop a program for engaged couples. During the weekend, Jo wrote a letter of closure to her former husband. The letter had a profound effect on her and Sister Josephine. Through the dialogue they shared, Sister Josephine saw a need for a program to help those who have experienced the end of a marriage. Today, there are Beginning Experience programs throughout the United States and in seven other English-speaking countries. The origin of B.E. in North Dakota dates from November 1978, when Sister Renae Klisch of Catholic Family Service in Fargo, along with 11 other people from Fargo, Jamestown, Grand Forks, Belcourt, and Carrington, including Monsignor “Wendy” Vetter, participated in a B.E. Weekend in South Dakota. This group then established the B.E. program in North Dakota. The first B.E. weekend in North Dakota was held at Maryvale in April 1979. The Beginning Experience of Eastern North Dakota has support groups in Fargo, Fergus Falls and Grand Forks.