EQUAL COMMITMENT
Good sponsorship includes encouraging husbands and wives to make an "equal commitment" to attend the Walk to Emmaus.
Why does Emmaus encourage "Equal Commitment" for husbands and wives when making the Walk to Emmaus?
The Letter of Agreement encourages husbands and wives to make an equal commitment to participate in the Walk to Emmaus. This does not mean that Emmaus primarily focuses on married persons. Single persons are as welcome to participate in Emmaus as married couples. However, Emmaus recognizes a concern and hope about the effect of Emmaus on marriages and families.
First, equal participation guards against the Emmaus experience becoming a divisive influence in a marriage. Emmaus can be the occasion for commitments to new life directions that one's spouse may not understand or appreciate at the time. The Emmaus movement attempts to strengthen marriages and to avoid practices that may have the potential to affect marriage adversely.
Second, when equal participation is honored, Emmaus can indirectly strengthen the spiritual bond in a marriage and family. So sponsorship of married persons involves approaching both husband and wife together and encouraging them to make an equal commitment to participate. In this way they can grow together as a Christian family while actively supporting the Emmaus movement and the church as families, not only as individuals.
Third, equal commitment results in increased participation of many grateful husbands and wives (usually husbands) who probably would not have attended an Emmaus weekend otherwise but did so in order to make it possible for their spouse to participate. While their initial motivation for going on a Walk may not have been personal, they came to realize in the course of the Walk that the three days was meant for them.