Summer vacation is a great opportunity for retreats with high school and middle school youth. These retreats needn’t be for a full week nor do they need to be cost prohibitive for your families to be effective in bringing your youth closer to Christ and the Church.
Reynolds Ekstrom reminds us that, “The words “retreat” and “relationship” belong together. While retreats provide times to pull away, to retire, from the stresses and demands of daily routine, times to do self-examination and healing re-collection of tattered physical and spiritual fibers, retreats also focus on relationships. When it comes to retreats for adolescents, times are provided, in safe, sacred places set apart, for youth to meet Jesus Christ. The word “sacred” fundamentally implies something or some spot set apart, consecrated and safe, holy, through which God and humanity can relate, can connect.”
The building blocks for a successful and faith-filled retreat are:
- care (taking time to be present and listen well)
- concern (taking time to understand needs in a spiritual and compassionate way)
- silence (sacred time to build trust and a relationship with Christ)
- trust (grows when people work together for better and more peaceful lives)
The Diocesan Department of Evangelization and Catechesis has a variety of retreat models you can incorporate into your Lenten or summer schedule. The variety of models we have include: evening, afternoon, one day (5 to 12 hours), lock-in, over night and multiple days. There are a variety of local resources that can help you and your parish team provide an exiting opportunity for everyone to grow closer with Christ. Contact John Gaffney at 515-237-5026 or at jgaffney@dmdiocese.org to schedule an appointment to brainstorm an exiting retreat for your parish community.
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