I have passed from survival to actually feeling human today. Yesterday – not so much. The day started out wonderfully, but by 11:00 am I was on the couch. I resurfaced in time to drag myself to RCIA where I made a heroic effort to appear lucid.
There is no doubt that the money, time, and talents of all the people involved in this Reach Retreat will produce long lasting spiritual results. Reach Ministries, led by the gentle Executive Director, Dan Bartleson, and the hard working Laura McCain, stepped out in faith when they hired a keynote speaker and a band. They would have been happy with 75 registrations and were not even expecting that many, due to many conflicting activities on that weekend. Final count? Over 130 happy, well-behaved kids. When you add on all the Reach traveling retreat teams, chaperones and band, we made a group of over 160 Catholics coming together at Gonzaga University to celebrate our faith.
In the past our parish has hosted their own Reach Retreat, so I have first hand knowledge of the wonderful retreats this group provides. If you live in California, Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, or Oregon, run, don’t walk to their website and book them for your parish.
The keynote speaker, Courtney Brown, from Louisiana, was excellent. This young married man and father is working on his master’s degree in theology and is on fire for his faith. The kids really connected and were very pleased to not be “talked down” to. Courtney was not afraid to hit them with some pretty advanced theology, and the results were evident in the comments from the kids. I would highly recommend this young man for your event.
The Thirsting out of Washington provided the music, including a full concert on Saturday night. For Mass on Sunday morning they were wise enough to just provide guitar and two voices. Good job, guys!
The Sacrament of Reconciliation was almost cancelled due to the lack of priests. My cohort in Rathdrum, Jenn, hopped on the phone and God provided priests aplenty. What a wonderful sight on Saturday night to see so many “collars” show up just to hear confessions. Father Bill O’Brien from SS. Cyril & Methodius Byzantine Catholic Church even came to help. He was quite charmed when four of my girls raced up to him and told him how “cool” he looked in his hat.
This month, we had three perfect days of weather in the 80’s. All of them were on the retreat days. We had priests, chaperones, and youth ministers. And most importantly, we had the kids.
There is no doubt in my mind that God sent the Holy Spirit to make this a time of spiritual growth for these young people.
7 comments:
I'm delighted the kids got the experience. One of my best memories from high school is the retreat I made in senior year.
Karen
I believe The Thirsting is going to be here this weekend. I look forward to hearing them, particularly since I'm trying to get something similar going here.
I second Karen. I too still remember the retreats I did as a teen including an all night vigil in a Carmelite convent. Ah wonderful days.
Well done for surviving!
Your corner of Idaho certain certainly looks lovely right now. But you remind me that it is getting too hot for my taste.
And glad to see that you do not always require an organ for mass to be valid.
Praise God! The retreat sounded awesome! God bless you for stepping up to the plate. Major spiritual seeds were planted. I love youth!
I'm so happy to hear of the success of this retreat. And the participation numbers were very impressive.
Good news involving the Church. I had forgotten what that felt like.
See what happens when caring folks like yourself get involved? Kids respond, that's what happens:0)
Dear Adrienne,
I know it is off topic but had nowhere else to post it - thanks for your help on posting links - it worked!
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