A three-retreat series debuting on the Earth Day weekend will invite attendees to enter a more spiritual and mindful relationship with the nature God created. 

As the Indigenous delegations began meetings at the Vatican in Rome, a fire-lighting sunrise ceremony was taking place at the Galilee Centre in the small town of Arnprior, Ont., just 65 km west of downtown Ottawa.

Bonni Roset has perennially witnessed powerful expressions of faith and fellowship at the Diocese of Victoria’s annual youth retreat over the past two decades.

Published in Youth Speak News

For nearly 100 years, popes have set aside time for an annual retreat and meditation on spiritual exercises. It’s more than a custom — it’s become an essential part of papal life.

If you think a retreat is just a day or two in the countryside spent praying and reading Scripture, the Star of the North Retreat House in St. Albert, Alta., wants you to think again. Beginning with an introductory session the Oct. 3 weekend, Star of the North wants to take a diverse range of people through a three-year process divided into nine modules called Aurora Living.

Given the mental and emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on society over the past year-and-a-half, for many, spiritual retreat may be more essential than ever.

Getting ready for Christmas in the middle of a pandemic will certainly be different.

Published in Faith

The sign on the door may read “Closed until further notice” at Loyola House Ignatius Jesuit Centre and other retreat centres around the country, but that doesn’t mean spiritual life needs to take a break.

At St. Mary’s University here in Calgary, we open all our meetings with a reflection. Sometimes it is the university prayer, but often it is a meditation on a relevant issue, meant to support, comfort and uplift. 

Published in Register Columnists

In 2008, Regina Mundi Centre was on the brink of closure. 

Fr. Roger Yaworski says Loyola House can’t guarantee people will like its Full Spiritual Exercises Experience. The retreat director might not be to their liking, the retreat itself might not meet their expectations, even the food might not tantalize their taste buds.

Ontario’s Jesuits are using retreats as a way to help homeless people build a caring community of support among themselves.

VANCOUVER – The team at Rachel’s Vineyard sees forgiveness and healing transform hurting people every year.

STAMFORD, CONN. - They say silence is golden. Well, silence is also tough. I learned just how challenging it is to be completely silent during a young women’s retreat with the Sisters of Life in Stamford over the Feb. 10-12 weekend.

Going into the retreat, I knew there were going to be periods of silence. But I didn’t quite know the full extent of it. Following our first talk of the weekend on the theme “Love Never Fails,” the sisters informed us — to my dismay — we would start our silence after compline, or night prayer. We’d break the talking fast the next day with dinner at 6 p.m. About 20 hours, with talking only allowed within the context of confession and Mass.

Published in Features

Pope Benedict XVI prays during the opening of his Lenten retreat. (CNS photo/ L'Osservatore Romano)VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI asked Catholics for their prayers as he began his weeklong Lenten retreat March 13.

Before reciting the Angelus prayer at midday with visitors in St. Peter's Square, he also prayed that Mary would intercede to help everyone have a Lent that is "rich in the fruits of conversion."

Carmelite Father Francois-Marie Lethel, a theology professor and the secretary of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, was chosen to preach the retreat March 13-19 for Pope Benedict and top Vatican officials. The French priest's topic was to be "The Light of Christ in the Heart of the Church: John Paul II and the Theology of Saints."

Published in Faith