RETREAT DESCRIPTIONS FOR YOUTH
For Junior High/Middle School Youth
It’s Cool to be Catholic- this one day retreat is designed to get young teens fired up about their faith and see that being Catholic can actually be a cool thing that they would want their friends to be part of. Experience activities like the living rosary, an interactive Litany of the Saints, and many other activities. This is not just about sitting listening to a speaker- it’s interactive, fun and cool!
Choices- as a young teen nowadays, young people are beginning to be faced with many different types of choices- choices that effect them personally and how they interact with peers and adults. With this retreat and it’s interactive activities, teens are able to become aware of how their choices affect others. They’ll see that if we keep God at the center of our choices, we can’t go wrong.
30 Hour Fast- Make your Friday lunch your last meal until Saturday night! Get in touch with what it means to go hungry and learn about the challenges others face everyday trying to find their next meal.
Peer Pressure- one of the common threads of young people yesterday, today, and tomorrow is the desire to fit in and the pressure that often evokes. Not wanting to be singled out, young people often succumb to pressure from their peers. In this retreat we’ll talk about peer pressure and have some activities demonstrating it, but also show that God and the Church can play an important role in making sure that young teens are confident enough in themselves to weather any storm.
Freshman Survival- designed for eighth graders moving into freshman year, this retreat hopes to remove some of the anxiety about starting at new school with different friends, classes, and experiences. Through some practical and fun activities as well as serious discussion, the retreatents come away knowing their first day of high school won’t be so bad and knowing that family and God will always be on their side.
Lock in- join in this overnight retreat where you stay up all night and at the same time do everything for the glory of God. Through activities, meals, service, games, praise and worship, adoration, and Mass, you’ll never want to leave in the morning.
For High School Youth
30 Hour Fast- Make your Friday lunch your last meal until Saturday night! Get in touch with what it means to go hungry and learn about the challenges others face everyday trying to find their next meal.
36 Hour Sleepless Retreat- Participate in round the clock activities centered around the theme: “Can You Stay Awake for Me?” Through activity and prayer, grow closer in your relationship with Jesus.
Homelessness- Be kicked out of your comfortable home and look for shelter for one night! Live in a cardboard box that you make. Activities surrounding the plight of homelessness will be experienced and discussed.
Relationship- young people today are learning how to develop and maintain relationships not only with friends but also as they begin to date. Many times the impression they have of the Church is that it constantly is telling them, “don’t do this or don’t do that.” In this retreat the teens will have an opportunity to hear from their almost peers and have an honest and open discussion about how to be a Catholic young person today and follow what God wants in terms of relationships and dating.
The Search- young people have heard almost all their lives- “what do you want to be when you grow up?” This retreat will focus on vocational discernment, but more from the perspective of identifying the gifts that the young person already possesses and how those gifts can be used to give glory to God first and foremost. When those gifts can be discovered, perhaps some life’s vocational questions will begin to be answered. (designed for high school juniors and seniors)
Retreats can always be designed based on a particular theme or need of the parish/group. These are just some examples of what can be done, but I am more than willing and able to work with you on a customized retreat experience for your young people.
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