DISCIPLE: Retreats Invite Parishioners to Go Deeper

This article appears in the Winter 2025 edition of the DISCIPLE newsletter. If you are not receiving DISCIPLE in your mailbox, contact the parish office at 763-497-2745  to register as a parishioner or update your contact information.

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Since becoming pastor, Father Brian Park has invested in opportunities for adults to encounter God outside of the Mass. Annual mission trips, pilgrimages, bus tours, and camps have become fixtures on the church calendar, but retreats are the foundation. Offered twice a year at Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo, Minnesota, the Awakening Retreat and the St. Michael Silent Retreat are bearing spiritual fruit throughout our parish.

Communion and Community

In the past, St. Michael offered separate Christ Renews His Parish (CRHP) retreats annually for men and women. For many parishioners, CRHP was the catalyst for engaging in the life of the parish. The retreat was volunteer-intensive, however, and became more difficult to sustain over time.

Today, the Awakening Retreat provides a similar opportunity. Led by Father Park, the Friday-Sunday retreat includes Mass, Confession, Adoration, communal prayer, music, talks, testimonies, small-group discussion, fellowship, and time for silence and rest. The weekend is followed by five consecutive Tuesday evening sessions focused on discipleship—deepening connections among the retreatants and providing tools and opportunities to live out a renewed faith.

Cassi Magoon, her husband John, and their son joined the parish in July of 2023. Cassi was raised Methodist but signed up for RCIA (now OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults) to become Catholic so she could worship fully.

“Around the same time, I signed up for the Fall Awakening Retreat with the intention of meeting new friends and learning more about the faith,” she said. “Boy, did I get more than I bargained for! It was like coming home, and I committed myself to fully becoming Catholic. Six months later, I was coming to the end of my RCIA journey and decided to sign up again, for the spring retreat. The day before, I asked Father what I should do during the allotted time for Confession, and he suggested that I make my first Confession. This was very special to me: The first retreat, I had devoted myself to the Catholic faith, and I left the second one revived and forgiven, full of the Holy Spirit!

“I came into the Catholic Church fully at the 2024 Easter Vigil. In the fall, I decided to do one more Awakening Retreat to experience getting to fully participate in the Eucharist. These retreats have helped me grow in my faith, grow closer to God, and find a community that welcomes me no matter my past!”

Seeking in Silence

Jeremy and Cindy Rohr are longtime parishioners who have participated in numerous retreats over the years, including CRHP and the Awakening Retreat. Both have also made multiple silent retreats and have come to love time spent with the Lord in solitude.

“I love the opportunity to calm my mind and my heart down,” Jeremy says. “It's easy to get caught up in trying to manage all the responsibilities and obligations of life on my own. The silence of the Retreat creates a space to engage with God about what he thinks is important in my life, so I don't get stuck carrying burdens I'm not meant to carry. This last year I really wrestled with God and many of the worries of my heart. The silence and opportunity to go deep into the anxious and fearful areas of my heart with the Lord paved the way for a deeper experience of trust and surrender.”

The St. Michael Silent Retreat also runs Friday-Sunday, with extended periods of personal prayer and rest, Mass, Confession, Eucharistic Adoration, and opportunities for spiritual direction. The benefits include spiritually recharging, finding clarity or direction for your life, reestablishing good habits and purging the bad, and finding much-needed rest.

“Silent retreats are not new to me, but the first time on this retreat I felt a little intimidated, as the format was different from others I've been on,” says Cindy. “It turned out to be exactly what I needed. Father gave us scriptures to pray with over the weekend and did not offer any talks except for his homilies during Mass. It was just me and Jesus, and it was beautiful!”

Good Fruits

Father Park and Director of Evangelization and Faith Formation Bob Swift have seen the fruits of these retreats firsthand as more parishioners attend.

“I have enjoyed watching hundreds of parishioners and others experience a reconnection and deepening of their faith,” Bob says. “One of the great fruits of the Awakening Retreat is the rediscovery of community through new friendships. And, if you are looking for a stronger relationship with God and a renewed prayer life, the Silent Retreat is for you. It is a joy to watch retreatants learn to hear the Lord in the quiet.”

Both retreats provide opportunities for spiritual renewal, but for people new to retreats or the parish, Father Park recommends the Awakening Retreat first.

“From both retreats we see deeper love for the Eucharist, a greater desire for Adoration and daily Mass, stronger faithfulness to daily prayer, and a closer relationship with God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” he says. “The Awakening Retreat is particularly effective for reigniting the spark of faith in people who are lukewarm or have wandered from the church. It’s also very effective for building connections and making a big parish seem smaller.”

The retreatants agree: “My advice for anyone considering an Awakening Retreat is to attend at least one,” Cassi says. “Even if you have no idea what intentions to bring, go—I do not know a single person who wishes they had not gone!”

“I especially encourage men to consider attending,” says Jeremy. “The Awakening Retreat, in particular, allowed me an opportunity to expand my relationships with other men in the parish and reinforced the idea that living the faith isn't so extraordinary that is beyond my reach.”

And for those intimidated by a weekend with God, Cindy offers encouragement.

“Don't be afraid of silence—it's actually refreshing and freeing to unplug,” she says. “I went with an agenda, seeking answers to a particular situation in my life and the Lord said, ‘Actually, we're going to go this way...’  He met me in all my messiness, which I didn't want to address, and showed me his grace, his love, and a path forward. If you open yourself to Him, He will love you right where you're at!”

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AWAKENING RETREAT
The Spring Awakening Retreat is Friday, February 28-Sunday, March 2, at Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo. More information is online at stmcatholicchurch.org/awakening.

ST. MICHAEL SILENT RETREAT
Our Spring Silent Retreat is Friday, April 11- Sunday, April 13, at Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo. More information is online at stmcatholicchurch.org/silent-retreat.