Goal:
- For freshmen to meet new people, prepare spiritually for the challenges of being a teenager and encourage them to live a life of character.
Themes:
- Get-to-know you, community of faith, value of individual gifts in the Body of Christ, peer-pressure, forming a vibrant faith.
Details:
- Required one-day retreat held on a Wednesday during the school day.
- Retreat is held off-campus.
- A team of teachers, parish youth ministers and student peer-ministers lead the retreat.
- Prayer and worship includes creative ritual prayer experience and praise and worship music.
- Combines fun, community-building games and activities with time for prayer, small group discussion and mini-workshop presentations.
Freshmen Retreat 2012
We are excited that this year's Freshmen Retreat day is being facilitated by NET Ministries. The National Evangelization Team Ministries gathers 120 young adults each year, ages 18-28, to serve as modern-day disciples. They give a year of service through leading retreats for parishes, grade schools and high schools across the U.S. Many utilize the NET experience to work later as DRE's, youth ministers, catechists and volunteers. Nearly all NET alumni remain in active service with the Church after their year "on the road" and 15% pursue a religious vocation. Learn more at
www.netusa.org.
The freshmen retreat theme is
Choose Your Own Adventure - God has given each of us an inner longing to pursue the great adventure of faith, pointing us toward our ultimate end in Him. This theme explains God's desire to fulfill our heart's longings and describes the free will He gives us to choose or reject Him. Through an interactive demonstration, youth see how sin leaves us lost and how Christ is calling us to the path of His great adventure.
Freshmen / Sophomore Retreat Leaders
In choosing retreat leaders, the teachers working on the retreats attempt to find students who seem to be living a Christian life in their actions and in their words. We look for students who:
- make a habit of putting others needs before their own
- demonstrate a sincere desire to be the person God calls him/her to be
- are active in growing their faith through service, involved in spiritual activities at school and in their parish
- display leadership skills and responsibility with commitments
- comfortable in giving witness to their faith and life as disciples of Christ
- are juniors or seniors