Holy Redeemer New Evangelization Retreat

Mission

To engage our parishioners in the process of becoming Intentional Disciples of Christ and in doing so foster their spiritual gifts and strengthen the faith life of our entire parish.”

• Target date: June 9 - 11 2017

Planning meetings

January 7, 2017 6:00 at Rectory

• • Attended by Fr. Mark, Fr. Conrad, Tami, Jonathan, Mary, Bob, Debbie and Paul
  • Meeting handout

January 12, 2017 7:00 at Mary and Bobby's house

• January 22, 1:00 PM Maria Goretti room. 20 Weeks till Retreat
  • Examen - Bob Wassmann
  • Report on possible locations. see below
  • Discussion about cost - Parish can subsidize. There should be a nominal cost to the participants.
  • Discussion about adding additional people to the team. General agreement that adding more people is advisable. Fr. Mark and Fr. Conrad will extend invitations. Possibly Erin Dunn, Amanda Hamilton, Alan Bradford, Jim and Ginger Thompson
  • Adopted project mission statement drafted by Tami and Jonathan
  • Discussed content of the retreat
    • Prayer - particularly using Lectio Divina
    • Three key components
      1. Adoration and silence
      2. Witnessing to each other e.g. Emmaus Walk - pair up and walk with each other
      3. Pattern of the Kerygma, Our goodness fall into sin.
    • In forming agenda think about "What, so what, now what?"
    • Need to decide if retreat will be Friday evening and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday morning.

January 29th 1:00 PM Maria Goretti room.

• • We were joined by Deacon Andrew Wakefield and three new team members: Carmen and Matthew Brown and Colin Miller
  • Possible locations
    • Bob will check on Blue Ridge
    • Fr. Mark will check on Loyola in Faulkner Md.
    • Fr. Conrad will check on Mt. St. Marys
    • Deacon Andrew will check on St. Anselm
    • Deb will check on Priestfield
  • Discussed duration details -
    • Friday evening Introduction and set tone. Theme 2nd Timothy, stir into flame the gift from God.
    • Saturday So What
      • Morning Personal Witness, silence, small group sharing, lunch.
      • Afternoon - Spiritual direction, Mass, adoration, confession
    • Sunday - Now What Morning mass at Holy Redeemer

February 12 -

• 16 weeks till retreat - Maria Goreti room - Fr. Conrad to do witness talk, Jonathan to do Opening prayer.

March 5

• Father Conrad gave his witness talk.
• Made revisions to the invitation list and assigned who would invite each attendee.
• Made revisions to the Invitation Information Card that Fr. Conrad had draft. He will update the design and send it back out for comment. The hope is to have it printed in time to distribute at the March 12th meeting. It was decided that we would give people two weeks to commit.
• We agreed that we would make up a card with a list of things to keep in mind when distributing the card. It would include:
  • You have been personally chosen. This is not a general invitation. i.e. not be shared with others.
  • This is the first of many planned retreats. Others will have the opportunity to attend future retreats.
  • Do not let the cost be a reason that you can't attend.
  • Please give your decision to me within 2 weeks.
  • I can answer any questions you have or if you would rather, ask Fr. Mark or Fr. Conrad.

March 12

• Proposed agenda:
  • Jonathan will do a witness talk
  • Hand out invitation cards
  • Begin discussion of subsequent retreat(s)
  • Content of retreat

The Team

• Planning team
  • Fr. Mark Smith
  • Fr. Conrad Murphy
  • Colin Miller
  • Tami and Jonathan Collum
  • Carmel and Matthew Brown
  • Mary and Bob Wassamann
  • Debbie and Paul Fontaine
• Possible Support Team (Prayer, Logistics, Child Care?)
  • Beth and Kevin Berard
  • Wendy and Eric Pavlet
  • Rachel and Simon McNabb
  • Hilliary and Eddie
  • Erin Dunn
  • Grace Hagherty
  • Marie and Mike Winterson

Location

Possible Locations

• Fr. Mark
  • JPII Shrine - Not an appropriate venue
  • JPII Seminary - may be good but not available till after construction completed in August.
• Mary - Washington Retreat House. Awaiting response from staff.
• Fr. Conrad - Franciscan Monastery - Cost is $250 for renting a classroom and chapel. Only available from 9 - 4pm. Available however the weekend we want. General agreement that this would be an ideal venue.
• Paul - CUA. Chapel available for mass and Evening, Night prayer. Conference rooms and dorm rooms available details

Planning tasks

• Develop a goal and or statement of purpose for our retreat
• Bring list of Scripture passages
• List of who to invite.
• Develop process, script for delivering invitations and and related messages
• What is the spirit we want our parish to have? i.e the Fruits of Intentional Discipleship
  • Concern for each other.
    • Bring food to each other, Babysit for each other
  • Taking care of each other
  • Important to have a sense of who each other is. e.g. quit Asian lady in church.
  • Being Jesus to each other - That comes from Jesus!
  • Love in view of God
  • Fire of God's love in our Parish
  • Undercurrent of ownership (not necessarily good) regarding people holding on to their private niche

• Name the grace each of us would like to receive in what we are doing.

• Witness talks - Sharing our personal stories
  • Bob will do an Examine at the next meeting
  • Mary on the "hand"

Content of the retreat

Scripture passages

• Luke 17:13-19 As he was entering a village, ten lepers met (him). They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" And when he saw them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." 5 As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then he said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."
• Matt 13:3-8 And he spoke to them at length in parables, 2 saying: "A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
• Luke 5:10-11 - Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men." And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
• Ephesians 4:11-13 And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
• Luke 10 Mission of the 72
• Acts 2 The Coming of the Spirit
• John 15:4-5 The Vine and the Branches
• Ephesians 3:17-21 Commission to Preach God’s Plan
• Matthew 9:35-38 Compassion of Jesus
• Romans 1:16-17 God’s Power for Salvation

Quotes

• 41. Without repeating everything that we have already mentioned, it is appropriate first of all to emphasize the following point: for the Church, the first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life, given over to God in a communion that nothing should destroy and at the same time given to one's neighbor with limitless zeal. As we said recently to a group of lay people, "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses."[67] St. Peter expressed this well when he held up the example of a reverent and chaste life that wins over even without a word those who refuse to obey the word.[68] It is therefore primarily by her conduct and by her life that the Church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus- the witness of poverty and detachment, of freedom in the face of the powers of this world, in short, the witness of sanctity. EVANGELII NUNTIANDI, APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION OF HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI
• Earthly honors count for nothing, and money and wealth count even less and are extremely dangerous, but holiness and the effort to make others holy is the height of human happiness; this is of the greatest importance for our present life and the life to come. - Saint John XXIII
• Keep the light of christ always burning in your heart - for he alone is the Way to walk. He is the Life to live. He is the Love to Love. St. Teresa of Calcutta
• Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. St. Augustine

Resources

• Slide Show on Forming Intentional Disciples

• Article on 5 Steps to becoming an intentional disciple.

• Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus Paperback Weddell

• Forming Intentional Disciples discussion guide from Archdiocese of Baltimore

• Called and Gifted - Catherine of Siena Institute

• Decree on the Apostotate of the Laity