Description: This one-night, two-day program is a short retreat modeled on four study programs designed by Father Robert Barron: Eucharist, Seven Deadly Sins & Seven Lively Virtues, Conversion, and Untold Blessing: Three Paths to Christian Holiness.
Get Ready
- Prep Time: You will want to start planning four-six weeks in advance. In this time, you will need to order and organize materials, train volunteers, secure the space and publicize the event. NOTE: You may need to reserve your desired space several months in advance.
- Volunteers Needed: Approximately five young adult volunteers to lead small group discussions.
- Supplies: Word on Fire DVDs and study guides (can be purchased from website), journals and pens, nametags, media equipment (computer, projector, speakers), food and drinks.
- Reserve the Space: Find a local retreat house that can accommodate your group size. If there are no retreat houses in your area, look into a rectory or other space that may be available for groups. Be sure to book as far in advance as possible. You will need sleeping spaces, a large group space, some small group spaces, a chapel and a space for cooking. If you plan to run overnight retreats using each module, try to book them all at once, so you can publicize the dates far in advance.
- Ideal Group Size: Around 25 young adults.
- Who is this for? All young adults — those on the fringe and those who are attuned to the Church and its messages and practices.
- When is a good time for this? Anytime throughout the year. It works well to organize retreats by theme. Since there are four study programs in the Word on Fire series, you can use one or two programs each year and spread out the retreat series over the course of two or four years. Ideally, this event will start Saturday morning and conclude Sunday evening, in order to have two full days of retreat time.
- Publicize the Program: One you have set a date for the retreat, spread the word through e-mail, parish bulletins, flyers, and social media. Announce the event at mass at one month prior to the event.
Prayer for Program Planner: Dear Lord, be with me as I thoughtfully and lovingly prepare this retreat for our young adult community, and allow me to embrace the theme and how it manifests itself in each individual participating. Amen.
Community Building: A short retreat is a good way to draw members of the young adult community into reflecting on their faith in a more intentional way. Using Father Robert Barron’s Word on Fire series is an easy way to create an accessible and formational series of repeating activities to form a two-day retreat. Over the course of the weekend, participants will reflect, renew, and grow in their faith with the young adult community.
