Our St. Willebrord Parish, Lenten, family retreat was a success! Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, March 6-8, we had presentations, music, prayer, questions and answers, sharing of food and formation of new friendships. Fr. Phil Schoofs gave us some very useful talks to help us with Scriptural language about some of the most important parts of our Catholic faith. Baptism, Unity, and Christ-centered living were the main themes of those talks which Fr. Phil gave in English and Spanish. He engaged people with both seriousness and good humor in both languages! An average of about 150 people were present for each talk.

      Let us all be thankful for the volunteers who worked to make the retreat so meaningful. Many leaders gathered more than a month ago in order to plan the themes and assign the tasks for preparing music, hospitality, lectors, food, environment/decorations, preparation, set-up and clean-up, and other details. There were more than 40 parishioners involved as volunteers. Parishioners proved more than capable of collaborating and communicating through the challenges of different language and culture.

      As Pastor, I could not be happier with this venture into a ministry that we have not utilized in my time at St. Willebrord’s. A bi-lingual retreat seemed like too much to ask, but in fact it was a significant success.

      May we share the peace and love of Christ with others, near and far!

Fr. Andy