The St. Paul VI Catholic High School Junior Retreat provides a safe, nonjudgmental and encouraging environment for students to be vulnerable with themselves, their leaders, and their peers.
As both seniors and retreat team leaders, we had a unique perspective this year on the annual PVI girls’ retreat, held Sept. 30-Oct. 2.
What happens at the retreat is unexplainable, and it is a time when people truly encounter Jesus Christ. Upon entering the retreat, everyone has different backgrounds and timelines for their spiritual journeys — some cradle Catholics, some newly baptized and some non-Catholic. The retreats remind us that we are all uniquely made in the image and likeness of God.
During the retreat, students play fun icebreakers, attend Mass, participate in spiritual activities and more. The retreat is extremely interactive, and one of the main themes is, “You get out what you put in.” Participation in the retreat is not required, but lives are changed when participation is strong.
“The junior retreat was one of the most special and influential experiences of my life,” said junior Kendall Letich. “I learned so much, not only about faith, but also about myself. The senior leaders and staff helped create a safe space where everyone felt comfortable and loved. It was so special seeing how God brought all of us together.”
Students also listen to talks by senior leaders on their personal experiences and advice on how to live out faith beyond the retreat. These peer-to-peer student discussions are so impactful. They resonate with retreat participants in a way that no teacher or adult mentor could.
Not only do the senior leaders go on the retreat, but they also go on a senior retreat the summer before the start of school to prepare and learn how to lead people to Christ.
The senior retreat is very different from the junior retreat. While the junior retreat is about learning to receive God’s love, the senior retreat teaches how to give God’s love and how to share it.
“We learned how to be leaders and not followers,” said senior leader Harrison Fink. “We learned about ourselves.”
As people who have experienced all three retreats, we can say that watching the juniors experience their first retreat has been the most rewarding and inspiring experience we have ever seen. All the meetings and time spent in preparation became worth it as we saw the Lord working through each and every person on our retreat in different ways. Going back as seniors, we can truly say that we saw ourselves in these girls. The girls who gave their all to the retreat came out as people who were ready to try every single day to grow in communion with God.
