The 2009 Staff / Parent retreat took place on the week of March 9th and was once again very successful.

The retreat is designed to allow people the opportunity to spend some time reflecting on their faith and their day-to-day lives without the necessity of taking days off work.

Each retreatant is invited to spend an hour of prayer with a piece of Scripture each day and to spend to spend half an hour with a Spiritual Director (In a location in Belvedere) discussing issues of relevance to their faith today.

The Spiritual Director is a person that the retreatant will meet each day to talk about their prayer and matters related to their faith, these meetings, a half an hour in length take place during the working day in a room in Belvedere

It provides the opportunity to stand back and reflect on issues of importance to you in your life. It is a time to know God and to appraise and appreciate life, family, work and self, a time of celebration or simply of gratitude for all that has brought you to this point.

What follows is a reflection from a first year parent on her experience of the retreat during the working week.

The Lenten Retreat

When the letter came home about the Lenten retreat I thought well, wouldn’t it be nice to do something for lent so I signed up. After signing up I felt very apprehensive and not sure what to expect and a bit daunted. The retreat comprised of ½ hour sessions with a spiritual director in the college followed by a ½ hour sessions of spiritual reading at home each day for five days.
Day one came and off I went into the college. Day one consisted of meeting with all the people who were on the retreat. It took place in the boy’s chapel. Seats were close to the altar surrounded by candles and beautifully smelling incense, immediately I felt relaxed. The Facilator, Mr Will Flanagan was incredibly welcoming and you were immediately put at ease, everyone was introduced and we were assigned to our spiritual director who we would be meeting individually each day for five days. I was assigned to Sister Pauline whom was very personable and I started to look forward to the week ahead.
Monday arrived and I came in for my first session, My spiritual director was very relaxed and guided me through some bible stories with ease, she explained that God was with us through every moment of our lives, the good and the bad, she made me feel that god was more human like.
As the days progressed we travelled through different areas of life and how we are touched by God on a daily basis. It brought religion down to earth and closer to me personally. I feel now that God isn’t just the man above but that he is walking amongst us in different people we meet each day.
I started to look forward to meeting with my spiritual director on a daily basis; it was time out, Time to reflex. It was difficult to organise the time to get into the college each day not to mention the half hour of reading each day but it was more than worthwhile and gave me a great sense of calmness.
The week came to an end and there was a closing ceremony again back to where we started, on the altar surrounded by the lovely candles and incense.
This time it was an accomplishment that we had all got through the week. Some people expressed how they got on; the general consensus was of one with God. Maybe we all felt a little bit closer to God, maybe we understood the bible a little better, but I would like to say it was well worth the time and effort made.

I would like to thank sincerely Mr Will Flanagan and Both spiritual directors for their unassuming gentle approach to this retreat which gave us, as a group a wonderful sense of calm within this challenging world.

First Year Parent.

Thanks to all the parents and staff and who were involved in the retreat this year. A special thanks also to our Spiritual Directors, Sr. Pauline Campbell and Ms. Debbie Moore for their support and encouragement of the retreatants.

Will Flanagan,