St. Emma Retreat House The Benedictine Nuns, who are St. Emma Monastery, invite you to come aside and rest awhile with the Lord on one of our many retreats.

Retreat House Description

Retreats listed below consist of daily Mass, conferences given to the retreatants as a group, opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and time for personal prayer/reflection and Eucharistic adoration.

RETREATS - 2011

January

• 23-28    Priests' Silent Guided Retreat, Rev. Joseph Mele

  • Theme:  The Lord Has Drawn Us to His Heart
    
    In his own words, here is how Father Mele plans to work that them out: In the cold and darkness of deep winter, we will propose passages of sacred scripture that guide retreatants to grow ever closer to Jesus, who counts on us, his ministers, to spread and build up His Kingdom, and to radiate His love and His truth. This January retreat has been prayerfully designed to help priests be enthralled by Christ! This retreat will listen in the winter quiet for God�s heart calling to ours, inviting us to come out of ourselves, to trust in Him, and by encountering His love �heart to heart,� to renew us making our lives a gift of unbounded priestly love."
    

  • Accommodations at the Monastic Guest House and Retreat House, please indicate which in comment field - thank you!

March

• 11-13    Silent Lenten Retreat, Rev. Boniface Hicks, OSB

  • Theme:  The Father Who Sees in Secret
    
    The Father who sees in secret lives in Secret. Secrets are like pregnancy--seen yet unseen, full of life yet hidden from the world.  We must enter into silence to be with the Father in secret.  When we enter into God's silence it is not an empty experience but is filled with meaning with life and with love.  Entering into the silence can be painful.  It is found on Calvary by way of the Cross.  Thus we must know the riches that await us there if we are to have the courage needed to make the journey into the Father's Secret.
    

• 18-20    Men's Retreat, Rev. Ed Litavec

  • Theme:  Lent, A Time to Shape and Renew
    
    Using the Beatitudes, we will explore how Christ calls us to understand what is meant by being poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be clean of heart, to be peacemakers and to be persecuted in the light of the Lenten call to holiness.

• 20          Third Order Carmelite Day of Recollection, To be announced

April

• 1-3        Silent Lenten Retreat, Rev. Bill Kiel

  • Theme:  Prayer and Fasting � Not Only During Lent
    
    Although we associate Prayer and Fasting as Lenten practices, these two activities are important aspects of growing in holiness. We may pray in different ways and more often during Lent, but we should be fervent in our prayers throughout the liturgical year.  Fasting is an important, but sometimes difficult, method of gaining spiritual strength.  It is easier to fast if we understand �that it is just not eating as much.�  Let�s try to grow in holiness throughout the year, not only during Lent!

• 8-10      Silent Lenten Retreat, Rev. Frank Erdeljak

  • Theme: The Compassionate Love of God According
    to the Little Flower
    
    Our retreat will be based from a book by Pete Liagre, C.S.Sp.  The saint of the �Little Way� realized that the need to love, which she feels in the depths of her heart, is an echo of the infinite need to be loved which is in God and which is God.  Th�r�se adds an important and decisive word to her offering of Love � the word �compassionate.�  She trusted that out of pure compassion, God will create and pour out love on us.  That is what inspired Th�r�se to that bold and fearless offering of herself as Victim to Compassionate Love.  She understood the Gospels because she believed them.

• 29-May 1    Third Order Carmelite Silent Retreat, Rev. James Hess, OCarm

  • Theme: The Way of Perfection
    
    In honor of the 500th anniversary of St. Teresa of Jesus� birth, Father will present her work, The Way of Perfection.

July

• 22-28    Six Day Silent Retreat (lay/religious), Rev. Paschal Morlino, OSB

• 22-29    Encounter with Silence, Rev. John-Mary Tompkins, OSB

  • Accommodations at the Monastic Guest House and Retreat House, please indicate which in comment field - thank you!

August

• 12-13    Busy Moms, Rev. Boniface Hicks, OSB

September

• 23-25    Women's Retreat, To be announced

• 30-Oct. 2    Women's Retreat, Rev. Frank Erdeljak

October

• 21-23    Legion of Mary

• 28-30    Married Couples, Rev. Ed Litavec

November

•  4-6       Married Couples, Rev. Angelus Shaughnessy, OFMCap

If you have questions about any of these retreat programs,
please email retreats@stemma.org
or phone 724-834-3060 Ext. 139.  Thank you!

Click Here for Retreat Reservations

WEEKEND RETREATS: OPEN WITH DINNER AT 6:00 P.M. AND 
MASS AT 8:00 P.M.; CLOSE SUNDAY AFTERNOON ABOUT 1:00 P.M.

ALL ROOMS ARE PRIVATE and each has a sink and ceiling fan. Linens, towels, glass and soap provided.

IF YOU BRING A TAPE RECORDER OR RADIO, P-L-E-A-S-E bring earphones.

IF MAKING A SUMMER RETREAT, PLEASE KNOW that certain casual, summer apparel is distracting to others on retreat; please remember to dress in a manner appropriate to a sacred setting.

IF YOU MUST CANCEL, P-L-E-A-S-E NOTIFY US AT ONCE. WAITING LISTS ARE REAL -- SOMEONE MAY BE WAITING ANXIOUSLY FOR THE CHANCE TO MAKE A RETREAT.

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