Young Adults Gather to Encounter Christ at Annual Retreat

The last weekend of February, Saint Clement's Young Adult Community hosted its annual retreat at St. Benedict's Abbey in Benet Lake, WI, welcoming nearly 70 participants! Having filled up weeks in advance with a wait list, it was clearly a highly anticipated event. Every year this retreat serves as a wonderful chance for young adults in their 20's and 30's to rest, reflect, and pray, as well as enjoy fellowship with old friends and the opportunity to make new ones. 

Titled "Encountering Christ: Seek and Find the Living God," the retreat included Adoration, Taize (a meditative form of prayer through music), yoga, Mass, spiritual guidance, a prayer "buffet," four deeply personal talks from some of the retreat leaders, small group sessions, personal time for reflection, social time for fellowship, and of course great meals together! Each offered a chance at reflection and strengthening of faith.    

Watch Fr. Ken's talk on encountering Christ through prayer.

All of the weekend's events and reflections tied together topics that resonated deeply with young adults, ranging from the challenges of seeking and finding Christ during the highly transitory young adult years to the joy of encountering Christ in the sacraments and at prayer. The retreat also provided multiple avenues for attendees to connect to each other, providing assurance that they were not alone in life's questions or anxieties they "brought" to the retreat.  

One first-time retreatant felt blessed "to encounter a group of young adults who were welcoming, genuine, and open to sharing their spiritual journey with others."

Throughout the weekend, attendees were given many exciting "announcements" of ways to Pray.Serve.Give. in order to build on what the weekend started, and become or continue to be involved in the Saint Clement community. They were also reminded that "God doesn't give me what I want; He gives me what I need."

Extra thanks go to the entire retreat leadership team for months of planning, of course to Christina Bax for her tireless dedication, and always to Fr. Ken for his commitment to the Young Adult Community -- he was able to spend the entire weekend with the retreat!

New Young Adult Group Discusses Topics of Faith

February 19 was the second meeting of the new Young Adult Community (YAC) book discussion. While the cold weather kept many participants away, seven young adults gathered to discuss the first ten chapters of My Life with the Saints by James Martin.

We began the night with a prayer for book club participants and dove right into discussion of the various saints Fr. Martin wrote about, including Mother Theresa, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and Joan of Arc. Participants reflected on how the saints' lives are different yet similar to our own lives, and ways that we can live like saints and model our lives after these wonderful holy men and women.

On March 19th at 7pm, we will discuss the second half of the book with saints including Dorothy Day, Peter, and Mary. Participants stated, "The YAC book club has provided a wonderful place where we can learn from authors and each other, and is a great place for faith sharing. As always, it's full of great people." And, "It's an opportunity to gather together with other young adults to share on a deeper level about topics relevant to our faith. It's a way to hold yourself accountable for reading material of substance in a timely fashion." Please join us! 

Spring Forward!

Daylight Saving Time begins this Sunday,  

March 10th. If you won't be awake at 2:00 a.m., be sure to move your clocks forward one hour before you rest your weary head this Saturday night. Mass times remain the same! 

We hope to see you Sunday morning!

A safety reminder: The fire department encourages everyone to change the batteries in your smoke detectors when changing your clocks.