Young adults and clergy from the Diocese of Superior gathered for a reunion retreat and end-of-summer send-off. Here, attendees roast brats over a campfire. (Photo by Aidan Jones)
Aidan Jones
Special to the Catholic Herald
As summer drew to a close, nearly 40 young adults from around the diocese and beyond gathered at Our Lady of Lourdes in Dobie for prayer, sacraments, fellowship and fun. Marketed as a retreat to wrap up the summer and launch into fall, the gathering was geared toward young Catholics ages 18 to 30, and served as a time for them to grow closer to Christ and invest in friendships.
Stretching from a Friday afternoon to Saturday midday, the retreat’s format was simple: Mass, formative talks by recently ordained priests, a campfire, food, fellowship, adoration, opportunities for confession and a game of ultimate frisbee. The men camped out near the church, while the women stayed with two local families who graciously opened their homes to them. Meals were donated by the Rice Lake Knights of Columbus Council, as well as local families.
The retreat drew attendees from all over the diocese, including from Superior, Medford, Hayward, Spooner and Hudson, and a few young adults who came from the neighboring dioceses of Duluth and La Crosse. Attendees included college students, working professionals, diocesan employees and recent high school graduates. There were a number of former Totus Tuus missionaries present, as well as two seminarians. A religious sister even stopped by.
Fr. Dan Tracy and Fr. Isaiah Schick served as the spiritual fathers of the retreat, offering Mass, exposing the Blessed Sacrament for adoration, hearing confessions, and spending time talking with the young adults. They also each gave a short talk on effectively living out the Catholic faith in the world. “Ask yourself, ‘Do I believe that what I believe is really real?’” Fr. Tracy encouraged attendees. When talking about the spiritual life, he also reminded them that “We don’t seek the consolations of God, but the God of consolations.”
“Our hearts are meant to look like his,” Fr. Isaiah explained. “Broken open in love. The purpose of life is to be loved by God, and secondly, to love. If you do that, your life is a success. If you do everything but that, your life is a failure.”
“Soaking in the formation given by Fr. Dan and Fr. Isaiah, I felt incredibly encouraged to keep seeking the Lord and pursing Him in my state of life, right where I am,” commented JulieAnne Johnson, who attended the retreat and currently works for the diocese. She described the weekend as “an energizing get-together,” and noted that “you just can’t beat sitting around a campfire eating brats with a bunch of young people who love the Lord!”
Esther Gagliardi, a student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who served the diocese this past summer as a Totus Tuus missionary, explained that “it is a beautiful experience to witness other people my own age who care about their faith and relationship with Jesus Christ, because it encourages me on my own faith journey. For a couple of days, we were able to detach from our day-to-day lives to renew our love for Christ and our call to share his love with everyone we meet before the busyness of college or work begins.”
One of the challenges of living in a rural diocese is the physical distance between communities. Although young adults are minorities in most parishes, this retreat served as an opportunity for them to tap into the wider Catholic young adult community scattered throughout the diocese. “Living in a diocese where everything and everyone is so spread out geographically, events like this provide a space for us to recognize that we are not as few in numbers as we might think, and that we are not alone in our pursuit of the Lord!” Johnson explained. “It felt like a family reunion having everyone together, and I am greatly anticipating the next one.”
Although somewhat unique in its structure, this retreat is not an anomaly for the Catholic young adult community in the Diocese of Superior. These young people, many of whom met at Extreme Faith Camp or through Totus Tuus, are committed to staying close to each other and encouraging each other as they strive to pursue Christ with their whole hearts. Whether through retreats like this one, Christmas break get-togethers or impromptu meet-ups at conferences, the young adults of the diocese are actively striving to help each other get to heaven.
