CORE Ministry Reimagines Retreats
With hard work and a deep commitment to ensuring faith formation and spiritual development continue, the CORE Ministry Department took on the challenges posed by COVID-19.
Instead of the usual retreat programming, Theology 9 and Theology 10 teachers hosted retreats for each grade over the course of two days.
The retreats were constructed to provide new and COVID-19 safe experiences for students. With smaller groups of students, appropriate spacing enabled more creative use of the Academy’s campus while allowing students and retreat leaders to have a deeper connection on their faith experiences.
Freshmen retreat attendees were broken out into small groups, where they learned more about the "Character of a Saint Joseph Academy Graduate," attending sessions on the philosophy's attributes: Empathetic Justice, Service to the Dear Neighbor, Personal Integrity and Emerging Wisdom.
"Both retreats were student-led. This is a big undertaking, but we believe it's important for our Freshmen and Sophomores to have these retreat experiences, and having them on campus was the best way to bring each class together in a socially distant manner. CORE Ministry is working on small group retreat options for the Juniors and Seniors," stated "25 Under 35" honoree, CORE Ministry Department Chair and teacher Ms. Alison Barberic '01.
We are incredibly grateful to our academic departments for their willingness to support meaningful experiences that enable our students to build community!
