How to Run a Parish Retreat

Knowing how to run a parish retreat can be a valuable skill for a parish pastor, deacon or pastoral associate. While many members of the parish will hopefully become involved in the development and operation of a parish retreat, someone needs to get the ball rolling, oversee the process and keep everyone on the same page to produce a successful parish retreat program. If you are the person who is charged with running a parish retreat either for individual or community renewal you may value some of these organizational steps.

You'll probably want to begin by Inviting experienced and reliable parish leaders to form a retreat or renewal committee. A good idea is to select people who you can envision as capable of handling different aspects of your retreat program like liturgy, music, publicity, refreshments and so forth. Sit down with this group early on and with the parish year long schedule in front of you come up with an appropriate time frame for your planned retreat. At the same time work together to produce a parish retreat theme that can help you to focus your program and offer you something catchy and exciting to use in your advertising.

If your diocesan office is active and creative, you may want to direct a committee member to contact that office and discover what they might suggest in order to help you develop and structure your retreat program. This might include checking out a list of diocesan retreat speakers if one exists in your area. There may also be a spiritual development office or retreat office that could make some valuable suggestions. If there is no assistance available then you will need to give serious consideration to culling your local and regional resources to locate the kind of speaker who can help to flesh out your retreat offerings. Locate enough speakers to offer at least one change of speaker or more depending on the planned length of your retreat program.

Once theme, date and speakers have been arranged its time to sit down with the person from your committee who you feel can manage publicity and discuss how he or she should proceed and how many volunteer parish helpers will be needed to assist in spreading the word. Make sure your publicity chair person is committed to using a solid variety of advertising avenues to help draw in participants from every part of the parish.

Spend time with the the knowledgeable liturgy leader on your committee to verify available deacons , Eucharistic ministers, lectors, musicians and priests as needed for the various formats you have planned. Make certain that all are made aware of their assignments and that back-ups are planned for when necessary. Making sure that you have sufficient manpower to provide a well paced program is key to keeping people interested and satisfied. .

Don't skimp on checking through your parish renewal or retreat week with the person you have assigned to head up refreshments. It's amazing how a let down in this area can send out negative waves. Having a pleasant if informal collation after each retreat sessions can really add to the community spirit you are trying to produce. And of course furnish your parish custodial staff with dates, times and set-up needs for your church and church hall so that the important tasks of hall and church arranging and cleaning can be managed efficiently.

Depending on how complex or simple your parish retreat or renewal is, schedule at least one co-ordinating meeting along the way or a few days before the start of your retreat program to weed out any lingering problems and address final concerns. Everyone hates meetings but some final connecting is essential to avoid major disasters that can be called by minor miscues or mistaken responsibilities.

Week long, three day or even weekend parish retreat or renewal programs can do a lot to help enliven and refresh your parish spirit. Don't pass on this opportunity, when these simple steps can bring success to you, your committee and your parish