Last week’s retreat week featured six retreats that sent students from throughout St. Louis U. High’s four classes around the St. Louis metro area and even to SLUH’s campus. Over the course of the week, there were two Kairos retreats (one for juniors and one for seniors), a service learning retreat, the Philia retreat, and freshman retreat.

The two Kairos retreats were the first of many to be held throughout the year. Kairos, which means “God’s time,”  provides an opportunity for upperclassmen to strongly engage in their faith and deepen their relationships with God. 

“Kairos time and time again reveals the presence of God’s love in the students’ lives in ways that they can sometimes miss in the midst of their busyness,” said campus minister Brian Gilmore. “It’s a good time to forget about and not have to worry about all the clubs, homework, and sports in their lives and focus spiritually.” 

Kairos is a retreat that provides a new experience and perspective on students’ relationships with God and their classmates. It provides an opportunity over the course of three days and two nights for the retreatants to bond and pray together, creating lasting memories. 

“Kairos was a great experience for me to get closer to both God and the other guys with me. It helped build brotherhood and I gained a deeper level of understanding of my relationship with God as well. It was a part of my SLUH experience that hopefully I will never forget,” said junior Timmy Kappel.

Kairos retreats focus strongly on students' relationships with God, however, it also leaves a lot of unscheduled time for students to connect with others. 

“My retreat made me realize how good it is to get close and personal with my fellow classmates. I brought Spikeball on my retreat and I really grew close to the people that I played with,” said junior Kearney Foy. 

For the first retreat of their SLUH careers, the freshmen enjoyed a one-day retreat on SLUH’s campus. Taking a dive into their spiritual lives, the freshmen heard small group talks from their Senior Advisors, presentations from faculty members, and speeches from classmates. 

“We have retreats every single year of your time at SLUH. We think it’s a very important part of your experience, to take time away from your busy life and reflect on your own life and your relationship with God,” said Campus Minister Stephen Deves. “The (freshman) retreat is kind of the end of the beginning for them; they have been here for months and are starting to understand how things work, but they certainly haven’t figured everything out.”

Despite having several serious activities, their day was also filled with free time to play and bond with classmates. 

“I really enjoyed being able to sit and talk in small groups with our senior advisors and later on getting to play dodgeball with my class,” said freshman Daniel Neuner. “It was nice to hear different perspectives in a strict and serious environment but also get to go and have fun and relax with my classmates.” 

The Junior Retreat at the White House Retreat Center was a three-day, two-night faculty-led retreat for discussion, community building and faith formation. The retreat allowed students to have the opportunity of taking a break from everyday school life and focus on enriching their experience with God.

“Many Jr. Bills have made this retreat part of their junior year at SLUH,” said Campus Minister Simonie Anzalone. “SLUH has fully funded the retreats for the juniors so there is no cost to attend this retreat.”

“It was really nice to have a break and not think about things outside, the retreat was a good opportunity to better my relationship with God and my faith. It was just overall an amazing experience,” added junior Henry Molner. 

The Philia Retreat was focused on bringing students from a variety of backgrounds together to explore the diversity of God’s kingdom. 

“One thing that I really liked about the Philia trip is just the different affinity groups that were there. So we had ASA and we have Black Student Union and we have Ongoing Conversations. And I thought it was nice to hear everyone's different opinions and experiences, especially since a lot of people came not only from different ethnic and racial backgrounds, but also different economic and social and just different backgrounds in general” said junior Courtney Lucas.

The service learning retreat was a two-day, one night retreat that explores what it is like to be homeless in St. Louis city. Students were able to look at poverty from several angles in conjunction with Catholic Social Teaching in an attempt to gain clarity about how our faith leads to action in regards to these issues.

“Both students and adults learn quite a bit about the city and how the structures in our city work in regards to poverty and food insecurity, but a lot about why that happens and the root cause of these systemic issues,” said Anzalone.

Overall, the many retreats that took place over Retreat Week provided incredible opportunities for SLUH students to explore the local community while also growing their brotherhood. The retreats also offered a deep dive into students’ relationships with God. 

 “It’s an integral part of our mission and what it means to be a disciple of Christ,” said Lewis. “To take time away from our busy schedules and hectic lives to be in a relationship with God in prayer and reflect on God's works in our lives. We’re not just creating good citizens at SLUH, but also disciples of Christ, and these retreats help bring us closer to this mission.”