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Middle School Retreat Program 2019-2020
St. Joseph Catholic School, 6th-8th grade students
The Middle School Retreat Program was developed by Beth Henry, Pastoral Counselor at St. Joseph School as a way to help students navigate the challenges and pain of the middle school years by deepening their faith together. It was the first program of its kind offered to Middle School Students in the Diocese of Arlington and has been adopted by other schools in the Diocese. The retreats provide time away from the regular school day for students to reflect, pray and grow together and they remind students of the very real presence of Christ in their lives, and in their interactions with each other.
The program is designed to offer each grade level (6th-8th grade) two spiritual retreats per year in addition to any Confirmation retreats already planned. One retreat is offered for each middle school grade in the Fall and one in the Spring. Retreats are held by grade level, so that all students in the same grade participate in a retreat on the same day, but the boys and girls have their retreats separately. The number of retreats held per and the timing of the retreats is dependent on space and budget constraints. However, the full program of retreats is planned for next year.
The retreats begin with prayer, an opening ice breaker and a pizza lunch. Each of the six retreats focuses on a different aspect of our faith beginning with ways to pray and grow closer to God in the first 6th grade retreat to faith-in-action at the final eighth grade retreat. In the first retreat, students experience different ways of praying from lectio divina, to journaling and intentional prayer, to a guided reflection on the writings of St. Teresa of Calcutta. The students are encouraged to consider God’s plan for them and their response. These afternoons of prayer, reflection and team-building challenge our students to step outside of their routines and to invite Christ in.
Other retreats focus on the Virtue of Hope and on God’s Mercy in our lives, on service, and sharing our faith with others. In the past, students have explored the ways in which God can use all of us, even in our brokenness, to heal and to build a community of love and gentleness.
These retreats are coordinated by Mrs. Beth Henry and SJS school counselor Mrs. Patty Farrell and led by youth ministers from around the Diocese. The retreat program has been supported by Paul VI High School Campus Ministry and Paul VI students since it began in 2016. These high school students are active in campus ministry at their school and have also participated in and led high school retreats and mission trips. They lead small group discussions and share the ways in which they live out their faith as high school students. This past Fall, we were also blessed to have the assistance of Bishop O’ Connell retreat leader (and SJS parent) Mr. Ed Fitpatrick and several O’Connell students for our 6th grade boys retreat. Our spring retreats this year will focus on our identity as Catholics and will invite the students to look for ways that they can hear God’s voice in both their day-to-day choices and in the larger decisions they will be making in the years ahead.
