Our Jackson Regional Confirmation Retreat was held last weekend at camp FaHoLo in Grass Lake with 120 students (mostly 8th graders) from most of the local parishes. The purpose of the retreat was to offer an “encounter opportunity” for the students to meet Jesus in a profound way; to impact their celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation next fall. We want them to WANT Confirmation and to WANT to be Catholic Christians!
In evaluations at the end of the weekend retreat, well over half said they DID NOT initially choose to attend in the first place (Ha! Imagine that?). By the end of the weekend, ALL but 3 said they WOULD recommend this retreat to future Confirmation students! 90% gave the retreat an overall evaluation of 4 or 5 (with 5 being “Awesome”). NO ONE gave it a 1 (“Lame!”); only 2 evaluated it as a 2. ALL but 4 said their relationship with Jesus changed over the weekend! The Holy Hour we experienced Saturday night, with Adoration, Confession, worship music and prayer was remarkable; true conversions, deep inner healing, tears of joy, asking for more faith, crying out in thanksgiving to God. Several of the adults with us said they would not have believed it if they didn’t see it themselves!
A few comments written by the students:
“This was a life changing experience…”
“I really felt the presence of God this weekend. I had never truly prayed before, but now after being prayed over, it changed me.”
“Adoration was the best thing I’ve been through”
“I wouldn’t change anything”
“It was great; I really have become closer with God! Thank you!”
“I loved this retreat. On Saturday I could not stop crying. Jesus was truly present there. You could feel God’s love.”
“This was amazing!”
“This retreat was awesome!”