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The Kenora Catholic District School Board ended Catholic Education week with a 22-year tradition - the System Spiritual Development Retreat. Each year during Catholic Education Week the board hosts a spiritual development retreat at Andy Lake Resort for teachers and system staff to come together and reflect and pray on the theme for Catholic Education Week. The tradition started in 1994 when Sister Maria Ciccarelli invited Hugh Evans to speak about the theme of "The Hidden Treasure" by Henri Nouwen. Since then there has been a host of amazing speakers leading the System Spiritual Development Retreat.
This year Archbishop James Weisgerber was invited to talk about the theme of Catholic Education Week 2016: Opening Doors of Mercy. The Archbishop spoke about the parable of the Prodigal Son or better named the Merciful Father which reveals to us that the heart of God is that of a compassionate father who extends mercy to both his sons… the younger who sinned by asking for his share of the inheritance and wasting it; the older son by his bitterness of heart and not wanting to join in the celebration of his brother's return. Everyone explored many aspects of the story in their own faith. One important reflection the Archbishop asked the group was "are you the prodigal son or are you the older brother?"
Here are some comments from some of the participants:
"The Archbishop is a wonderful and thought-provoking speaker. I so greatly appreciate all of the efforts put forth by everyone to give us the renewing day that we had today."
"A beautiful way to build faith community….spending time together over prayer, reflection and good food."
"Once again I feel inspired and I am coming away with renewed enthusiasm and inner strength."
"This has truly been an extremely uplifting but REAL awakening. I will leave today with a full heart and a need to do more for me, for my family and my students and community. I thank you for that."
"The system retreat is important because it allows us time to gather as a faith community to focus on our own adult faith development. Our Strategic Plan identifies adult faith development as important in our ongoing growth and the yearly system retreat that Sister Maria has been organizing for the past 22 years is one way of doing this. I would encourage all staff to be involved in the retreat. It is a day for yourself and your God." - Phyllis Eikre, Director of Education