The Journey Retreat Program has truly been a fantastic gift from God to me. It has positively affected my priestly ministry for the past 28 years. I wish every teen could experience this life-changing adventure of faith, hope, forgiveness, and unconditional love.

Everyone is loved.

Our church is constantly searching for meaningful ways to pass our faith along to our young people. This includes helping them to experience and understand God’s love. This retreat accomplishes all that. Many who have participated in this program tell me how much this weekend has helped them better understand what faith, love, and community mean and how all that is celebrated as a Roman Catholic. For me, this program has changed the way I approach my work, my marriage, my parenting and all my ministries. I feel very blessed to continue to be a part of this great retreat.

I learned to strengthen my friendship with God. Before Journey, I always thought that your relationship with God was a one-way thing. After Journey, I discovered how it's more like a friendship, and how to tell and trust God with everything.

I learned that I am loved and all of God’s creation is loved. Love is all around us. We must do our best to be true to ourselves and true to others. We must do our best to emulate Jesus Christ. We have to do all we can through prayer, study, and action. The Lord comes first in our lives, the rest follows and if we think like this the path becomes clearer and life becomes easier.

On my journey retreat I learned a lot, but the two things I learned that made the greatest impact on my day-to-day life was that God will always be there for you, you just have to let him in. Often I would isolate myself when I was upset, but I learned that is when you need loving people in your life the most. God will always love you, you just have to let him. I also learned to trust people. Journey provided me with a safe environment that allowed me to open up, trust others and make amazing friends.

I learned to accept myself. I learned that God is always with us even in the darkest of times and I can always count on him to guide me in the right path. I learned that I have a whole other family that cares for me and loves me.

On my Journey, I learned how prayer, study, and action can bring us closer to God and create a friendship with Jesus. I learned that being "religious" doesn't mean being perfect or doing everything right, it means that you keep Christ at the center of your life.

I learned that God's friendship is endless and that a small act of love can go a long way. I also learned that there's no formula for prayer, it's just something that you feel in your heart and it's just between you and God.

I learned that to love is to make yourself vulnerable and to allow others, including God, into my life and heart without defensiveness and without hiding.