Retreat for men planned at Trappist monastery

Friday, Jan. 08, 2016

PARK CITY — Men from St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Park City will host a retreat of contemplation and spiritual reflection at the Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity in Huntsville Jan. 29-31.

“We begin the year mindful of what is happening in the news, what is coming out of Rome or from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and how that might affect our lives; we meet to position ourselves for the new year,” said Frank Lesar, retreat coordinator and St. Mary of the Assumption parishioner. 

The retreat theme is mercy, based on Pope Francis’ jubilee year, which began Dec. 8 and will close Nov. 20. Father Jorge Roldan, St. Mary of the Assumption parochial vicar, will be the spiritual leader; his topic will be “The Mercy of God.” 

Fr. Roldan will address how God shows his love and mercy for people every day and how Catholics also have to show mercy for others, “our families, neighbors and ourselves,” he said. “Sometimes we don’t have mercy for ourselves; it is a step-by-step process. This is a good and blessed time as we start the new year and the Year of Mercy, to work on our growing faith to show mercy to others.” 

Four presenters among the participants will also talk about mercy from different perspectives, said Lesar, who has researched the Scriptures on mercy and what Pope Francis has said, as well as what Jesus says in the Scriptures about mercy and forgiveness. 

“Pope Francis said we must begin with mercy with the situations in the world,” Lesar said. “After all, we can’t talk about love, compassion and forgiveness without talking about mercy; they are all related.” 

The parish’s men began hosting the retreat at the Trappist monastery in 1996; it is a holy place with 70 years of tradition, said Lesar. 

“We have gotten to know the monks personally over the years and find it very comfortable; the grounds wonderful,” he said. “In order to keep the group and the retreat going, we instituted a prayer group that meets at least once a month; that group comes up with the theme for the retreat.”

The retreat originally began as a way for the parish’s Knights of Columbus members to deepen their spirituality, but has evolved into pondering “meaning of life questions and deepening the men’s faith,” Lesar said. “We’ve kept it going over the years with different retreat leaders and different themes such as Christianity, the Gospels of Luke and John, the image and likeness of Christ and what that means as a Christian. Every year we use our theme to present a lens through which we can present ideas and invite participation and faith sharing through insight and a lot of learning.” 

Deacon Bob Hardy has been a member of the St. Mary of the Assumption retreat team since its inception. The initial idea was to build a men’s group that would empower its members and that would take on a leadership role in St. Mary of the Assumption Parish and St. Lawrence Mission, he said. 

Among the retreat presenters will be Al Mozingo, a published author and former St. Mary parishioner who now lives in California, said Deacon Hardy. “He has done a lecture series and is adapting some information on agape love that he will share with us. Over the years we have had a revolving door of people come through because we are limited on the amount of people the monastery can accommodate.” 

The retreat also will include the Liturgy of the Hours with the monks, Mass and time for contemplation, Deacon Hardy said.