SALT LAKE CITY — All young adults from 18 to 35 years old in the diocese are invited to attend the Young Adult Lenten Retreat, scheduled for March 23 at Christ the King Catholic Church in Cedar City.
The theme of the retreat, "Conversion," is taken from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops document "Disciples Called to Witness," said Samantha Almanza, director of the diocesan Youth and Young adult Ministry.
This is the first time that a young adult retreat will be held in Cedar City.
"When I went to visit southern Utah in October they said that they needed a big event to bring all the Catholic young adults together and Diane Houle (Southern Utah University’s campus minister) had this awesome idea and I thought, ‘I shall help her,’" said Almanza.
SUU’s Newman Club community is very active, Houle said.
"We have Wednesday dinners, Mass, Adoration, … the students do a Bible study and every year we try to raise money to send our students to a retreat, so the idea of them attending a focused retreat here was great," she added.
Almanza suggested that they have a retreat in Cedar City so all the students could participate, said Houle. The Lenten retreat will be open to every young adult in the state. "It’s just really a beautiful opportunity and I am really excited," Houle said.
"We already have young adults from Salt Lake that are going to drive down there to attend," added Almanza.
The Young Adult Lenten Retreat will be presented in English by Alejandro Barraza, the director of Hispanic Ministry for the Diocese of Las Cruces in New Mexico.
For the past 20 years Barraza has been involved in youth and young adult ministry in several parishes. He serves on the National Leadership Council and Executive Board as the cultural diversity representative and is also a resource person for the Congar Institute.
In the USCCB document "Disciples Called to Witness," a major point is that a conversion of one’s self to the community, the body of believers is needed to give witness to Christ. During the retreat, Barraza will have four sessions derived from the words within the word "Conversion," and their English and Spanish meanings.
Con – In both English and Spanish, "con" means "with." This segment will focus on being with Christ, who Christ is to each individual, how a person can know him and how they can strive to be with him.
Ver – In Spanish, "ver" means "to see." This segment will focus on the challenge Christians have to see Christ in every situation.
Si – In Spanish, "sí" means "yes." This segment will focus on saying yes to Christ.
On – This is the English meaning and will focus on how those at the retreat will carry on being disciples and giving witness.
"We all have the desire to grow in our faith, and the way to do it is to get more knowledge and to be more trusting in God, and in the retreat you are going to get both of those things," said Almanza, adding that she thinks that attending the retreat will help young adults grow in their faith.
WHO: Young adults, age 18-35a
WHAT: Young Adult Lenten Retreat
WHEN: Sunday, March 23, 1 - 8 p.m
WHERE: Christ the King Catholic Church, 690 S. Cove Drive, Cedar City
RSVP by March 16 to Samantha Almanza, Samantha.almanza@dioslc.org or 801-328-8641 ext. 313; or Diane Houle, diane@suunewmancenter.com or 435-531-9738.
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