Women's Lenten Retreat to be celebrated at Saint George Catholic Parish for southern area

Intermountain Catholic

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Dominican Father Wayne A. Cavalier

SAINT GEORGE – Sunday, March 25, is the day that a women’s Lenten retreat will be celebrated at St. George Parish.

The retreat is sponsored by the parish and diocesan religious education office. The retreat will be led by Dominican Father Wayne A. Cavalier, director of the Congar Institute for Ministry Development.

"We decided a couple of months ago that we needed to have a retreat; we haven’t had one in this parish in a while," said Regina Venzke, one of the event organizers who asked permission from Father Oscar Martin Picos, pastor of Saint George Catholic Parish, and helped make the arrangements through the diocese to invite Fr. Cavalier to the retreat.

The Congar Institute for Ministry Development fosters collaboration among providers of ministry formation to help make lay ecclesial ministry formation resources available to under-served dioceses, according to its website. Its main effort is the collaborative project, "Developing Lay Ecclesial Ministry for the U.S. Missions" with the Home Missions Leadership Conference.

Fr. Cavalier is an ordained Dominican friar (Southern Province). Through his work with the Congar Institute, Fr. Cavalier has developed various resources in English and Spanish to assist formation of lay ecclesial ministers and pastoral planning in various dioceses in Texas, Florida and other states as well as Utah.

Fr. Cavalier also collaborates with the University of Notre Dame to create online ministry formation resources in English and Spanish. He is an adjunct in Barry University’s D.Min. Program (Miami, Fla.); and a visiting professor at the Rice School for Ministry in the Diocese of Venice in Florida, and at the Oblate School of Theology and the Pastoral Institute at the University of the Incarnate Word, both in San Antonio, Texas.

"With his knowledge we hope people can learn more about our faith," Venzke said. "People here need some up-to-date reinforcement."

The retreat will begin with a Mass at 9 a.m. Afterward, breakfast will be served in the parish’s Kuzy Hall, followed by the retreat, which will end at 3 p.m.

"The retreat is totally free; the luncheon is going to be prepared by the women’s club and the youth group from the parish will be serving it," said Venzke.

People from different locations in southern Utah have already expressed their interest in taking advantage of the opportunity offered by the retreat.

"I have received calls from Kanab, from Cedar City, from Elko, Nev. – it’s not just for people here in St. George," Venzke said. "We are going to have people from around the southern part of Utah. I am very pleased people have heard about it. It’s branching out."

One of these people is Virginia Robinson, who is planning to attend the retreat.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about our faith as well as to celebrate this Lenten season," said Robinson.

"We all need to renew our knowledge about our religion," said Venzke.

For more information about the retreat, contact Regina Venzke, 435-627-1449, reginamary27@gmail.com; or Sandi DiAngelo, 435-656-0228.