Women's retreat to focus on spirituality

OGDEN — A chance for women to think about their faith and how to incorporate it into their everyday lives will be offered during the Seasons of Faith retreat presented by the Northern Deanery.

"This will be a day where we can talk about our faith, think about it, look at how we react to our faith, and talk about the Holy Spirit," said Maria Lobato, the Saint Mary parishioner who is coordinating the event. "I don’t think there’s enough spirituality out there for women in the Catholic faith. I think so often we go to so many things, we listen, we hear information and we’re appreciative of what we hear, but I don’t think that we are filled with our inner spirit and we get that fulfillment that we need."

The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, is scheduled to give the opening prayer. Father Carl Schlichte, pastor of Saint Catherine of Siena/Newman Center, will lead the panel of speakers.

Many adult Catholics need to reconsider how they think about God and their faith, "because there’s a lot of older Catholics who, the last time they seriously thought about this, was when they were a teenager or a child," Fr. Carl said. "They need to start treating God as more than a divine vending machine: They put in two Our Fathers and a Hail Mary … and they say, ‘How dare you not give it to me? I did my thing, why didn’t you do yours?’"

In addition to discussing whether those at the retreat have the tools to deal with the questions they have at this point, Fr. Carl also will address the issue of functional atheism.

"We say we believe, but we don’t always act like it," he said. "We need to realize that we do it and then learn how to address it."

Among the other speakers is Jean Hill, Diocese of Salt Lake City government liaison and director of the Peace and Justice Commission. She will speak twice; once about how to put faith in practice during daily life, and again on faithful citizenship.

"Catholicism isn’t just for Sunday; it’s every day, and it’s in everything we do," Hill said. "To really grow your faith, you’ve got to be living it. It’s making conscious decisions from the small things, like which apple to buy, to the big things, like who you are voting for."

The other speakers are Monica Howa-Johnson, music ministry coordinator at Saint Catherine of Siena/Newman Center and middle school religion teacher at Saint Vincent de Paul School; Thomas Devereaux, a Saint Mary parishioner who teaches religious education and is a member of the Parish Advisory Committee; and Carol G. Ruddell, a Saint Thomas More parishioner and chairperson for the Diocese of Salt Lake City Commission for People with Disabilities. All three are in the diocesan Lay Ecclesial Ministry formation program and each will address an aspect of faith.