Vocations, discipleship are themes of half-day retreat

Creating fertile ground for vocations will be a major theme of a Feb. 24 Lenten morning retreat at Christ the King Parish in Omaha.

 

And realizing the connection between nurturing vocations and living the ways of Christian discipleship, including encountering Jesus, learning about the church and sharing personal faith stories, will be a major focus of the half-day gathering, said Father Jeffrey Lorig, director of pastoral services.

 

Vocations are the fruit of discipleship, Father Lorig said.

 

“Everyone needs to be engaged in it,” he said. “A big part of it is divine intimacy” with Jesus, he said, which comes through prayer, Scripture and the sacraments, and sharing that experience with others.

 

Archbishop George J. Lucas will preside at the retreat’s 8:15 a.m. welcoming Mass and Father Lorig will lead the retreat, which will include a continental breakfast, presentations, prayer time and 12:45 p.m. closing. 

 

Sponsored by the Serra Club of Omaha, which seeks to foster vocations to the priesthood and religious life, but also seeks holiness in the lives of each person, the retreat will be a stand-alone experience for many. But it will be a culmination of several mini-retreats for the Serra Club that began in September and included speakers such as Jen Moser, coordinator of leadership formation in the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis; Father Damien Cook, pastor of Christ the King; and Father Richard Gabuzda, executive director of the Omaha-based Institute for Priestly Formation.

 

The Serran mini-retreats grew out of a presentation at a vocations summit last spring by Moser that stressed the need for each person to be a disciple of Christ, with a knowledge of Scripture, a fruitful prayer life, and love of the sacraments and the faith, said Patrick Fahey, president-elect and vice president of programs for the Serra Club of Omaha.

 

The club’s president, Jay Dunlap of St. Leo the Great Parish in Omaha, suggested the retreats, Fahey said, and Fahey helped organize them.

 

“What struck me is that it was a self-assessment checklist,” Fahey said. “If we and our membership don’t have these attributes, we’ll just be a clanging gong."

 

WANT TO GO?

 

WHAT: Lenten Morning of Retreat

 

WHEN: 8:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., Feb. 24

 

WHERE: Christ the King Parish, Omaha

 

COST: Freewill donation

 

REGISTER: Patrick Fahey, 402-290-1628 or pfahey@vocationinspiration.org