Retreat to launch parish’s 75th anniversary year
HASTINGS (SNR) – St. Michael Church in Hastings will host a mini-retreat to begin the 75th year as a parish in February, featuring Dan Burke, president and COO of EWTN News.
He will lead “Into the Deep… Finding Peace through Prayer,” Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in St. Michael Church, 715 Creighton Ave., Hastings. Bishop James Conley will celebrate Mass for the parish’s 75th anniversary at 8 a.m. and registration will follow at 9 a.m. Lunch will be provided.
During the mini-retreat, Burke will share his testimony and the universal call to conversion during his first talk, “The Journey to the Castle.” In the journey of prayer, Burke will describe the call and path to ever-deepening union with God. He will later present secrets of the saints revealing concrete steps to progress and success in prayer in his last talk, “The Seven Secrets of Spiritual Progress,” followed by time for questions and answers.
Burke is also president of the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation, author and editor of 15 books on Catholic Mystical Tradition, co-host of Divine Intimacy Radio and founder of SpiritualDirection.com.
The Avila Institute provides formation to priests, pre-seminarians, religious, and laity in more than 70 countries.
Father Jeremy Hazuka, pastor of St. Michael Parish, said he has listened to Burke’s radio show, Divine Intimacy, on Spirit Catholic Radio/EWTN for a number of years – it airs Sundays at 5:30 a.m. – and has even shared some of his work with others.
“I’ve often thought about inviting him to come to Nebraska to speak, and even mentioned it to our Evangelization Committee at the parish,” he said.
In mentioning his name as a possible speaker during one of our meetings, he learned that one of the members of the committee was related to Burke. He added that both Dan Burke and the parishioner are converts to the Faith too, with interesting stories.
“This offered me greater impetus to bring him to the parish,” he said. And when he discovered that one of the open dates for him to come was the anniversary date of the parish, “I was very excited.”
While there are a lot of different ways to celebrate a parish anniversary, Father Hazuka explained, “I liked the idea of celebrating with a morning of learning about what prayer is and about how to pray. I believe that most people, and many Catholics for that matter, don’t know what Christian prayer is all about. And with an increased interest in eastern religions, the New Age movement, and even the occult in our society, I believe Dan’s message about prayer is so needed for the Christian faithful.”
Father Christopher Goodwin, diocesan vicar for clergy, will lead 40 Hours Devotions at St. Michael Dec. 6-8. Along with preaching at all the weekend Masses, he will speak Friday, Dec. 6 at 5:30 p.m. and Sunday evening Dec. 8 at 4 p.m.
The “early bird” cost to attend the February event is $20 until Jan. 1, which includes a gift bag worth $50 and lunch during the event. After Jan. 1, the price is $25 or $30 at the door. Registrations may be made at .
