By Jay Sorgi
for the Register
Our Lady of Good Counsel Retreat House has long invited adults to follow the words of Jesus in St. Mark’s Gospel to “come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
The 80-acre, 63-year-old retreat center in Waverly, near the northeastern edge of Lincoln, is expanding that mission to better serve youth of the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln. It recently brought on new youth retreat director Thomas Haberman to aid in that calling.
“Youth retreats can really be super-strong memories for them, and can be an anchor in the faith for them as they continue to grow older,” Haberman said.
“It’s definitely a point where it can really build that foundation stone of [how] God loves the individual, loves the one student present in front of him. From that can flow this fountain of joy, peace and communion with others.”
Haberman is developing greater retreat experiences for parishes and schools, but he is also helping foster retreats directly for young people and their families, all within what Father Gary Coulter says is the mission of the retreat house for which he serves as director.
“We’ve been developing this vision that basically [says] Our Lady of Good Counsel Retreat House is your spiritual home away from home,” Father Coulter said.
“How do we [reach] every state in life? That obviously starts when they’re younger, so that their first time here isn’t when they’re getting married or later on in life.”
Father Coulter emphasized how important it is that in an era where young and older people alike seem like they live attached to the constant overflow of information and messaging on their mobile devices and other screens, they carve out the time for the important necessity to quiet the mind and heart to hear God’s whispers in their life.
“What we’re trying to create is an experience, where we have this time and place where people can experience God and come to realize that He does want a personal relationship with us, and He is real, He does listen, and He does speak,” Father Coulter said.
“So often, just in general and not just for youth, their lives are so noisy, so busy, so stressed that we don’t take that time and place to stop and encounter. [We’re] trying to create that experience on our retreats.”
The retreat house’s options for schools and parishes offer both spaces for retreats which the school and parish create and run themselves, or the retreat house creates the program itself tailored to the kids’ needs, which often connect to sacramental development.
“We’re finding a lot of the schools, they bring their kids for second grade, first Communion or confession retreats, fifth grade for Confirmation retreats, eighth grade for graduation, and some of those kinds of important touchstone moments in life,” Father Coulter said.
Haberman said those students get to experience retreats which merge the faithful and the fun, the energetic and the evangelizing in spaces where they get to know themselves, each other and most importantly their Savior in much deeper, more personal ways than they had ever encountered.
“We play lots of games, have different challenges such as Minute to Win It or Ball Tag,” Haberman said about what students can enjoy on the 80 acres of the retreat house grounds.
“They also have talks given by a religious, a priest, or could be [someone] who has experience in the faith. They may speak with the students for 20 minutes or so and just share something from their own personal testimony or teach them something about the faith.”
But Haberman said the retreats lead students on a meeting with the everlasting, through Eucharistic adoration and confession.
“Time in front of the Eucharist [is] one of my favorite parts of the retreat, where I get to see all the kids sit in front of our Lord exposed and [they] can journal, can write, can reflect on the day and just encounter Him.”
Our Lady of Good Counsel Retreat House has also hosted a summer retreat for families called Come to Nazareth, something which it hopes to expand in the future.
“Parents could also be youthful on that retreat as well, when they were playing foot golf outside and joining in activities with their kids,” Haberman said.
But either way, Haberman said the joy of encountering God more personally in time away from home can bring overflowing evidence of that love to their families and friends in the everyday.
“Kids can receive so much on retreat. Maybe they go home and tell their parents and family the cool graces they received, or cool stories from retreats,” he said.
“It’s so powerful for the kids to have that experience with one another, and to have that experience with God.
For information on youth retreats at Our Lady of Good Counsel Retreat House, visit goodcounselretreat.org.
