Jesuits have offered silent retreats with spiritual exercises for men at the Demontreville Retreat House east of St. Paul for 75 years. And Jesuit Father Tom Lawler, its director, said he hears regularly from participants’ wives, with some insisting that their husbands participate every year.
After attending, “they’re more kind, more gentle; they’re better engaged with the family,” Father Lawler said. “It really is a renewal time for the men.”
Father Lawler described the Jesuits’ silent retreats during a recent interview with “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley.
One retreatant started visiting Demontreville at age 80, when he first heard about the retreats, and it has made “such an impact on his life,” Father Lawler said. “He began to look back at his life and realized how much he had missed by not practicing his faith and inviting Jesus into his life on a daily basis. And (the retreats) turned his life into a real positive direction.”
The man regularly attended for the last 10 years and “now he feels ready to meet the Lord when God calls him at the end of his life,” Father Lawler said.
Participants do not have conversations with each other during the weekend but are led through three days of quiet prayer and reflection by a Jesuit priest or brother “who speaks to them in conference style four or five times a day,” Father Lawler said. Days include meetings for the leading of the retreat, prayer services, Eucharist, rosary and Benediction. The men also have time on their own to read Scripture, follow spiritual exercises, reflect, write in a journal, take a walk or rest, he said.
“A good candidate” for a silent retreat at Demontreville is “any man who is seeking to grow in their faith, … a better relationship with the Lord or … to improve their own social life or family life or work life through their Christian commitment,” Father Lawler said. “So, it’s a person who really wants to make some progress in their spiritual life, who is willing and open to listen to the movements of the spirit, someone who sees their spiritual life as a high priority, and wants to make improvements.”
No need to be a saint beforehand, he said. Only a desire to grow and deepen one’s faith.
So where can women participate in an Ignatian retreat? For details, and the full interview, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which debuts at 9 p.m. March 10 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM and repeats at 1 p.m. March 11 and 2 p.m. March 12.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes an interview with Father Tim Tran, parochial vicar at St. Stephen in Anoka and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ “point person” for the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress, who provides an update on what to expect from the gathering Indianapolis; and a reprised interview with Father Joseph Johnson of Holy Family in St. Louis Park, who offers insight on ways to recognize and combat spiritual warfare during Lent.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.
