Retreats

Charis retreats are rooted in Catholic doctrine and Ignatian Spirituality. They have been designed and refined to engage young adults in a very important time of their life. Retreats include talks from a team of peer leaders, time for silence and reflection, small group conversations, prayer, ritual, and sacrament. Charis currently offers eight retreat themes. Explore our retreat themes below

Retreat Themes

"The tools of faith and discernment offered at each Charis retreat allowed me to walk intentionally through job searches and transitions, career changes, relationship ebbs and flows and the discovery of who I am as a person of faith, purpose and passion."
Briana, Chicago

Designed to meet the needs of a variety of audiences, Charis retreats can be easily adapted to reach young adults where they are.  Each retreat manual contains options for one day, overnight, or weekend formats, and Charis partners continue to find innovative ways to offer meaningful retreat experiences

Spirit@Work

​St. Ignatius of Loyola developed a model for discernment that has been followed for 500 years. Retreatants leave this retreat with practical tools for how to make decisions and, in doing so, respond to God’s invitation in their individual lives.

What Next? Finding Answers with Faith

Job changes, beginning or ending relationships, finishing school, moving.  In their 20s and 30s, adults experience seemingly constant transitions.  The What Next? Retreat offers participants the opportunity to process these transitions through the lens of faith. Looking at their lives through both a spiritual and psychological lens, they leave with the tools to move through these times of uncertainty.

Christ Alive in Our Marriage/Cristo vive en nuestro matrimonio

Designed specifically for couples in the first several years of marriage, this retreat offers spouses to reflect on how God is present in one another and in their journey together.  In connecting with one another and with other couples, retreatants are strengthened in their commitment to their spouses and to living out their faith. This retreat is also available in Spanish.

The Seekers' Retreat/Buscadores

The Seekers’ invites retreatants at all stages of a faith journey to take a look at their lives and see where God has been at work in their pasts, is working in the present, and is inviting them in the future.  Based on the First Principle and Foundation of St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises, this retreat introduces participants to the Ignatian Examen as a method of prayer for noticing God’s daily presence and helping them to make decisions.  This retreat is also available in Spanish (Buscadores).

Who Do You Say I Am? The Jesus Retreat

Friend, mentor, teacher, servant leader.  No matter how retreatants describe Jesus, this retreat offers an opportunity to reflect on the role Jesus plays in their everyday lives.  Throughout the retreat, they can deepen an existing relationship with Christ, or connect with him in a new way.

Choosing to be Catholic

Whether one was baptised as an infant or recently went through RCIA, each person must make a choice as an adult of whether to be, or remain, Catholic.  The Choosing to be Catholic Retreat invites participants to reflect on the role of community and sacrament in their faith, as they connect with others who share their Catholic faith.

For the Least

​For young adults who have lived experiences of service, this retreat provides space for reflection on the personal ways each of us has encountered social injustices and the invitation the Gospels provide for each of us to serve the least of our brothers and sisters. Using the lens of Catholic Social Teaching, young adults will hear peer talks, engage in small group discussion and participate in prayer experiences that will help them connect to St. Ignatius’ idea of being a Contemplative in Action.

Catholic School Teachers' Retreat

​Teachers in Catholic schools are in the unique position of sharing both their knowledge and their Catholic faith.  In reflecting on the model of Jesus as teacher, this retreat connects them to their peers while offering the space to deepen their own faith.