Seminarians' Summer Gathering

This past week, we (all of the seminarians in my diocese not on C.P.E., plus one guy doing his chaplaincy training for the Navy) had a wonderful experience of at Christ the King Spirituality Center in Greenwich, NY. It was a great opportunity to step back from the academic work of the year and really shift gears for the work of our summer assignments. One part retreat (preached by Fr. Eric from the diocese of Little Rock) and one part social gathering, the Seminarians' Summer Gathering is an annual event last about four days and three nights. Its purpose is to give all of us seminarians a chance to pray together and form some stronger social bonds that will translate into a priestly base of friendship and support after ordination and to provide a forum in which to address some important spiritual and human formation issues.

The theme of this year's gathering focused on the priest as the one who 'stands in the gap' between the mundane and the sacred. Fr. Eric's talks were centered around the necessity of the priest being able to point the way to heaven for his people and the various practical ways in which the priest must structure his life in order to be able to do this effectively. The specific topics of the conferences ranged from appropriate boundaries between pastor and parishioner to the prayer life of the priest, but all looked to emphasizing the necessity of not getting bogged down in the administrative drudgery that can sometimes clog the daily schedule of a parish priest. All in all, Fr. Eric was a good presenter and he touched on some very practical topics that I'm sure we will all find valuable throughout the rest of our formation and after ordination. Thanks, Fr. Eric!

Now, I want to say a few words the Christ the King Spirituality Center. First of all, THIS PLACE IS ENORMOUS!!! Below is a shot from one of the high points on the property with the Great Hall and Welcome Center in the background, just before the last row of trees. I would estimate that this shot only takes in about 7% of the property associated with CTK.



There is a lot I wish I could have captured with my camera, but unfortunately, I forgot that I had even brought it with me until the last two days of the gathering! Oops! Oh well, what I'm including here are some shots mostly from a walk up to a gazebo above St. Mary's Convent some of us took at dusk on our last night at CTK Spirituality Center. The vistas are absolutely gorgeous from up there, well worth the little hike up the hill from the convent. In the picture below, you can see that I'm looking just a bit to the left of the above shot so you can still see the Great Hall in the background and now also St. Mary's convent in the foreground.

The views to the East were the prettiest; one can see miles of farmland interspersed between the rows of hills.

All of our meetings took place in the library... there was a piano... Matt found it... 'nuff said.

I'll leave you with this parting shot... a group of well-rested and rejuvenated seminarians (who had all slept on some of the best beds ever to be found in a retreat center).