The demands of being a pastor are great, especially when they arise so soon after ordination.
All too often, the responsibilities of pastoral ministry and administration can too often bring with them isolation, stress, anxiety, and a sense of being overwhelmed. While we are ministering in a culture that is increasingly secular and antagonistic, it’s hard to imagine an age more deeply in need of your priesthood.
Amid these challenges, we need to seek deep, lasting renewal in Christ, so that we can be invigorated by the Holy Spirit and docile to His promptings, so we “may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Rom. 12:2). With this in mind, we invite you to come away by yourself to a deserted place and rest a while (Mk. 6:31) from June 29-July 25, 2025, at the Alverna Center in Winona, Minnesota, to experience the Pastor Renewal Program. This experience, offered by The Saint Paul Seminary Institute for Ongoing Clergy Formation, offers a unique opportunity for priestly growth and renewal in your capacity as a pastor, as well as fraternal support, rest, healing and spiritual direction.
This four-week period offers the time and space necessary for a transformative, lasting experience and refreshing encounter with the Lord, priestly fraternity, recreation, and enhancement of your pastoral leadership and zeal. After six months, a follow-up opportunity will be provided for deeper integration of your experience.
What to expect
The first five days are time for spiritual formation with Fr. Steven Hoffman (pastor, St. Peter’s, Mendota) and preparation for an eight-day silent, directed retreat, led by Fr. Brian Fischer. Paul Ruff (director of counseling services, assistant director of human formation, The Saint Paul Seminary) will lead the third week’s seminar in human formation. During the final week, Fr. Lenny Andrie (pastor, St. Therese, Deephaven) and Deacon Dan Gannon (director, Saint Paul Seminary Institute for Ongoing Clergy Formation) will facilitate application of retreat insights to pastoral ministry and leadership.
This experience will be available to a total of 12 pastors. The cost is $3,000. We suggest you draw from any available ongoing formation funding in your parish budget. Space is quite limited and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis. You will need to find weekend coverage required for your three weekends away. For priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Archdiocese and Deacon Gannon will do what we can to support you if you encounter difficulty in finding coverage. Those from other dioceses might consider working with your chancery to help find coverage for the three weekends away.
[Read testimonials from last year’s retreat.]
The schedule
June 29: Arrival, social and dinner
June 30-July 4: Spiritual formation — Focus on prayer as relationship, a heart-to-heart union with the Holy Trinity; Concrete aids for daily prayer and the discernment of spirits to equip you for the silent directed retreat that follows.
July 5-11: Ignatian retreat — The retreat will meet each priest wherever God is stirring in his heart. The goal is to encounter the Lord’s love in a new way forward, living your priestly vocation with fidelity and joy.
July 12-13: Personal time – recreation and rest; fraternity.
July 14-18: Human formation – Mediating Christ through our humanity. The role of pastor invites the priest to a deeper understanding of his strengths and gifts and healing of his wounds. We will focus on deepening in self-knowledge and capacity for self-care, fatherly sacrificial gift in ministry, and fraternal charity.
July 19-20: Personal time – recreation and rest; fraternity.
July 21-25: Pastoral ministry and leadership – Pastoral application of spiritual and human formation, and Christocentric leadership. How does communion with Christ inform ministry? Discernment and recognizing charisms in your parishioners.
Daily Schedule
- 8 a.m. Morning Prayer, Chapel
- 8:15 a.m. Breakfast
- 9 a.m. Session I
- 10 a.m. Break
- 10:15 a.m. Session II
- 11:15 a.m. Mass in Chapel of St. Mary of the Angels followed by lunch in refectory
- 1 p.m. Recreation; spiritual direction available
- 4:30 p.m. Holy Hour, Chapel
- 5:30 p.m. Evening Prayer, Chapel
- 6 p.m. Dinner
- 7 p.m. Free time | Social time Tuesday and Thursday
- 9 p.m. Night Prayer (optional), Chapel
Register
To make an accessibility request, call Disability Resources at (651) 962-6315.