Paulist Come & See Discernment Retreat
Is the Holy Spirit guiding you to explore religious life? Perhaps you are being called to serve as a multimedia missionary to North America with the Paulist Fathers!
Our Come & See Discernment Retreat is an opportunity to spend a weekend in prayer and fellowship with the Paulist Fathers formation team and seminarians, as well as other discerners. You will meet several Paulists as you learn more about our history, mission, and different ministries. You will also learn about the life of our founder Servant of God Fr. Isaac Hecker, a Catholic convert who was inspired by the Holy Spirit to establish the first religious order of men in the United States in 1858.
Participants can expect to travel to Washington, D.C. on Thursday, since our weekend begins Friday with morning prayer. Topics of discussion throughout the weekend include:
What brought you here?
Hopes and expectations
Paulist priesthood and community life
Influential Paulists
Paulist seminary life
You will also have free time to explore Catholic sites around the neighborhood, including the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Saint John Paul II National Shrine.
Afternoons include Mass, dinner, possible tours of Washington, D.C., monuments, and a fun outing with Paulist seminarians and novices only.
Our weekend concludes Sunday with a closing prayer service and lunch. Participants can expect to depart on Sunday afternoon.
Paulist novices answer questions about their Come & See experiences
1. How did the Paulist Come & See Retreat encourage your discernment journey?
It allowed me to meet the Paulist seminarians and have all of my questions answered. I also go to meet several Paulist priests that gave me more information about life in Hecker House and Paulist formation and spirituality.
2. What was the biggest takeaway from your retreat experience?
The biggest takeaway was meeting the other seminarians. However, I definitely enjoyed learning about Paulist history and what it means to be a Paulist Father.
3. What did you learn about the Paulist mission & charism during your retreat experience?
I learned that the Paulist mission is all about evangelization, especially to people who are outside of the Catholic Church and on the margins, including women, the LGBTQ+ community and people of color.
1. How did the Paulist Come & See Retreat encourage your discernment journey?
Meeting and getting to know the students, seminarians, and priests at Hecker House gave me the opportunity to ask questions and to see a glimpse of what my novitiate life would be like in Washington, D.C. It allowed me to prepare mentally and familiarize myself with the surroundings. It was overall a great introduction to the Paulist community and Washington D.C., which helped me plan for my future move into Hecker House.
2. What was the biggest takeaway from your retreat experience?
It made me feel I was taking my first steps towards priesthood (the journey had begun). I really appreciated the honesty and transparency of the community in general. It was also a great window into how the community operates.
3. What did you learn about the Paulist mission & charism during your retreat experience?
They were trying to live the mission by being welcoming, friendly and very hospitable. I also learned about the different ministries like evangelization from Fr. Frank and radio/TV (Busted Halo) from Fr. Dave, and the history of other influential Paulists who are/were trying to continue the mission of reaching out to the marginalized in society and talking/addressing current issues in the country/world. This includes inclusivity, outreach, and a sense of understanding of the world and other religions (in terms of respect for one another and working together towards unity and peace).
1. How did the Paulist Come & See Retreat encourage your discernment journey?
I enjoyed a glimpse of what community life and mission looked like with the Paulist Fathers, where I shared good conversations with the priests over meals, attended a theology class at Catholic University of America with some of the students, and visited the major D.C. landmarks with the other discerners. The weekend also offered a period of free time to spend quality time with others and in prayer at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
2. What was the biggest takeaway from your retreat experience?
This retreat helped me see the joy of discerning a possible vocation to the priesthood and religious life for my own life and experience first-hand if I would be a good fit for the community. The only way to know whether this life is for me or not was to take the next big step in discernment, which was talking to the vocation director about the application process to enter the novitiate.
3. What did you learn about the Paulist mission & charism during your retreat experience?
I learned more about the diverse 160+ year history of Paulist mission and charism, which complimented my previous experience with the Paulists serving as a FOCUS missionary at the University Catholic Center at UCLA. In addition to being a missionary priest to America across the major cities in the country in a number of parishes and campus ministries, a Paulist vocation also opens opportunities to encounter lapsed Catholics, share the truths of the Catholic faith to Christians from other denominations, and be Christ to individuals who do not know God in their lives.
To register:
Please contact Fr. Ed Nowak, our vocation director, at vocations@paulist.org.