(Yes, I know I’m on vacation…. but it is Sunday, so it must be vocation: “Year for Priests!”)

In week eleven of our celebration of the Year for Priests, Alex discusses how Father Marty Nocchi of the Msgr. O’Dwyer Youth Retreat House makes himself available to young people.

Forty-five years ago, Msgr. Clare J. O’Dwyer  established a Youth Retreat House intending to offer “a Spiritual Powerhouse” providing a retreat  ministry for catholic adolescents.  The Msgr. Clare O’Dwyer Retreat House has provided programs for the personal and spiritual development of youth in the parishes and Catholic high schools of the Archdiocese.  The aim of the retreat house is to enable youth to grow in faith and in their relationship with God.  A variety of retreat opportunities are offered: weekend retreats, weekday retreats, Confirmation retreats and Days of Reflection.

It is exactly opportunities such as retreats that many young people claim as the instant where they heard God whispering the direction for their lives.  This week, we pray for all the young people that experience retreats throughout this academic year, that they might have moments of discernment for their lives.