On Wednesday October 11, the Benet Academy freshmen gathered for the annual freshman retreat. This year’s theme was Balance is the Joy of Discipline. This theme was emphasized throughout the day as speakers meditated on this idea and on Benedictine Heritage.
The day began at Benet where the freshman split up into small groups and were transported on buses to Sacred Heart Monastery. Once the entire class was in the monastery chapel, the retreat began. It opened with a prayer, and then two seniors, Kevin O’Leary and Caroline Kubacki, shared their experience with and the importance of the Benedictine value of discipline. Following these talks, the freshmen received a tour of Sacred Heart Monastery and Villa St. Benedict, allowing them to see how those who lived there went about their daily lives. They were then led off to have some fun with their small groups. The activities included ice breaker games and more serious activities that required students to examine their values and how they spend their time. The goal was to match up priorities in theory to priorities in practice. After this, the whole class went back to the chapel to listen to some more speakers, this time senior Brandon Gorz and religion teacher Mr. John O’Donnell, spoke about balance in the life of a Benet student.
Then, everyone got back on the buses for the short trip over to visit St. Procopius Abbey. The students toured the abbey allowing them to get a glimpse of monastic life now, and monastic life a thousand years ago. The day closed with a mass, the only mass with just the Class of 2021 until their final senior mass.
This retreat was a nice and interesting experience for the freshman. Ashleigh Simpson ‘21 said, “I liked how we got to see how everything in the abbey and monastery revolved around spiritual life.” The day was filled with new experiences, and it is not one that will soon be forgotten.