By Andrew Elliott
Each semester Campus Ministry sponsors a student-led retreat for students to escape from campus. This retreat, known to many as the Encounter with Christ retreat, not only is a great weekend away from The Bluff, but also offers a great opportunity for spiritual reflection. One need not be Catholic to attend.
Having been a team member several times myself, I know the flow of the weekend and what typically happens quite well. While you may be curious to know exactly what happens, there are many special aspects to the weekend that I dare not delve into in this article.
Those who have not had the chance to attend the retreat may have heard their friends mention casually some of their fond memories of the weekend. They may have told you about fun times spent with new friends, going on small but awesome adventures or partaking in an activity that they might not have done since they were in high school or even grade school.
This weekend has many more avenues that make the weekend special and one that people never forget. In order to find out just what these aspects are, one must go.
As far as being able to attend the retreat goes, there are only a few tasks necessary. The main task is turning in your application. This typically happens during the first month of each semester.
Applications are available in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher on the kiosk just inside the front doors, as well as the Campus Ministry office in the Pilot House.
While the trends show that females are typically more interested in attending retreats, and since the population of UP students tends to be two-thirds without a y-chromosome, this means that competition for spots on the ladies' side of the attending list is high, so get those applications in AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
And if you do have a y-chromosome, you should highly consider finding out what this retreat is all about.
Regardless of your gender, please clear your schedule! There is a lot of hard work put into the weekend by the team.
Hopefully this short article has cleared up a few questions about what the Encounter with Christ is all about. Like I said, get those applications in early. Thanks to all those that have attended already and helped.
