WANE

Retreat for Catholic Laypeople

Many Catholic laypeople are increasingly discovering the need to make a spiritual retreat for the purpose of growing in their faith and deepening their spiritual life. While such retreats are available in many countries, it may be spiritually worthwhile to consider making a spiritual retreat in Poland. Beginning in the Fall of 2016, English speaking laypeople from any country outside of Poland may take advantage of such an opportunity at the Center for Spiritual Formation of the Diocese of Elk in northeastern Poland. Located at the Wigry Peninsula in a former Camaldolese Monastery, the Center offers retreat sessions which emphasize Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, faithfulness to the Magisterium, Marian devotion, with a constant recourse to Sacred Scripture and Church Tradition. If you think you would like to take advantage of this opportunity, please consider this retreat in a place which is especially conducive to prayer and meditation, in one of the most scenic places in Poland. There are two retreat sessions to choose from*:

November 4 – November 6, 2016 (Thursday until Sunday)

December 25 – December 27, 2016 (Tuesday until Friday)

The retreat starts at 5 PM on the first day of the retreat and ends at 1 PM on the last day. The entire cost with room and board is 350 PLN. Payment can be made by Credit Card.

For enrollment and further information, please contact the Spiritual Retreat Center in Wigry at: recepcja@wigry.pro

The retreat is conducted entirely in English by Father Jacek Stefański, S.Th.D. Born in Israel in 1966, he immigrated to the United States in his youth and studied at Drexel University in Philadelphia and St. Mary’s College in Michigan before entering St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia. After he was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Camden, N.J. in 1994, he spent six years as parochial vicar and hospital chaplain in Camden. In 2000 he immigrated to Poland and was incardinated into the Diocese of Kalisz, where he was appointed parochial vicar and served in that capacity until 2004. He later spent 12 years as a Director of Spiritual Formation for seminarians at the Diocesan Seminary of Kalisz. In 2007 he obtained a doctorate in Biblical Theology from the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań and taught both Scripture and Biblical Hebrew at the Kalisz Seminary and the Theological Institute of the Diocese of Kalisz. Since July 2016, he has been a Retreat Master and a Spiritual Director at the Center of Spiritual Formation and Evangelization of the Diocese of Elk in Wigry.