UPCOMING RETREATS & EVENTS: Save the Dates!
- BEATITUDES (3-NIGHT) RETREAT WEEKEND, a retreat on the practical dimensions of the Beatitudes for today. Thursday morning through Sunday mid-afternoon, October 6-9, 2022. Would you like to deepen your sense of God's unconditional love for you, be more accepting of your own feelings, tap into your inner strengths, recognize oppression and deal with injustice, accept your own human limitations, unclutter your heart, make your contribution to world peace, or persevere in walking in Jesus' footsteps? Then this retreat is vital ... for you! Space is limited and advance reservations are required by Sept. 22nd. Overnights and commuter rates are available. Questions and/or for a registration flier? Please call Center of Renewal at 716-754-7376, Ext. 1 for more information.
RETREAT-WORKSHOP FACILITATOR: Sr. Marcella Kiesel, OSF has been a Franciscan Sister of Penance and Christian Charity for 68 years. Her ministries include registered nursing, college teaching, rural and urban work directly with the poor, teaching English to immigrants and directing retreats throughout the United States, Canada, and in Tanzania, East Africa. Sister Marcella presently resides in a hermitage on campus, and she is available for Spiritual Direction throughout the year via the Center of Renewal.
CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER GROUP meets the 1st Tuesday evening of each month. Advance reservations are not needed for this ongoing event, but current COVID protocols will be maintained by all participants. Questions? Please call Center of Renewal at 716-754-7376, Ext. 1 or 2.
More retreats are regularly being scheduled. Watch for details.
Ongoing Program Schedule
In addition to providing hospitality to both groups and individuals seeking quality meeting and overnight accommodation facilities in an environment of peace and tranquility, Stella Niagara's Center of Renewal designs and offers its own sponsored retreats and programs with featured retreat presenters for spiritual growth and lifelong learning.
Examples of the ongoing schedule of sponsored retreats and programs include partial or full single retreat days on a special topics. Retreats in recent years have been scheduled to commemorate special church days such as Ash Wednesday and the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, Papal Encyclical topics and themes, wellness and spirituality, peace and justice, and Biblical topics.
Weekly or monthly retreat programs have included a women’s spiritual reading group, a six-week study group on “Laudato Si: On Care of Our Common Home” Encyclical by Pope Francis, and the Guided & Meditation Prayer Group currently meeting on the first Tuesday evening of each month. Overnight retreats have typically been scheduled from one to six nights in length, affording the retreatants to focus more intently on a specific themes during the entire retreat. Retreat presenters are garnered from among visiting scholars, theologians, priests, sisters, and brothers, all knowledgeable specialists in their respective fields and ministries. Current retreat themes have included embracing change, benefits of the 12-step program for everyone, thoughts and behaviors, fruits of the Spirit and Pauline mysticism, and understanding self and others through Biblical comparisons. Annual Directed Retreat weeks are also scheduled each August, along with individualized Directed Retreats on request throughout the year.
One key example of specialized group programs throughout the year which consider Center of Renewal their “retreat center of choice” include the Women’s Respite Program under the direction of its founder Sr. Diane Gianadda, OSF. For many years, this meaningful program has benefitted single moms and grandmothers of low income, mothers of autistic children, and women with cancer, with each event serving 20 to 30 women. Center of Renewal is proud to serve as the retreat ministry location for these meaningful outreach programs.
