2025 Retreats at the Archabbey

Five Archabbey retreats are being offered on campus in 2025. The dates, times and retreat masters are established and are listed below. Online registration is coming soon. Persons wishing to pay in person may send a check in the appropriate amount and a note listing which retreat he or she wishes to register for to Archabbey Retreat Office, 300 Fraser Purchase Rd., Latrobe, PA 15650.

WEEKEND RETREAT
June 6-8, 2025

Gardening like a Benedictine: The role of the garden in Scripture, The Rule, and in the “domestic church”
Dr. Lucas Briola

Retreat Description:

The Benedictine monk was once described as “the first intellectual to get dirt under his fingernails.” In a culture that has lost touch with the natural world, the Benedictine commitment to God’s creation can teach us much and offer needed healing. Alongside meditations upon Scripture and the Rule of Benedict, guided immersion in the beautiful gardens of Saint Vincent will invite retreatants to contemplate the beauty of God’s love in Christ. As they do so, retreatants may even get dirt under their fingernails!

Retreat Master:

Lucas Briola, Ph.D., teaches as an assistant professor of theology at Saint Vincent College. There, he teaches classes in systematic theology and environmental ethics. A native of Pittsburgh, he is an alumnus of Saint Vincent College. In 2023, he published The Eucharistic Vision of Laudato Si’: Praise, Conversion, and Integral Ecology (The Catholic University of America Press). Currently, he is writing a book tentatively entitled Ora et Labora in Our Common Home: A Benedictine Invitation to Care for Creation (under contract with Liturgical Press). He regularly gives popular presentations at parishes and dioceses. His wife, Catherine, also teaches theology at Saint Vincent; they have one son.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

Time: Friday, 5:30 p.m. to Sunday, 1 p.m.

Fee: $210 per person.

Check-In: 3 to 5:30 p.m. Leander Hall.

Other Information: To help make your retreat prayerful, we suggest that you bring a Bible. The retreat office has copies of the New American Bible. The Basilica Gift Shop, located on the first floor of the Parish Center adjoining the Basilica, stocks spiritual books and other religious items. Rooms are air conditioned or equipped with a ceiling fan. Linens and towels are provided. Recreational opportunities include the Saint Vincent Fitness Trail and the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve.

WEEKEND RETREAT:
June 27-29, 2025

Traditions and Modernity in Christian Sacred Choral Music
Father Stephen Concordia, O.S.B.

Retreat Description:

During this retreat, conferences will familiarize listeners with some “modern” pieces by composers such as Benjamin Britten, Arvo Part, Eriks Esenvalds. The retreat will also discuss how musicians are re-discovering various pieces from the ancient traditions including Gregorian Chant and those written by various composers, including Bach and Handel. Retreatants will also have time to listen to selections, followed by periods of silence to allow time for prayerful reflection.

Retreat Master: Father Stephen Concordia, O.S.B., is an expert in Gregorian chant, having received the licentiate and magistero/diploma in organ and the same degrees in Gregorian chant from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome. At Saint Vincent he has served as director of the Camerata since 2008, and at various times director of the College choir, assistant professor of music, and as a visiting professor and coordinator of sacred music at Franciscan University of Steubenville. His present focus is on translations of books about chant in order to make them more widely available to an English-speaking audience.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

Time: Friday, 5:30 p.m. to Sunday, 1 p.m.

Fee: $210 per person.

Check-In: 3 to 5:30 p.m. Leander Hall.

Other Information: To help make your retreat prayerful, we suggest that you bring a Bible. The retreat office has copies of the New American Bible. The Basilica Gift Shop, located on the first floor of the Parish Center adjoining the Basilica, stocks spiritual books and other religious items. Rooms are air conditioned or equipped with a ceiling fan. Linens and towels are provided. Recreational opportunities include the Saint Vincent Fitness Trail and the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve.

WEEKEND RETREAT
July 18-20, 2025

Benedictine Spirituality
Saint Benedict’s Insights On Our Call To Holiness

Father Thomas More Sikora, O.S.B. 

Retreat Description:

Saint Benedict’s Rule provides us rich insights for our call to live holy lives in our ordinary settings.  The balance of life that Saint Benedict provides through his Rule opens us up to God’s presence and love through our conversion, obedience and stability.  This retreat will provide an opportunity to reflect on several topics in Saint Benedict’s Rule that apply to all of our daily lives.

Retreat Master:

Father Thomas More Sikora, O.S.B., has served as a pastor, professor, vocation director, novice master, and director of formation, among many and varied roles at Saint Vincent Archabbey, Seminary and College through the years. A native of Avonmore, Pennsylvania, and a monk for more than 30 years, his pastoral assignments were most recently in the dioceses of Pittsburgh and Erie, as well as Greensburg. He is also a monastic artisan, working in bookbinding, weaving, and calligraphy, among many endeavors. 

Time: Friday, 5:30 p.m. to Sunday, 1 p.m.

Fee: $210 per person. 

Check-In: 3 to 5:30 p.m. Leander Hall.

Other Information: To help make your retreat prayerful, we suggest that you bring a Bible. The retreat office has copies of the New American Bible. The Basilica Gift Shop, located on the first floor of the Parish Center adjoining the Basilica, stocks spiritual books and other religious items. Rooms are air conditioned or equipped with a ceiling fan. Linens and towels are provided. Recreational opportunities include the Saint Vincent Fitness Trail and the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve.

WEEKEND RETREAT July 25-27, 2025

Women’s Retreat Women, Beloved of God Dr. Helene Paharik

Retreat Description:

In this retreat, by reflecting on scripture and Catholic tradition, women will become more aware of God’s profound, passionate love that invites them to participate in His life as His Beloved. Every woman, in every vocation, in her own particular way, can participate in Divine life and love in personae Maria. In this retreat, the Blessed Mother will provide an example of how to experience God’s love and bear it to the world. Whether you have a close devotion to Mary or not, this retreat is for all women to ponder God’s word to them: “You are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you.” (Isaiah 43:4).

Retreat Master:

Dr. Helene Paharik is an Associate Professor of Theology at Saint Vincent Seminary. The focus of her teaching and research includes Catholic missiology and ecclesiology, Johannine literature, sacred friendship, marriage and the family, Mariology, grace and anthropology, as well as Catholic spirituality. Serving in leadership positions at the parish and diocesan levels, she has written dozens of articles for diocesan newspapers on pastoral ministry, spirituality and Catholic family life. She serves as a consultant to dioceses and parishes seeking to foster missionary discipleship. Dr. Paharik and her husband James are Benedictine Oblates and members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. They are the parents of four adult children and have three grandchildren. They are members of Holy Trinity Parish in Ligonier, where she serves as a Lector.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION: 

Time: Friday, 5:30 p.m. to Sunday, 1 p.m.

Fee: $210 per person.

Check-In: 3 to 5:30 p.m. Leander Hall.

Other Information: To help make your retreat prayerful, we suggest that you bring a Bible. The retreat office has copies of the New American Bible. The Basilica Gift Shop, located on the first floor of the Parish Center adjoining the Basilica, stocks spiritual books and other religious items. Rooms are air conditioned or equipped with a ceiling fan. Linens and towels are provided. Recreational opportunities include the Saint Vincent Fitness Trail and the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve.

WEEKEND RETREAT
August 1-3, 2025

Men’s Retreat
Hope Does Not Disappoint

Father Isaac Haywiser

Retreat Description:

In his Bull of Indiction, SPES NON CONFUNDIT, which is translated as “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5), Pope Francis calls us to be anchored in hope. As men we are called in a particular way to be anchors of hope in our families, communities and workplaces. Yet we struggle to do so in the face of the challenges of the present time and the particular challenges known to each of us. How can we be anchors of hope in the face of Fatherlessness; how can we be anchors of hope in the face of turmoil, wars, national crises, the upcoming election, etc.? How can we be anchors of hope in the face of the particular challenges we face in our families, workplaces and local communities – especially the Church in the local place? Come to Saint Vincent Archabbey for a retreat which will explore these questions and more as we seek to be men grounded in Jesus Christ, who is the rock of our salvation and explore the ways in which He brings us the hope we need to have and to share with those around us.

Retreat Master:

Father Isaac Haywiser, O.S.B., is a native of Bethel Park, a Pittsburgh suburb and alumnus of Saint Vincent College, Saint Vincent Seminary, Drexel University and Villanova University. A Benedictine monk for 15 years, he has held a variety of roles at Saint Vincent, presently serving as a lecturer in the College’s business school, assistant health benefits manager for the Archabbey, and Director of Strategic Initiatives for Formation and a Human Formation Advisor for Saint Vincent Seminary. He also has experience in pastoral work, campus ministry, and he has given numerous retreats and talks on a variety of topics.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION: 

Time: Friday, 5:30 p.m. to Sunday, 1 p.m.

Fee: $210 per person.

Check-In: 3 to 5:30 p.m. Leander Hall.

Other Information: To help make your retreat prayerful, we suggest that you bring a Bible. The retreat office has copies of the New American Bible. The Basilica Gift Shop, located on the first floor of the Parish Center adjoining the Basilica, stocks spiritual books and other religious items. Rooms are air conditioned or equipped with a ceiling fan. Linens and towels are provided. Recreational opportunities include the Saint Vincent Fitness Trail and the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve.

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