Southern Nebraska Register
More than 200 people gathered at Wilderness Ridge Country Club in Lincoln Sept. 13 to celebrate Our Lady of Good Counsel Retreat House at its second annual dinner celebration, “The Magnificat.”
The Magnificat celebration dinner, which included a social hour featuring the live music of local praise and worship band Simple Faith, highlighted the success of the retreat house near Waverly over the past year. Achievements included serving more than 2,500 adults on retreat and more than 560 school-aged children on weekday retreats. The retreat house has hosted people from 48 different states and eight different countries.
The evening emphasized the importance of teaching youth how to “retreat” as part of their spiritual formation, with the hope that the habit will continue into adulthood. The event acknowledged the benefits retreats have in all phases of life, especially spiritually directed retreats like the Ignatian retreats.
The event raised more than $70,000 for the retreat house. The funds will directly support the ministries of the retreat house, including 25 weekend retreats offered each year, 14 Engaged Encounter weekends, youth retreats for school classrooms across the diocese, and new, one-day retreats during the week called “Desert Days,” making retreats more accessible to all.
Andy Arbie, a certified life coach and host of the “Own Your Revival” podcast, served as the emcee for the evening. Arbie also shared her own testimony on the power of sitting in silence with the Lord, recounting how a powerful experience on retreat at Our Lady of Good Counsel brought her interior peace during a difficult time in her life.
A featured speaker was Scott Sullivan, campus minister at Pius X High School in Lincoln, who has assisted the retreat house in developing its school retreat program. He shared his testimony on the importance of youth formation and its impact on young lives.
The keynote speaker was Father Gary Coulter, director of Our Lady of Good Counsel Retreat House. Father Coulter recently attended a 30-Day Ignatian retreat as a retreatant. He shared the graces he received from the quiet time with the Lord and encouraged others to experience a four- or eight-day Ignatian retreat.
“I want to say thank you to all who have sacrificed for 60 years to make retreats a reality there,” Father Coulter said, “all of the directors, all of the retreat masters, all of the retreatants. Thank you to those who come and pray and experience a retreat there. When you do that, you help make it possible for so many others to have that same experience. In reflecting on my 30-day retreat, I also need to thank God. God was amazing.”
A youth choir from North American Martyrs School in Lincoln, directed by Stacy Pfeifer, who sang Matt Maher’s “Lord, I Need You.” North American Martyrs sent second-, fifth-, and eighth-graders on retreat last year, and the choir featured some of the students who experienced graces from the retreats.
The event had many corporate and individual sponsors, and attendees included a wide range of people, from those who go on several retreats a year, to those who were simply interested in learning more. The retreat house aims to grow the event each year, hoping it will serve to inform and inspire all to “come away for a while and rest” at the retreat house, experiencing the silence and stillness that is much needed in the ever-changing and busy world.
Bishop James Conley closed the evening with remarks and a blessing. Reflecting on the new youth retreats being offered at the retreat house, he said young people “need to have these encounters on retreat with each other, face to face, and with nature.”
“They need to experience silence and being unplugged from this very busy and chaotic world in which we live,” he said. “On retreat, they get to discover this freedom and this experience, encountering God in prayer first of all, and each other in friendship. The retreat house is more important than ever, and is poised as an oasis for young people and adults alike.”
To learn about upcoming retreats, how to volunteer or how to support the retreat house, visit www.goodcounselretreat.org.
SNR photos | Natalie Bender. Click for more.
