ACTS retreat comments

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There is a chapter in Jennifer Fulwiler’s “One Beautiful Dream: the rollicking tale of family chaos, personal passions, and saying yes to them both” in which she describes her less than ideal experience at what she calls an “Extrovert Retreat.” It sounded a lot like what you are describing. A lot of us aren’t extroverts, hence our congregating in this controlled internet environment. Conferences with agendas or retreats with some silence or alone time might suit this crowd better.
 
I think the secrecy and accepting to be blind-folded for a surprise is supposed to “activate” your emotional instincts or something like that. Some people love chasing signs but others just can’t cope with the duties of real life AND be involved in the instinctive spiritual life that may be distractive.
Since they are quite successful probably they work for most people. I imagine they are a stress relief because for 3 days you worry about your lost privacy and your busy schedule at the retreat and you forget all your daily worries which are what is really eating you up. So your brain gets 3 days in which you forget about how those rates don’t add in a good way or other things that are eating you up.
I am too emotional myself to imagine wanting a retreat even if the surprise was a real-life vision of Jesus happening at the retreat. My inner world needs order not growth lol.
I don’t believe actual emotional manipulation happens without your own consent, and since there is a consent from you then it is not sheer manipulation but more like you making an emotional decision to accept something new. Free will is much stronger than any type of manipulation imho, even if we try to self-delude ourselves, the freedom of will will prevail even over our attempts of self-hypnosis.
 
I have been on 2 ACTS retreats, one as a retreatant, one on team. They are not my cup of tea, however, they work for a lot of people. The idea is to revitalize the faith of those who are only luke warm, and explain the Church to non-catholic spouses. They also can ramp up participation in parish activities and ministries.

Having said that, I resisted going for a long time before I went. I had been on a silent retreat several months before and got much more out of it. I doubt I will go on another ACTS retreat myself.My wife however was on the first women’s retreat and has been on over 60 of them as retreatant or team since it started. To each his own.

Patrick
AMDG
 
Sounds so much for people who are not like me. I don’t even like the evening ice breakers at the retreats I attend. I do enjoy the talks the quiet time the mass the sacrament of reconciliation but not enforced friendship.
 
Retreats are an individual thing. I have been on some that were very good for me and not so much for others,

Patrick
AMDG
 
Thanks for the heads up, y’alls. I know where I’m never going!
 
I understand if somebody likes the retreat and wants to go. That’s fine.
But why can’t the Catholic spouse simply explain the church to the non-Catholic spouse? It’s really not hard. You don’t need to explain it to the Thomas Aquinas level of detail.
 
I just did a retreat, but it was called Emmaus. I enjoyed a lot of things about it, mainly 2-1/2 days away from the constant news on TV (thanks to hubby) and away from the computer. Supposedly, you didn’t have to be Catholic or even Christian to go, but I think everybody there was Catholic, mainly from several close-by churches and a few from further away.

We were divided into teams and did most things over the weekend as a team. Our team was a nice, congenial mix, and the two team leaders were good leaders. I was pretty happy with the whole experience. It seems to have been about the same as the ACTS retreat, as far as I can tell. We had a couple of nice surprises, including the one at the end. I guess I just enjoyed the people, mainly. The couple of women who were heading up the retreat were very good at it. Speakers, scripture, singing, discussions, camaraderie, good food. I don’t know–what’s not to like?

The only slight down side–and this is probably just grumpy old me–was the talks. Most of the people talking were rather young, and they were more emotional than I thought necessary, with a lot of sobbing–more than I thought really necessary. I mean, virtually everybody has a sad story in their life. When you get old enough, you realize that sad stories are the norm rather than the exception.

But on the whole, I thought it was really worth the experience. They advertise this as something you only do once in your lifetime. Course, you can decide to join the team putting it on, if you really want to come back and experience it again, this time through the eyes of a new group of women.

We were in a very nice facility in a wooded setting, plenty of elbow room, private rooms, three squares a day with snacks available at almost all times. It was nice getting away. Enjoyed the company of like-minded Catholic women. I certainly would not refer to it as getting “brainwashed.” We were already like-minded when we got there, so what was there to wash?

Maybe it isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, and I can understand that. But I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
 
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