ACTS retreat review

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Have any of my brothers or sisters on this message board been on an ACTS retreat?
I have been approached a few times my some of my parish friends over the last couple of years about signing up for a three-day, three-night ACTS retreat.
Though I have asked about what transpires at a retreat, they have been vague at best. They say it has to be experienced.
Has anyone here participated in an ACTS retreat? If so, what was it like?
 
The reason they will not describe the Retreat is that they do not want you going to it with pre-conceived notions.

Prior tomeeting my current wife, I had never heard of ACTS. It was notin the Dallas/FtWorth area. Then 4 years ago we met. She lives in the San Antonio area where ACTSStarted, and in fact was on the first womens ACTS retreat. It affected her deeply and she has been heavily involved since (30 years). We met on Catholic Match and both were interested in the others faith life so there was much discussion back and forth between us. She asked me if I had been on an Acts retreat and when I said no, she started talking me up about it. From what I read about it and people I had talked to who had been on one, it did not sound like my cup of tea.

After we married, all the people I me through church started asking if I had been on one and why didn’t I go. I kind of dug my heals in and my wife quit asking. Then about a year ago I was asked again by a new aquaintance and the spirit moved me to accept.

It waas an enlightening experience. This is not a silent retreat with a bunch of time for meditation and contemplation but in it’s own way it is good. It’s purpose is to inform about the faith and encourage peopleto get involved in their parish.

If you are unsure, pry about it and let that be your guide. When it is God’s time for you to go, you will know.

Patrick
AMDG
 
Thanks, I actually live in the San Antonio area.
ACTS retreats are popular here.
Three days and three nights away from my routine for the retreat. That would involved taking some days off from work. And a disruption from family activities.
There is a cost of $200 for the retreat, although I have been told that cost should not be a prohibitive factor for those who truly want to make the retreat.
I am just not sure it is for me. I am a bit of an introvert.
 
I am also somewhat introverted. I prefer reading alone to going out on the town and I hate crowds. This is a retreat, and you get away from the day to day for 3 days. Only you can decide if this is for you but most people I have met get a lot out of the retreat, even some people who claimed that they had to be coerced into going.

Patrick
AMDG
 
I have never attended it myself but retreat is to get away from the noises of our busy life to seek and be with God in the quietness of our beings. It is always worth a try if you have the time for it. When we give to God (our time), we will get so much more in return, for we can never outgive Him.

God bless.
 
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phoage said:
This is not a silent retreat with a bunch of time for meditation and contemplation but in it’s own way it is good. It’s purpose is to inform about the faith and encourage peopleto get involved in their parish.
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So it is a retreat that features testimonials and tears?
I have heard there is some sort of foot-washing ceremony. Is this true?
 
“only you can decide”. Yet we won’t tell you anything about it to help you make the decision.
 
It is. Not a quiet, contemplative, get away from it all type event. That’s my understanding, I have not gone. Like many things, it’s good for some people, others not so much
 
I do not understand the seeming secrecy, but I supposed ACTS organizers have their reasons. So be it.
 
I have been invited to both cursillo and ACTS retreats. The secrecy was an initial turn off, but nothing is ever an absolute secret these days. One can get a general idea from digging around on the internet. I don’t mean to sound too negative. The only thing I take great exception to is the secrecy. I don’t like that at all. To contrast it, I have started gong to a men’s monthly recollection with Opus Dei and have been invited to one of their retreat. Now Opus Dei, unfairly, has a reputation for secrecy, yet they are willing to describe everything in quite detail. No surprises at all. Have not yet gone to their retreat, but I expect to in the future and I look forward to it.

As to ACTS, I think they are good for some people who have been a little lax about their faith, as a means of kick starting them. That’s my impression. But they seem to be a weekend of emotional programming. That’s not necessarily always a bad thing, but it’s just not for me. YMMV.
 
I have been on and serviced in an ACTS Retreat and so has most of my family.

I would strongly recommend going but please remember go with an Open Heart and let God due the Work
 
It would be easier for me to consider going on an ACTS retreat, if I at least knew a little about what to expect.
I think we fear most what we do not understand.
Are we talking about singing and praying, meditation, personal testimonials, or what? I mean three days and three nights is a long time.
 
It is a long time, and simply not fair that they don’t tell you what to expect. It’s a big hint though, they obviously want to maximize the emotional impact. As I said, it’s programming.
 
At my prior parish, there was an ACTS group. And they were similarly secretive. It just struck me as… odd. I understand that they want to maximize the emotional impact of the retreat, but it was just so strange. “This will change your life! But we can’t give you any idea what will happen.” Uh, ok?

Another thing I found a little odd was that the ACTS group seemed to want the entire parish to go through the ACTS retreat and some of them acted like you weren’t “Catholic enough” until you did. That’s probably more of an issue with those particular people, though. Still, this plus the secrecy was enough to turn me off to the program and I never did participate in an ACTS retreat while at that parish.

(NB: There were plenty of other weird things at that parish – so some of this definitely might be specific to that parish rather than ACTS as a whole.)
 
The reason for the lack of details is that if you know “what to expect”, you may not experience something that you should. It is an individual thing between you and the Lord. I have been a 2 retreats, one as a retreatant, and one as part of the team. I have seen people who on the same retreat, sitting next to each other, had totally different experiences.

If you want a description of the retreat, go to www.actsmissions.org and/or look up the ytube video on ACTS Evangilazation.

in the last 30 years, about 1 million people from all over the world have taken part in ACTS with no more information than you have here.

Patrick
AMDG
 
Like I said, the secrecy is to maximize the emotional impact. I understand, and I realize many choose to go with little information. I still think it’s unfair to expect people to freely coose if it’s for them or not, yet not tell them what they are choosing.
Few other things in the Church work that way. Secrecy does not seem to.me to be that common in the Catholic tradition.
 
I agree that secrecy about the retreat is uncommon. It seems to heighten the curiousity of the would be participants. In any case, there’s nothing to lose but always much to gain to go for a retreat to set aside personal time with the Lord.
 
Even if you know what a book or a movie is going to be about, that does not lesson the impact that it has on each individual.
Though all marriage ceremonies are very much alike, they all are a bit different, because it is a shared experience with a spouse.
I have heard that an ACTS retreat is like a spiritual boot camp.
I have heard that it is like an AA meeting with prayers and singing.
Then there is this foot washing thing I have heard about.
Why the need for secrecy? I can only surmise that is much be because the people running the retreatants are afraid of scaring people off.
 
I would agree with you if they were traditionally styled retreats.
 
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