Alpha Retreat Location

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Lynne72

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Hi,
Our parish is running the Alpha program for the first time and it is very well attended. The problem is we do not have a church hall and so we don’t know where to hold our retreat day. Is it ok to hold it in a Protestant Church? Over 80% of our attendees are Catholic and/or parishioners.

Thank you!
 
It is certainly okay if your pastor and bishop approve.
 
My pastor is afraid that it will confuse people and perhaps lead them to the Protestant Church. But he is allowing me to make the decision. Our Slpha team is split on this decision. Our only other option is to have the retreat at our KofC hall where we hold Alpha every week.
 
There is nothing wrong with the KC Hall. It’s just that we have Alpha there every week and they suggest the retreat be at a different location. This Protestant Church has been collectively praying for our Alpha. They have offered for us to use their hall, no charge.
 
Sounds like a really bad idea but then again it’s a protestant program so why not?
 
Lynne72 said:
Hi,
Our parish is running the Alpha program for the first time and it is very well attended. The problem is we do not have a church hall and so we don’t know where to hold our retreat day. Is it ok to hold it in a Protestant Church? Over 80% of our attendees are Catholic and/or parishioners.

Thank you!
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Since you’ve already allowed a Protestant based program into your parish, having the retreat at a Protestant church actually sounds appropriate (shaking my head in disgust).

-Ernie-
 
With all due respect Ernie, the program is accepted by the Catholic Church.
 
Lynne72 said:
With all due respect Ernie, the program is accepted by the Catholic Church.
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Unfortunately, I’m fully aware that many (but not all) Church leaders have endorsed a program that teaches that no one church has the entire truth as Nicky Gumbel professes, but that doesn’t make it right or true. I also know that the Church leaders have no problem endorsing a program that promotes a bible that claims that the entirety of the Word of God is within 66 books rather than 73…again doesn’t make it right or true.

There are Alpha specific threads on this forum where this has been discussed ad nauseam so I won’t go into detail here, but all I’ll say is that it is very sad that Catholics turn to a Protestant-based program as an evangelization tool when there are Catholic alternatives. If I may ask, did your parish evaluate The Journey program as offered by the Paulist Evangelization Ministries? If so, what did you think? If not, why not? Why not evaluate all Catholic options rather than turning to a Protestant-based one?

I know my questions won’t change the direction your parish is going, but I’d appreciate your answers because I’m trying to do all I can so that my parish implements only authentic Catholic teaching for initial kerygma and/or catechesis. Thanks.

-Ernie-
 
Ernie,
I have not heard of the Journey program. We did look into Christlife, but I have spoken to those who have done both, and they said Alpha was better in regards to building community, and encountering Christ. We plan on following up Alpha with catechesis.

I did not intend to debate the Alpha program. I wanted opinions on the location. But I appreciate your suggestion and will look into it.
 
Lynne72 said:
Ernie,
I have not heard of the Journey program. We did look into Christlife, but I have spoken to those who have done both, and they said Alpha was better in regards to building community, and encountering Christ. We plan on following up Alpha with catechesis.

I did not intend to debate the Alpha program. I wanted opinions on the location. But I appreciate your suggestion and will look into it.
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Thank you for your honesty. God bless you.

-Ernie-
 
Congrats on running Alpha for the first time!
So cool to hear it’s going well.

Great question about where to host your retreat.

Have you considered doing it somewhere that isn’t free? We’ve used a retreat centre roughly an hour away from our parish.

It’s an old military base that isn’t all that pretty…but it’s decent enough and meals are provided. We asked our Alpha participants to pay their own way, same as our Alpha team members. I think it ended up being $150 or so…that’s with meals included. For those who didn’t have means we looked to for financial support from other places.

We’ve done it this way for years and had good attendance. We also leave open the option of not staying overnight, but instead just coming for day 1 for the meals and talks.

Best of luck! I pray that your Alpha moves hearts and minds to Christ!
 
DJorourke said:
Congrats on running Alpha for the first time!
So cool to hear it’s going well.

Great question about where to host your retreat.

Have you considered doing it somewhere that isn’t free? We’ve used a retreat centre roughly an hour away from our parish.

It’s an old military base that isn’t all that pretty…but it’s decent enough and meals are provided. We asked our Alpha participants to pay their own way, same as our Alpha team members. I think it ended up being $150 or so…that’s with meals included. For those who didn’t have means we looked to for financial support from other places.

We’ve done it this way for years and had good attendance. We also leave open the option of not staying overnight, but instead just coming for day 1 for the meals and talks.

Best of luck! I pray that your Alpha moves hearts and minds to Christ!
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Thank you! We are very limited as to where to hold the retreat, unless we have it 30 minutes away. Our retreat centre is booked up to a year in advance. For our next Alpha, we are definitely looking into holding it off site for a weekend. I am learning so much this first time around. It has been a lot of work, but such a tremendous blessing. :pray:t2:
 
For the next “Alpha?!” Don’t you get it? This program IS NOT suitable for use in the Catholic Church. We are NOT protestant so therefore our parishes shall not attempt to teach the faith from a protestant perspective. If you insist on pushing this inadequate program which has been criticized by several high ranking Churchmen, perhaps you should hold it in the protestant church and not look back.
 
Alpha is not about teaching doctrine or the Catholic faith. It is geared toward those who have no faith or little faith, so they can hear the kerygma and encounter Christ. THEN they will be ready to learn the faith.
 
Lynne72 said:
Alpha is not about teaching doctrine or the Catholic faith. It is geared toward those who have no faith or little faith, so they can hear the kerygma and encounter Christ. THEN they will be ready to learn the faith.
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I had no intention of getting back into this thread, but I feel compelled to respond due to the erroneous claim you made about Alpha. My greatest issue with Alpha is its non-Catholic teachings (Bible is 66 books, no one true Church, child of God without baptism, etc.). My second issue is the lie perpetrated by Alpha endorsers that it is simply Kerygma, which it is not.

Kerygma is defined as preaching or proclaiming (distinct from teaching or instruction, which is catechesis). Alpha isn’t only about Kerygma. In fact, I’d say only a small portion of Alpha is about Kerygma. Alpha recommends reading a non-Catholic 66 book bible. Is that Kerygma? Alpha proclaims that baptism isn’t necessary to become a child of God. Is that Kerygma? Alpha proclaims that everyone has truth and no church has the full truth. Is that purely Kerygma? Alpha defines justification as “just as if I’d never sinned” (nothing to do with sanctification). Is that just Kerygma? Alpha describes to interpret the Holy Spirit in our lives by asking, “is it in line with the bible”…personal interpretation and no mention of the Church. Is that simply Kerygma? Propping up Nicky Gumbel as a spokesperson while recommending his website, which is filled with Protestant based books and beliefs. Is that strictly Kerygma?

The answer to all of those questions is “of course not” Alpha goes well beyond Kerygma and puts its own spin and bias (teaching and instruction) into every session. So to say Alpha is just Kerygma is either to be ignorant due to simply believing what others (even Church leaders) tell us without thinking for ourselves or to just blatantly lie about what it actually is.

Call it what it is, a Protestant-based evangelization program. The core part of Alpha’s success is not Nicky Gumbel and the copyrighted Alpha materials, but its feeding people and getting them to share their faith in small groups. Creating a community that enables everyone to get to know each other, developing trusting relationships, and sharing their faith. You do not need a Protestant-based program to do that.

-Ernie-
 
As with Ernie, there was no intention of coming back.
Lynne72 said:
Fiasco, I can’t open the link. ?
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Sorry, Lynne, i can’t work that out because it worked from here. 😊

It was an article in the National Catholic Register (NOT FISHWRAP!), but it was covered by Ernie and DignumEtJustum. The bit about creating “Community” is a major selling point, but there has to be a lot more, as has already been said here.

My own feeling is that, even at the start, newbies should be given a glimpse of the depths of the Faith with a few talks by, say, Scott Hahn and Brant Pitre. When we know virtually nothing about a subject, we think there’s virtually nothing left to learn. So, a foretaste is needed. 🤷

Brant Pitre - Christ the Bridegroom:

youtube.com/watch?v=olsXrkWAEa8

Brant Pitre - Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Eucharist:

youtube.com/watch?v=P45BHDRA7pU

Scott Hahn - The Forerunners of the Reformation:

youtube.com/watch?v=CTMX4C169bg

Frank Sheed - Theology and Sanity katapi:

www.katapi.org.uk/TandS/Contents.html

The 1978 Ignatius Press edition devotes 30+ pages to the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity!

We have to hammer home the Truth that we’re Family: God’s our Father, and after Baptism, we’re His children. There’s also the Nuptial relationship. And Covenant.

Like the earlier one, those links probably won’t work for you, but we can but try. 🤷
Please let’s know.
 
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