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Retreats

Retreats

Domestic Church Retreats

Domestic Church offers both marriage retreats and retreats for the whole family. Couples commit to attending a Domestic Church retreat of some kind each year.  

Evangelization Retreats

The first step to becoming involved in Domestic Church is to attend a married couples retreat called an Evangelization Retreat. These usually run from a Thursday night through a Sunday morning. Evangelization is the first step of any real faith journey. These beautiful, powerful retreats are designed to help couples experience together the reality of who Christ is, who we are, what He wants for us, and what His mercy is capable of doing.

Oasis Retreats

Oasis retreats are retreats for the entire family. They are generally about 8 days long. Often, couples can fall into the trap of believing that the constant demands and messiness of family life are obstacles to spiritual growth.  On Oasis, however, family life is experienced as the very place where we truly find ourselves and experience the powerful presence of God at work within our own “domestic church.”  Unlike many of our family vacation experiences, we come home from these retreats feeling truly rested, stronger, joyful, and energized.  There are 3 ascending levels of Oasis Retreats.

“An Oasis retreat is the true oasis. It means this is a place where divine life flourishes and develops in all who participate.”

Venerable Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki

ORFA Retreats

These two retreats are additional retreats that are available for families. ORFA stands for “Oasis Retreat for Family Animators.” ORFAs are generally four days long. The goal of these retreats is for married couples  to learn how to be better servant leaders (in the translation from Polish, “animators”) of your family and Circle. The main themes include the call of discipleship, the call to holiness in marriage, developing the virtues of servant leadership as parents, growing in unity in your home and Circle, and learning how to better lead a Circle.

Other Marriage Retreats

Domestic Church offers several other types of couples’ retreats with a variety of themes, such as how to be a Pilot couple for new Circles in your area, or Couple Prayer.

Some areas in the U.S. also offer Days of Recollection for couples on specific topics, such as Family Prayer or Developing a Rule of Life.

"When we heard about a movement to enrich our marriage 9 years ago, we were immediately interested! Both the materials and the accountability of our circle have been helpful for us as we seek to grow in prayer as individuals, a couple, and a family. We have loved participating in the retreats, especially Oasis! This movement is a tremendous gift to our community."

Chris and Stephanie Hilgert, Diocese of Baton Rouge, LA

Upcoming Retreats

TitleDescriptionDate
Evangelization Retreat - Oklahoma City, OKThe Domestic Church Evangelization Retreat provides sacramentally married couples with an opportunity to begin their spiritual journey together (or deepen ... see more1727395200 27th September 2024 - 30th September 2024
Developing a Rule of Life for Your Marriage - Alexandria, LAA limited number of scholarships are available for this retreat. For a scholarship application, please email [email protected]. If you have ... see more1730534400 2nd November 2024
Oasis Retreat for Family Animators (OFRA I) - Norwood, LATrack Two: Oasis Retreat for Family Animators (ORFA I) This track is for families that have attended an ORFA II ... see more1732233600 22nd November 2024 - 26th November 2024

Retreat Calendar

Questions about retreats?

Fill out the form below to get further information about any of the retreats, or to see about getting a retreat close to you.

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Retreats

The Seven Commitments

1

Daily individual prayer

Each spouse finds a daily quiet space to fully enter God’s presence. This calls for each person to develop a personal time and space with God.

2

Daily study of Scripture

In a quiet, separate space, the individual takes advantage of the gift of the living Word of God. There are no particular verses to read and reflect on, just the challenge to dive into Scripture each day and encounter God there.

3

Daily couple prayer

The couple takes time each day to pray together aloud and usually in their own words. There is no length of time or other regulation set on this prayer. The focus is two-fold: to allow your spouse to witness your conversation with God and to offer shared prayers to God as a couple.

4

Daily family prayer

Couples make time each day to lead their family in prayer, if the couple has children in the home. Each family will discover and grow in their own way of praying together in a way that is fruitful for the different stages in their particular family’s life (small children, older children, adult children, etc).

5

Monthly couple dialogue

The monthly couple dialogue is an intentional, prayerful, and structured conversation done under the watchful gaze of God for an extended period of time. The couple thoughtfully considers the spiritual, practical and personal needs of each spouse, of the marriage, of children, and of the family as a whole.

6

Rule of life

Particularly in connection with their monthly dialogues, each couple decides upon specific changes or policies they will put in place in their individual lives, their marriage, and their household that reflect God’s will for them and their efforts to grow in holiness according to His promptings. Some rules of life always remain the same, but others will change and grow with the couple’s discernment and the family’s needs over time.

7

Yearly Domestic Church retreat

Each couple commits to attending a Domestic Church retreat at least once per year. Retreats can be for just the couple or for the entire family. These can be longer retreats or weekend retreats. To learn about the available retreats click here.

The beauty of these commitments is that the movement provides formation, using the Church’s spiritual traditions and official teachings, for how to pray, how to use Scripture in prayer, and how to grow in a real relationship with God, our spouses, and our children in light of our Baptism.