Cletus Wessels will offer week-long retreats for retreat centers and various religious institutions as well as Parish Retreats. These retreats are not based on particular themes, but they emerge out of three principles in consultation with each retreat center or parish.

First, the preaching will be shaped by the biblical readings of the season, whether it is Advent, Lent, Easter or Ordinary time. This will enable the people to listen to and wrestle with the Word of God and discover its deeper meaning for them as individuals and as a community.

Second, the preaching will unfold within the context of the new story of creation and enable to help parishioners to integrate Christian tradition with the new cosmology. This story will be told in ritual fashion as a cosmic journey through the universe. A background for this story will be found in two recent books by Cletus Wessels: The Holy Web: Church and the New Universe Story, 2002; and Jesus in An Emerging Universe, 2003. Both were published by Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY.

Finally, the preaching will weave a web of rituals in which the people will actively respond to God's presence in the Word and in creation. There could be a ritual of healing, a ritual of reconciliation, a ritual of water or whatever emerges from the readings and the needs of the parish.

"My thought process was expanded as I was listening and even more so as I mulled it over later...thank you for a wonderful thought-provoking retreat."

Parishioners and parish groups can benefit from an intense period of prayer and preaching in order to deepen their awareness of God in their lives. A retreat can be planned for various groups, such as, parish leadership groups, women's or men's groups, parish organizations or ministry groups.

If you are interested in any of these options, please contact:

2833 32nd Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55406
612-724-3644
cletuswe@aol.com