A South Bend Pilgrimage

The New Junior Retreat to Notre Dame Inspires in Ways the Old Retreat Never Could

BY LIAM EIFERT

Senior Nya Huff does not remember her class’ retreat with any particular fondness after participating in the new junior retreat as a senior leader. She said, “(My junior retreat) was at Brunette Park and that was nothing compared to Notre Dame. Yes, there was a group aspect, but it definitely wasn’t as deep as this junior retreat was.” As for the junior retreat she attended this year, however, Huff said, “It was very meaningful. We talked about our goals in life, the gifts we find in each other, and how those can help us reach our goals.”

The new junior retreat is the brainchild of Director of Campus Ministry Mr. David Neeson. He said, “When I was hired, I wanted to look at all the retreats: freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior. Our senior retreat is proven. It’s a great retreat, everybody enjoys it. I still wanted to see it, just experience it. After that first experience there was really no changes I wanted to make on that senior retreat, that was great.”

Mr. Neeson was not as impressed with the junior retreat. He said, “The start of it came from watching the junior retreat last year and going ‘oh my gosh, this cannot be the excellence we talk about trying to achieve here at Cathedral, we can do better than this.”

Over the course of the two days, Juniors, mentored by Senior leaders, were led through the rich spiritual offerings of South Bend, including much of Notre Dame and also St. Mary’s. Mr. Neeson said, “When we took them to South Bend, we took them to areas where they get to see life differently, they get to see mission vision focused, like in the original log cabin that father sorin built on the campus, the very first building on Notre Dame’s property. And they get to realize that somebody started this without any inclination of what was happening beyond this starting point, they just started, knowing that God was with them.”

Junior Seth Greene, who went on the first junior retreat, loved the places they went, but had mixed feelings about the retreat overall. He said, “I enjoyed the Grotto and I liked going around all the different campuses and it wasn’t like we were sitting in one place, but I feel like I might have enjoyed it a little more if we had diversified a little more instead of just sticking with one small group, maybe if we had some larger groups or switched groups occasionally.”

Huff stressed the value of the senior leaders on the retreat. She said, “It was more so not just about leadership, but it’s like, ‘I’m coming to you as a friend for this retreat, not I’m coming to you to be in charge of you.’ I thought that was a different lens for the juniors to experience and they responded really well to it.”

Greene said his favorite part of the retreat was the planetarium where they watched a show called “All Creation Gives Praise.” He said, “It was really cool, seeing how big the universe is — I mean I knew it was infinite — but actually seeing it was really cool.”

Much of the retreat is based on group discussion. To juniors who have yet to go, Greene said, “Make sure you open up to your group, because otherwise it will get boring if you stay quiet.”

Neeson hopes the junior retreat can represent a different conception of Faith here at Cathedral. He said, “I don’t know where along the line it was decided that Catholic faith has to be mundane or boring or lame, but we don’t have to make that our reality here, we asked to come here. I know that people struggle with certain aspects of the Catholic teaching. I’m not asking everybody to blindly follow, but I’m asking for people to be open to what it is, open to the experience of God in their life, and if they can be open to the experience of God in their life, honestly look at it — I get we’re dealing with high schoolers. I get that high schoolers don’t often think of the eternal, they’re barely able to process beyond today, but you’re not guaranteed tomorrow, nobody is — so I think if they can just be a little bit more open to what we’re trying to provide here, I think it will guide them in their journey here. I think it will help them for their next step.”

The Golden Dome from Across St. Mary’s Lake at Notre Dame. Photo Sumbitted Students light candles at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes at Notre Dame Photo Submitted