We realize that sometimes that there are extenuating circumstances (like illness or tragedy) that make it impossible for a student to attend their own parish's Confirmation retreat, and we want to help you out if we possibly can. As you will see by browsing our list of retreats, The MORE Team presents quite a few Confirmation retreats every school year, and so we have a process in place for anyone interested in trying to attend another parish's Confirmation retreat. We ask that you follow the steps below, in order, if you wish to pursue this option. Please do not skip any of these steps, as that might delay a response.
- Please make sure that your parish's Confirmation coordinator is comfortable with you attending another parish's Confirmation retreat. If - and only if - you have their permission to pursue this process, then continue...
- Look over our list of retreats and choose two or three options that will definitely work for you and your family. Please make sure that you choose options that are of a comparable length to the retreat being offered by your parish, and please make sure that they are Confirmation retreats, since (as you will see) we offer a wide variety of retreats to a wide variety of audiences. The reason we ask you to choose two or three options is because not every parish can accommodate guests, for a variety of valid reasons.
- Please note that if you attend an alternate retreat that is offered for students and sponsors, the sponsor must attend the retreat with the student. Or, if the sponsor is unavailable that day, another trusted adult (like a parent, aunt, uncle, or grandparent) is allowed to attend instead of the sponsor.
- Because of the time it takes to process these requests and to ensure adequate time for all communication to be done transparently, we require that you contact us at least one week in advance of any retreats you might want to attend. We may not be able to accommodate last-minute requests.
- Send an email to paul@marianistretreat.com AND to your parish's Confirmation coordinator (by cc-ing the message to them) and ensure that the email includes all of the following information: your name, the name of the Confirmation candidate, name of his/her parent or legal guardian, name of his/her Confirmation sponsor, the name of your parish Confirmation coordinator, which parish you are from, and the two or three options that work for you.
- Please wait patiently for a reply, since we are not in the office every day.
- If it works out for you to attend an alternate Confirmation retreat, please check with your parish Confirmation coordinator to find out how they would like to verify for your attendance. The MORE Team does have a Google Document that works for this purpose, and we recommend that you print it out and bring it to the retreat.
- The MORE Team requests a $25/student processing fee for this service; you can make that donation here and choose MORE Team in the dropdown menu. It is possible that the parish you join may also request a retreat fee.
Should you have any questions about this process, please contact your own parish's Confirmation coordinator or Paul Masek, Program Director of the Marianist Retreat and Conference Center (314.608.5447 or paul@marianistretreat.com).
We are praying for you; please pray for us!
