Retreat Forward 2019-20

Nearly seven decades ago, Holy Family Retreat Center opened its doors
in West Hartford, offering respite to those seeking to quiet their minds
and deepen their faith. Since then, more than a million people have come
through those doors, leaving the obligations, and often struggles, of their
everyday lives behind for an opportunity to rest and nourish their spirits.
What is it that brings people to Holy Family—on average, 400 new
retreatants each year—and what is it that keeps them coming back?
Journeys
in Faith
BY KATHY COLELLO
Retreat Forward talked with several long-time retreatants, who shared their thoughts.
Bill Healey
VICE PRESIDENT OF UNDERWRITING
AND RISK MANAGEMENT
Bill Healey grew up in West Hartford and
was vaguely aware of the retreat center, but
not involved. That changed in 1999, when
he came on his first weekend retreat with the
men of St. Thomas the Apostle.
“Before coming on retreat,” he says, “I rarely
thought about how to experience spirituality
in my life. The immersion we receive on
retreat forces us to contemplate our faith in a way that one hour a week at Mass cannot.”
Bill, who also attends Sunday night Mass with his wife Susan and is now a member of Holy
Family’s advisory board, says the “truly worthwhile programming, the music, and the food”
keep him coming back.
“And to be honest,” he says, “I like knowing that my wife and children take note that this is part
of my yearly routine, and it helps to solidify the idea of putting my Catholic faith into action.”
I strongly believe that
participating on retreat has
helped me to be a better
husband, father and son,
pray more, strengthen
my faith, and become
better connected to
my parish community
and to God.
– Bill Healey
I feel that life without
faith makes no sense and
Holy Family keeps
my faith alive.
Marilynn Cruz-Aponte
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS
There’s something about bad times that pushes people to seek answers, and to come to
Holy Family.
Marilynn Cruz-Aponte first came to the Center in 2010, three months after her father
died. She had gone through other significant losses between 2008 and 2010 that left
her, she says, feeling “depleted, hopeless and lost. I needed healing and an anchor.”
She found it at Holy Family “in the creativity of the gallery, the natural beauty of the
trees and walking trails, the divine music, the seating alcoves, the exquisite tile mosaics,
and the Stations and their power to remind me of the journey of life we all walk.”
In addition to women’s weekends, Marilynn comes to day and evening programs,
concerts, and Sunday night Mass, and she also serves on the advisory board. But the
weekend themed retreats have been especially meaningful to her.
“I look back at my journal notes and know for certain that the themes met me where
I was in my life, addressing the struggle I was facing at that time. Retreat opened me
up and increased my confidence that sorrows and hard times will pass, and that all
experiences lead to growth when I understand God is with me; I am not alone.”
-Marilynn Cruz-Aponte
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www.holyfamilyretreat.org