Fr. Tom Hartle's retreat week offered at Stella Niagara's Center of Renewal

All interested Western New Yorkers are invited to preregister by July 9 for a special summer preached retreat week to be held July 23-28 at Stella Niagara’s Center of Renewal.

Organizers said, “ ‘A Little of This … A Little of That’ offers an intriguing, insightful journey featuring Father Tom Hartle’s engaging style as he helps retreatants advance on their own spiritual journeys. This retreat will include daily morning and afternoon conferences, private reflection and contemplation, Eucharistic liturgy, and more.

“Consider Father Tom’s own words on this unique and timely retreat theme: “We are living in a time and place alien and strange to us. // We are ‘immigrants’! We are living permanently in a ‘foreign country.’ // Our birth country is not the country we find ourselves living in today. // Acknowledging this truth, this reality, may empower us to move forward with our lives.”

Hartle offered this introduction to retreatants: “I am a friar of Holy Name Province, soon to be Our Lady of Guadeloupe Province. Like you, I, too, am an immigrant. I speak from my personal experience as I try to inculturate myself into these new and often confusing times. As Dorothy said to Toto: ‘Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.’ We have stepped outside of what is considered normal; we have entered a place or circumstance that is unfamiliar and uncomfortable; we find ourselves in a strange situation. Welcome to the new millennium.”

Preregistrations are required to ensure adequate meals, seating, and materials. Call 716-754-7376, ext. 1 or ext. 2, to preregister by July 9. Reservations after July 9 will be subject to availability, so call first to confirm space.

The Center of Renewal Retreat & Conference Center at Stella Niagara operates as an interfaith retreat facility located only two miles north of the Village of Lewiston and Artpark, and is sponsored by the Sisters of Saint Francis of Penance and Christian Charity, Holy Name Province. For more information, call the Center of Renewal at 716-754-7376, ext. 1 or ext. 2, or visit www.stellaniagararetreats.org.