Catholic retreats and parish missions for building
enthusiastic involvement in time, talents, and treasures

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Scripture

• Good News Reflections
  Bring Terry Modica's popular email ministry of the Good News Reflections to life! Her applications for daily holiness using the readings from Mass can become retreat experiences any time of year. What she sends out by email can be expanded into one-hour sessions. To optimize attendance, prior to the event encourage everyone to subscribed to the Good News Reflections free email subscription service.
• The Sermon on the Mount
  A Catholic Bible Course on The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, 7) in the format of a parish mission or retreat: Using stories from personal experience and the lives of Saints, Terry Modica will explain how to live the Gospel message in normal, everyday circumstances. This course covers: What is Jesus telling you about being his disciple? Learn how to experience the unconditional love of Jesus in everyday life. Discover how to improve even the most difficult relationships.
• Scriptural Visit with Mary

  A Retreat with the Blessed Mother using Scripture and Pope John Paul II's document "Rosarium Virginis Mariae": Mary is our role model in grace, trust, faith, holiness and service. This event helps people discover:

  • How to increase their trust in the Lord's redemptive plans
  • How to give birth to Jesus (evangelize) in the world
  • How to grow in holiness

  Reflection 1	GRACE: Her Immaculate Conception and what it might have been like to grow up as a child full of grace
  Reflection 2	TRUST: The experience of the Annunciation
  Reflection 3	FAITH: The Wedding at Cana
  Reflection 4	HOLINESS: The piercing of her heart when Jesus suffered
  Reflection 5	SERVICE: Her role as a disciple and apostle of Christ

Church Documents

• Rosarium Virginis Mariae:
  John Paul II's Letter on the Rosary
  Terry Modica presents her personal testimony about conversion from a Protestant upbringing and the calling to Catholic ministry that came in part through Mary, as she unpacks Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae for deeper insight in everyone's life. This evening of inspiration and reflection concludes with a group experience of praying the Luminous Mysteries for the conversion of the world. Alternatively, it can be expanded into a full one- or two-day retreat. (More ...)
• Decree on the Apostolate of Laity:
  The Purpose-Driven Catholic
  Be who you were meant to be, fulfilling your role in the Body of Christ. God calls us to serve the Church to our fullest potential. This parish mission is a mini-course on the Bible and the Church's teaching on the Apostolate of Lay People using the Vatican Council II document The Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People. (More ...)
  
    or:
  What Do We Mean, "One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church"?
  What do we mean when we profess in the Creed that we are "One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church"? Terry Modica answers this using the Vatican II document The Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People. This seminar is excellent for parishes suffering from divisions, lethargic lay involvement, or the lack of an evangelizing culture. It will help your parishioners:

  • grow in compassion for those who are unlike us, realizing we’re all one family
  • find out they are holy and capable of evangelization
  • understand their apostolate of taking the Church to the unchurched.
  • discover God as their unfailing partner
  • become empowered to evangelize effectively!
• Go and Make Disciples:
  Ordinary Work for an Extraordinary Mission
  You already have the love of Jesus in you, and God has given you the gifts of the Spirit ~ now be inspired to use these in a way that makes a real difference. This seminar is based on Go and Make Disciples, the national strategy of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. This is NOT about door-to-door evangelization; it's about being Christ's partner, continuing his mission of salvation for the world, in our ordinary, daily activities.
• Salvifici Doloris:
  The Christian Meaning of Human Suffering
  The Miracle Power of Suffering: The sacrifices we make bring us and others closer to God as it increases our holiness. This seminar is based on 1 Peter 2:21 and the Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul II The Christian Meaning of Human Suffering.
  
    or as a Lenten Parish Mission:
  Jesus' Perfect Love
  Connect your sufferings to the perfect love of Jesus. We'll dig into Pope John Paul II's letter "On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering" to grow closer to the perfect love that heals and redeems the bad into good. Discover the love that doesn't end! The retreat covers:

  • the Christian perspective of human suffering
  • how to make our own suffering meaningful by uniting it co-redemptively to the Cross of Christ
  • how to discern when your suffering should end

  This Lenten Parish Mission also leads people through an examination of conscience using the 10 Commandments to become more like Jesus.
• Evangelii Nuntiandi:
  Discover and Grow in Your Special Calling to Ministry
  This workshop helps parishioners learn how to be effective in ministry identifying and using their gifts, talents and resources. Based on Pope Paul VI's Apostolic Exhortation On Evangelization in the Modern World, it includes personal assessment surveys.

Parish Missions & Retreats

• Becoming an Easter Parish
  A parish mission in three or four evenings: Enliven and activate your parishioners to become more involved in parish life, to embrace full participatory stewardship, and to continue their faith formation in order to grow in their Catholic knowledge and spirituality. With the Eucharist as the source and summit of our faith, a parish can identify and draw upon its strengths and vision to build parish unity, excellence in mission, and increased volunteerism, in a spirit of collaboration, healing, and giftedness. (More ...)
  (Lent or any time of year)
• The Joyful Life
  This one-hour seminar helps people see Jesus as not just as a Suffering Savior but a Joyful Friend. Terry Modica shares from personal experience to help listeners discover the difference between happiness and joy, how to tap into interior joy during hardships, and why Mass is a celebration.
• Four Levels of Mystical Prayer
  4-part retreat based on the Mysteries of the Rosary.
  See the flyer! (PDF file)
  Activate your parish into a livelier, more involved welcoming community! This parish mission starts with personal renewal (the Joyful Mysteries) to send participants forth in greater giving of time, talent and treasures (the Luminous Mysteries) using the difficulties of life as impetus for compassion and outreach (the Sorrowful Mysteries) to become evangelizers in everyday life (the Glorious Mysteries).
• How to Find God In the Midst of Suffering
  This one-hour seminar can also become a weekend retreat or a 3-night parish retreat. It's inspirational message gives participants new strength and courage. Terry Modica speaks from personal experiences, with a sense of humor, to explain that suffering becomes bearable and valuable when we keep our eyes on Jesus, learn its lessons of holiness, and turn it into ministry that helps others who are suffering. Hear a sample.
• Healed and Empowered
  This 3-Day Retreat leads participants from the sorrows and yearnings they've bene experiencing to healing, joy and empowerment and connects them more fully to your parish's or organization's community as the basis for making a difference in the world. (More ... )
• Living Powerfully as a Third Millennium Catholic
  Catholics in the U.S. are no longer a minority, no longer poorly educated, no longer immigrants struggling financially. Discover how to make the most of our new identity to evangelize by the way you live your life without giving up family and home like missionaries of the past. Catholics of the 3rd Millenium are increasingly young adults who are very spiritual but are not connected to parish communities. How can older generations help the newer ones fit in? (More ... )
• Life In the Holy Trinity
  A 3-Part Parish Evangelization Retreat: This can be done in-house, presented by your own parishioners using the PowerPoint presentations and hand-outs published by Catholic Digital Resources™, LLC. Or bring in Terry Modica to present it as a parish retreat or as a Train-the-Trainer retreat.
• Healing Your Image of God's Fatherhood
  How close are you to Father God? Anyone who has had an imperfect relationship with their human dad (and other important authority figures) needs this seminar! Using Matt. 22:37-39 and other scriptures, Terry Modica explains how we project onto God the flaws and failings of the humans we've known, which results in feeling that God has abandoned us or doesn't care about our prayers. Healing takes place in this seminar - bring tissues!
• "Hello God? Are You There?"
  When prayers don't get answered: Everyone needs a better understanding of how to pray powerfully and how to wait patiently and even to appreciate the answer "no". Using 2 Cor. 9:11, Terry Modica shares from her own experiences as she helps participants gain a new perspective on their prayer requests.
• Prayer Enrichment Course
  Give your parishioners a more effective prayer life. This weekend retreat is held in parish facilities on Friday evening, Saturday morning and afternoon, then ends with your parish's Vigil Mass.
  
  Reflection 1:
  Why Prayers Don’t Get Answered
  
  Reflection 2:
  "Our Father," the Most Powerful Prayer on Earth
  
  Reflection 3:
  Intercessory Prayer: You Can Make a Difference!
  
  Reflection 4:
  Turn Your Whole Life into a Prayer

Workshops for Parish Staff and Ministry Coordinators

• Motivating Your Team: Recruiting, Training & Retaining Volunteers
  How to use the psychological techniques that successful businesses use to motivate their employees and increase productivity, morale, and job satisfaction, with the Christian perspective of stewardship.
   
  Do all of your volunteers understand that whatever they do for the parish they are doing because God has chosen them for service in his Kingdom? And are they actually doing the work that God has especially gifted them for? Do they know how to identify what God has gifted them for? Do you, as the coordinator of their service?
   
  By using the techniques you learn at this workshop and the tools that it will give you, you'll be able to attract and retain volunteers and promote greater involvement in parish life. The workshop will include the Four Types of Volunteers, simple tools for empowering them to achieve a higher level of helpfulness, easy methods for raising their level of enthusiasm, and what to do when volunteers fall short of your expections and needs.
• Our Parish Mission Statement: How Are We Doing?
  How is each ministry fulfilling the goals of the parish? This workshop for staff and ministry leaders brings everyone together to brainstorm and/or revisit the Parish Mission Statement. It empowers them to assess what they are doing as it relates to the other ministries of the parish and to the mission of the Church.
• Serving God by Serving Others, As Jesus Served
  Leaders are head servants, guiding others with the same humility as Jesus exampled. Reward your staff and ministry coordinators with an Appreciation Dinner followed by a retreat-like workshop that challenges them to re-examine what leadership truly means.
• Catholic Websites: Tools of Evangelization
  Activate your entire staff and ministry leaders to become enthusiastic about contributing to the parish website throughout the year for the sake of evangelization outreach as well as building up parishioner involvement in parish activities and volunteerism. Terry Modica tailors this workshop to your parish's unique make-up. To see a generic form of the workshop, click here.
• Coordinating and Implementing a Culture of Evangelization
  See how the Good News Team presented this for the Diocese of Ogdensburg in 2002 with a Pastoral Institute on Evangelization.

Special Programs for Groups and Organizations

• Easy Web Courses on Church documents
  Church documents translated into everyday language and experiences! Terry Modica's online courses are easy for anyone to follow. They can be made available as parish courses or group retreats. Bring in the teacher as a facilitator to start the process or use your own facilitators. (See which Church documents you can choose from ...)
• Home-based Restoration Weekend
  This retreat can be sponsored by anyone who gathers 5 to 20 friends, family, neighbors, and fellow parishioners for a Friday night through Sunday experience of God's healing love, tailored to the needs of the participants. Hold it at a retreat house for an optimal experience, but this is optional. End it with Sunday Mass together at your local parish.

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