Parish Mentorship Program

Cost: FREE (participants responsible for travel costs).

Format

The Parish Mentorship Program consists of three in-person gatherings per year for two years. The gatherings include opportunity for practical instruction, contemplative retreats, small group practicum and one-on-one mentoring.

Schedules are designed for clergy, beginning Monday evening and ending Friday morning. Daily schedules include a morning and afternoon session, communal Mass and Adoration. Lodging and meals are provided at the Saint Benedict Guesthouse and Retreat Center.

Lodging & Meals

Lodging and meals are provided at the Saint Benedict Guesthouse & Retreat Center. Check-in is 4 pm Monday and check-out is 12 pm Friday.

Participation

Dioceses are encouraged to send 2–3 Pastors along with the Vocation Director and/or Vicar for Clergy. From our collaboration with other programs nationwide, we have found that this fosters a long-term communal impact on the presbyterate more than isolated participation.

2026–2028 Schedule

Year 1

1 Responding to the Holy Spirit as a Formative Community
August 31–September 4, 2026
Retreat Format

• Introduction to Ongoing Formation, the Vocational Synthesis Stage and Parish Mentorship
• Cultivating spiritual fatherhood and priestly identity
• The Holy Spirit as the primary formator

2 The Art of Accompaniment
November 30–December 4, 2026

• Practical skills and tools of accompaniment
• Fostering communion in the presbyterate and parish
• Bridging the generational gap

3 Christian Psychological Integration in Parish Life
March 8–12, 2027

• Accompanying the anxious generation
• Principles for healthy conflict
• Psychological issues and remedies

Year 2

4 The Church as Field Hospital: Receiving and Administering Mercy
August 30–September 3, 2027
Retreat Format

• Witnessing to the power of mercy and living in freedom as children of God
• Appropriation of St. Ignatius’s “Rules for the Discernment of Spirits”
• Renewing the Sacrament of Penance

5 Formation for a Life of Discernment: Personal, Ecclesial, and Pastoral
November 29–December 3, 2027

• Personal Discernment, Communion Ecclesiology, and the Role of the Laity in relation to Ongoing Formation
• Benedictine spirituality applied to parish life and mentorship
• Cultivating a healthy liturgical temperament

6 The Parish Community: Mobilized for Mission and Evangelization
March 6–10, 2028

• Recapturing God’s plan for creation and the mission of the Church
• How to bring an entire parish through the kerygma, a call to discipleship, and getting mobilized for mission
• Understanding the importance of how we do what we do