A Men’s Emmaus Retreat will be held for the first time in East Tennessee on the weekend of April 24-26 at Christ Prince of Peace Retreat Center in Benton.
An estimated 1.4 million men and women throughout the world have completed the Catholic Emmaus Retreat.
The retreat is based on Luke 24, where Jesus joins two of His disciples as they walk from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus. The walk takes the disciples from being dejected and filled with anxiety and stress to being full of life and filled with joy after Jesus joins them and their eyes are opened to recognize Him as their Lord.
In the early 1980s, the Emmaus Retreat, under the direction of Father David Russell, was developed at St. Louis Parish in Miami as a retreat for women. The men of the parish, seeing how the women had been transformed, worked with new pastor Father James Fetscher and modified the retreat slightly to be more in tune with what men need and conducted the first Men’s Emmaus Retreat in 1985.
Michael and Helen Hart of St. Augustine Parish in Signal Mountain were part of the Emmaus Retreat in Miami, and Mr. Hart is bringing the retreat to East Tennessee. Men ages 18 and over are welcome to attend. Registration will begin in January. Contact Mr. Hart at 423-414-4532 or mikehartfl1987@gmail.com.