Canadian youth retreat seeks to strengthen faith of young Catholics entering adulthood

A youth retreat taking place in Ontario, Canada, aims to help young Catholics graduating from high school and entering college, as well as students graduating from college and entering the workforce, stay committed to their faith during these critical transitions in their lives.

Dead Man Walking is being hosted by Jesus Youth Ontario and will take place Oct. 16–18 at the Mother of God Retreat Center in Orangeville, Ontario. The retreat will include talks from Catholic author and speaker Jason Evert, international missionary George Devassy, and local young adults sharing their personal testimonies.

Jim Isaac, a member of the retreat’s planning team, told EWTN News that the inspiration for the retreat came from conversations with parents where it was evident that there was “an overwhelming need.”

“They felt that while children were in high school there were so many guardrails about who they can interact with, who can reach out to them, and all these things to ensure that they have a proper and safe childhood,” he explained. “But, right when they leave high school, all those guardrails are sort of lifted and almost at the same time they also leave home.”

He added that young people also feel “thrown into adulthood” and that this transition “was something that they were struggling with.”

With this in mind, the Dead Man Walking youth retreat was created to give them a space where they can encounter Christ, help them understand the big questions they’re grappling with, and instill in them a strong foundation to maintain their faith during this transition in their lives.

The theme of the retreat comes from John 11, specifically the raising of Lazarus. Isaac explained that many times “we feel that we are going through the motions [and] we are almost like dead people.”

Each day focuses on a specific part of the raising of Lazarus. The theme for Day 1 is “Dead for Four Days,” focusing on the idea that there is always hope even when we’re at our lowest point. Day 2 is called “come out,” encouraging the participants to take part in the Church and in their faith and ends with the opportunity for attendees to go to confession and attend Mass. The last day is called “untie and unbind,” which will call the young people gathered to go out on mission and spread the Gospel message.

Isaac emphasized that their “primary objective is that they [the attendees] have an encounter with Christ at this crucial juncture of their lives.”

“We want these youngsters, who probably are, within their own realities, bombarded with a lot of contemporary and secular media, to understand the richness of the Church,” he added.

“We are hoping that something might resonate with them and that might help them build their interior life and thereby reach out to the people within the community. At the end of the day, it is about reaching out to people and giving them a call for mission. Thatʼs what we are hoping for by the end of it.”