2025 Annual SixThree Spiritual Retreat
Our 2024 Annual Six-Three Spiritual Retreat at Malvern is scheduled for:
June 13, 14 & 15, 2025
Retreat will start Friday evening, Saturday & Sunday morning, available in person or virtual.
REGISTER TODAY!
Menu: REGISTER | Retreat Director | Celebrant | Young Man Initiative | Carlo Acutis
2025 Guest Speaker – Eddie Morris
Ed is a lifelong member of the Catholic community in the Philadelphia area. He was one of 9 children raised in Delaware County. He is the father of 6 children and five grandchildren and has been married for 35 wonderful years and is part of the St Norbert Parish. He established his own successful commercial real estate company 20 years ago. Ed has been a leader in many Catholic faith-centered organizations including the Flame of Love and Large Friendship Celebrations (35 to date) that attracts over 500 people to hear outstanding presentations on building one’s relationship with God and one another within his community. About 7 years ago, in response to the unsatisfied need for people needing a place to go when they were in pain or simply wanted to help out a friend that needed spiritual support, he created Team Hope, which has over 6,000 active members that pray for whoever needs prayers on a daily basis. Part of this mission includes sending out a daily prayer request to over 1,200 people.
This Hall of Fame member of Archbishop Carroll High School, St Norbert’s parish and Children of the Father love to share his message of hope and healing with his fellow Christians and can often be heard on Sign Catholic Radio. Ed is looking forward to bringing his message to retreatants at Malvern Retreat House in order to bring them closer to Christ.
2025 Retreat Director
Fr. Simeon Gallagher, OFM, Cap., Spiritual Guidance and Liturgy
Simeon Gallagher, OFM Cap., is a member of the Mid-America Province of the Capuchin Order. Fr. Gallagher is currently the Director of the Preaching Ministry Office of the Mid-America Province of the Capuchin Order. He conducts retreats, parish development programs, parish missions and religious education workshops. His association with the Emmaus Spirituality Program for Priests has gained him an international reputation in conducting retreats for priests.
His work has taken him to Central America (El Salvador). He was instrumental in founding Emmaus in Great Britain, and he has presented ecumenical lectures at the Jean XXIII Centre, Geneva, Switzerland. For the past several years, he has worked closely with the US Armed Forces at military bases around the world. He recently returned from engagements in Asia and Australia. In June, 2011 he was a featured speaker at the Society of University Neuro-Surgeons (SUN) International Symposium in Athens, Istanbul, and Ephesus.
Fr. Mike Davis, Celebrant & Rector of Malvern Retreat House
Father Mike was ordained on May 16, 1987 by Bishop John J. Graham, and has served as a parish priest for all but 5 years as he had served on the Faculty of Bishop Kenrick High School, Norristown, and St. Maria Goretti High School, Philadelphia from 1990-1995. In parish ministry, he has served as a Parochial Vicar, as a Parochial Administrator, and as a Pastor in several parishes, most recently he was the Pastor of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Feasterville. Father Mike loves the Blessed Virgin Mary, truly appreciates her spiritual motherhood, and firmly supports the challenging work of the Legionaries of Mary as her instruments to invite and encourage persons to connect to Jesus through His Mother. Father Mike is the Spiritual Director of the Our Lady of the Assumption Praesidium in his parish, and is the Spiritual Director of the Bucks County Curia of the Legion of Mary. Currently Fr. Mike is assigned as the Rector of Malvern Retreat House
2025 Retreat Special Feature – Young Man Initiative
This your we will be featuring a special initiative designed to cater to the needs of our younger retreatants (ages 17 to 40). On Saturday morning of our weekend retreat we will have a special exercise for these young retreatants that will help them focus on issues that are important to them. The session will include some material and discussion regarding the challenges of people your age and retreatants will be encouraged to offer feedback on how best to tailor our retreat to better meet your needs. The following video will help you understand some of the concepts we will attempt explore in this session…
We are excited to introduce our Young Man’s initiative at the 2024 retreat, scheduled for Saturday morning at 10:45am. This brief yet impactful session is designed for young men aged 17 to 40, drawing inspiration from the “That Man Is You!” program by Paradisus Dei.
The “That Man Is You!” program addresses the significant pressures and temptations that men encounter in today’s culture, focusing particularly on their roles as husbands and fathers. It integrates insights from current social and medical sciences with the teachings of the Church and the wisdom of the saints, aiming to develop the vision of a man fully alive.
Our session will provide materials and foster discussions about the challenges faced by young adults in our modern society. We encourage retreatants to actively participate and provide feedback to help us tailor the retreat to better meet their needs. To gain a deeper understanding of the experiences shared by men who have participated in the “That Man Is You!” program, we will show an introductory video.
Our ultimate goal is to accompany men on their journey, guiding them through the complexities of family and life, and leading them on the pathway to holiness. We look forward to your participation and valuable insights during this initiative.
Who is Carlo Acutis?
Despite what one might think of a young candidate for the honors of the altars, Carlo was an absolutely normal boy, like most of his peers, but with an absolutely special harmony, thanks to his great friendship with Jesus.
In addition to his main duties of his status as that of student and son, he manages to find time to teach catechism to children preparing for First Communion and Confirmation; to volunteer at the soup kitchen of the Capuchins and the nuns of Mother Teresa; to help the poor who live in his neighborhood; to help children in difficulty with their homework; to carry out apostolic works with the internet; to play the saxophone; to play football; to design programs with the computer; to have fun with video games; watching detective films and making home movies with his dogs and cats.
“To always be united with Jesus, this is my life plan” , he wrote when he was only seven years old. And since then he has always been faithful to this program until his departure for Heaven which took place between 11 and 12 October 2006 at the San Gerardo Hospital in Monza.
Since he was a child, Carlo has always shown a great attraction towards “Heaven” . By a special circumstance, given his uncommon maturity in matters of Faith and his great love for the Sacrament of the Eucharist, Carlo was admitted to First Communion at just seven years old and since then he has never missed his daily appointment with the Holy Mass and some Eucharistic adoration either before or after Mass and the daily Rosary.
Carlo writes that when “you stand in front of the sun you tan… but when you stand in front of Jesus the Eucharist you become saints” . For Carlo “the Eucharist is his highway to Heaven” , and also the most powerful means of becoming saints quickly. His famous phrase is: “Everyone is born original but many die like photocopies” .
In order not to die as a photocopy, Carlo draws from the source of the Sacraments, which for Carlo are the most powerful means to grow in virtue, effective signs of God’s infinite mercy for us. Thanks to the Eucharist, Charles heroically strengthens the virtue of fortitude, which will give him that courage common to all saints, to always go against the grain and oppose the false idols that the world constantly offers us.
The Eucharist also fuels in him a very strong desire to constantly tune in to the voice of the Lord, and to always live in his presence. By doing so, Carlo manages to bring that lifestyle learned at the school of the Eucharist: being at school, in a pizzeria with friends or in the square for a football match, or using the computer, becomes a lived Gospel. Carlo managed in an extraordinary way, despite living an ordinary existence like that of many, to dedicate his life, moment after moment, to the highest goal to which all men are called: eternal bliss with God.
Carlo, “the in love with God” , he experienced this strong presence of the divine in his earthly life and tried in every way to generously transmit it to others and still continues to intercede so that everyone can put God first in their lives and say like Carlo: “Not me but God” ; “Not self-love but the glory of God” ; “Sadness is looking towards oneself, happiness is looking towards God” .
Mary Bea Damico, Guest Speaker
Led to Jesus through Our Blessed Mother, Mary Bea is a passionate Catholic Evangelist, with a deep love for the Eucharist, Our Lady, and for our one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Her witness is one of giving her continuous ‘Yes’ at the calling of Our Lord – in the workplace, in the family and in the world. Most recently, she responded to the Lord’s whisper to create a place of Eucharistic Encounter for the youth at Malvern Retreat House, building upon the life and work of Blessed Carlo Acutis – and the challenge to become the saints we were created to be.
Mary Bea is the President of Vovéo Marketing Group, a full service B2B Marketing Agency which she founded in January of 1995. A graduate of St. Joseph’s University, Mary Bea has served on the Haub School of Business Marketing Advisory Board, and is an active member of the Malvern Retreat House Board, as well as the St. Patrick School Board. She serves on the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Eucharistic Revival Committee, and is an active member of St. Patrick Parish Malvern. Through her business, Mary Bea has worked to assist many Catholic Non-Profit organizations – such as World Meeting of Families, Miraculous Medal Shrine, and National Centre for Padre Pio.
She has been a retreatant at Malvern since 2018, and has attended nearly 30 retreats.
Our 2024 Annual Six-Three Spiritual Retreat at Malvern is scheduled for:
June 13, 14 & 15, 2025
Retreat will start Friday evening, Saturday & Sunday morning, available in person or virtual.
REGISTER TODAY!
Relocation of the Papal Cross
After standing at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary since that event, the recent sale of the seminary necessitated a new home for the cross. Malvern Retreat House was chosen as the new location. On May 23rd, crews moved the cross to the parking lot behind Our Lady’s Chapel at St. Joseph’s in the Hills.
Robert Perricone, a member of the Malvern Retreat House community and an expert carpenter, volunteered his skills to refurbish the cross. This effort is part of a broader plan to resurrect the monument on the retreat house grounds, ensuring that the memory of the 1979 papal visit is preserved. This move not only saves a piece of history but also provides a new space for reflection and remembrance for visitors to the retreat house.
Passing of Jim Cranny
It is with great sadness that we inform you about the passing of long-time Six Three man Jim Cranny.
James R. Cranney, Sr., May 15, 2023, Age 97. Husband of the late Katherine M. Cranney(McGrath). Father of Sally Cranney (John Coogan), James R. Cranney, Jr. (Cindy), William Cranney (Linda), Maurice Cranney (Karen). He is also survived by 10 Grandchildren and three Great-Grandchildren.
Jim graduated from Jules E. Mastbaum High School in 1944 and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Following his military service, he was employed as a lace weaver at the North American Lace Company and became the National Secretary of the Amalgamated Lace Operatives Union. Jim was a fixture in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia where he served the community as a life insurance salesman with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company for 25 years.
After retiring from Metropolitan Life, he worked for the Pennsylvania State Insurance Department in the Consumer Protection Department and continued to write insurance policies as an independent insurance broker into his 80s. He was an active member of Roman Catholic High School’s Fathers Club and the ASIST Program. In 2015, he was honored by Roman’s Cahill Club as a Person of Distinction and received an honorary diploma from Roman Catholic High School in 1980.
Relatives and friends are invited to Visitation on Friday, May 19 at 9:30 a.m. at St. Philip Neri Church, 437 Ridge Pike, Lafayette Hill, PA. A Funeral Mass will follow at 11 a.m. Interment in Calvary Cemetery.
Condolences may be shared at www.kollerfuneralhome.com
God Bless….Prosit,
Six Three Group
Executive Committee Members
Connections (series)
2019 Retreat Director – Fr. Carl Janicki
Fr. Carl Janicki is the Director of Campus Ministry at Cabrini University in Radnor, Pennsylvania. A priest for more than 20 years, he has also worked in ministry at Cardinal Dougherty High School. He served that community for 12 years as Campus Minister, then President, before moving on to his current position at Cabrini. Fr. Janicki represented Cabrini during the 2015 Papal visit to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families, at which he served in Media Relations, and provided “color” commentary during the Pope’s Closing Mass on the Parkway for CBS 3, Philadelphia.
Learn about our 2019 Guest Speaker Kevin Reilly >>
Cancelled – 2019 Guest Speaker – Joe Klecko
Due to an unfortunate schedule change Mr. Klecko was forced to cancel his speaking engagement for our 2019 Six Three Group retreat. We have secured an old friend of Six Three, Former Philadelphia Eagle, Kevin Reilly who is fresh off the release of his 2017 book “Tackling Life”. Kevin spoke at our 2016 retreat and will come with a fresh new look at his spiritual journey that includes discussion about his most recent successes and relationships. READ MORE about Kevin Reilly.
Advent Patience & Love
Fr. Matt’s sermon this week reflects on the virtue of patience and its role as the foundation of love during advent.
Engagement Rings & Babies
Fr. Matt’s sermon this week reflects on beauty and sacrifice of marriage.
Patriotism, Sacrifice & The Eucharist – Corpus Christi
Father Matt Guckin reflects on the true meaning of a few special days. How we sometime lose focus on the “why” of certain Holidays.
Choosing The Empty Tomb Over The Empty Show
Father Matt Guckin discusses accepting and embracing the empty tomb.
