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.
2024 Annual SixThree Spiritual Retreat
Our 2024 Annual Six-Three Spiritual Retreat at Malvern is scheduled for:
June 14, 15 & 16, 2024
Retreat will be back to a regular schedule, starting Friday evening, Saturday & Sunday morning, available in person or virtual.
We hope you enjoyed your retreat!
Menu: Retreat Director | Guest Speaker | Young Man Initiative | Carlo Acutis
2024 Retreat Director
Fr Douglas McKay, Spiritual Guidance and Liturgy
Fr. McKay is a nationally-recognized retreat director, author and evangelist. He became a priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1982, and later founded Our House Ministries, a recovery-based ministry group located in Grays Ferry, Philadelphia. The Ministry is dedicated to helping those who are dependent on alcohol or drugs, who are depressed, or who have turned to crime. He has previously served as Chaplain for Holy Family Home and worked with Little Sisters of the Poor. Fr. McKay was awarded the St. Rita Peace Award in 2015.
Jennifer Hubbard, Guest Speaker
Jennifer Hubbard graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College with a BA degree in art history and communications. Upon graduating from college, she worked for a Fortune 100 company for nine years. Jennifer left the professional workforce to raise her two children, Frederick and Catherine. Her youngest child, Catherine Violet, was a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Jennifer and her husband, Matthew, established the Catherine Violet Hubbard Foundation, Inc.® to support those causes that best represent their daughter and her life. The foundation’s current focus is in creating and developing programming that will sustain the Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary® in Newtown, CT. Jennifer is a monthly contributor for the Magnificat. Her essays focus on God’s healing presence and His faithfulness. She is the recipient of a 2014 and 2015 Catholic Press Awards and has had her work published in Fairfield County Catholic.
2024 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.
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.
Do You Also Want To Leave
Fr. Matt’s sermon this week is on reflects on times in the church’s history when people chose to leave.
The Sin Of Gluttony
Fr. Matt’s sermon this week is on the sin of gluttony this week. Gluttony is the most tolerated sin there is.
The Great Saint Paul
Father Matt Guckin reflects on St. Paul and how reflecting on our limitations is useful in bringing us closer to God.
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.
Prayer Is Trending
Father Matt Guckin discusses prayer and the Novina for the nine days from The Ascension to Pentecost.
Choosing The Empty Tomb Over The Empty Show
Father Matt Guckin discusses accepting and embracing the empty tomb.
