The students of Messmer High School aren’t the only ones who
participate in retreats. The faculty and staff have one of their own which took place recently. The purpose of the faculty retreat is to provide a respite from the
normal routine and allow the staff and to center their minds on
God. Campus Minister Ms. Anne Haines was in charge of the retreat. She said, “It was a tremendous amount of work to run the retreat.
However, it reminded me of how wonderful the experience is.”
The retreat consisted of two different options. There was the
traditional retreat, which was a day of reflection with Father Randy. Father Randy used to be assigned to the Messmer schools but is now on the postnovitiate staff
and is the local minister of St. Clare of Assisi Friary in Chicago.
The
traditional retreat took place at The St. Martin de Porres Parish church,
located at 3114 N. Second Street-Church (2nd & Burleigh).
The other option for the retreat was to engage in service around the community. The staff was divided among different sights such as
Outreach. Other service sights included the Cathedral Center, Open Door Café,
Hunger Task Force, Catholic Charities, and Milwaukee Catholic Hope. Sights also
included St. Bens, The House of Peace, Independence First, and The Woman’s
Center.
Math Teacher Aleda Kitzman said, “It was my first time being at the Woman’s Center.”
She continued, “I didn’t know anything about the place, but the volunteer work
I did taught me a lot about it.” Ms. Kitzman helped out by writing addresses on
envelopes for mailing. This aid really saved the center time. She said, “It’s important to be able to
reflect on who we are.” This retreat allowed the many
other faculty and staff members to reflect on who they are, center their minds on God, and be reminded what a difference volunteers can make.
--Contributed by senior Jaron Carter
