Retreats & Yearly Events

Retreats

• Optional Retreats - In addition to Class Days - which are obligatory days of prayer, Mass, and Community for each grade level, St. Joseph’s offers several optional retreats where students have the opportunity to choose to attend or not. These retreats are characterized especially by the intentionality of those who attend: if you’re there, you want to be there!
• High School Advent Retreat - Advent is a time when the Church begins to anticipate the great joy of the coming of Son of God to our human world. Bethlehem changes everything, even for us, born 2000 years later. On this day high school students are invited to spend an evening in communion with one another and listening to the teaching of the Church in order to better prepare for Christmas. 
• High School Lenten Retreat - As Holy Week and Easter approach, Christians recall that they walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ toward Calvary, where the greatest is love is shown in the greatest self-offering. Any and all high school students are invited to attend a day of living “in the heart of the Church” in preparation for the celebration of the passion, death, and resurrection of the Lord. 
• Kairos Retreat (11th Grade only) - Kairos, or “God’s Time,” is a three-day, two-night getaway retreat held off campus in the autumn for high school students in their junior year.  This retreat, “unplugged” from daily distractions, is a unique and powerful experience which serves to deepen the student’s relationship with their classmates, themselves, and God. The student led retreat features student and staff speakers, discussion groups, and a variety of prayer experiences. Kairos has consistently and profoundly impacted students on both an individual and communal level. A fun and memorable experience, Kairos is, for many, the highlight of the student’s high school years.

In addition to the class retreats, SJCS offers several events throughout the year geared toward fostering students’ awareness of their religious nature, their yearning for meaning, and the fulfillment offered by Christ and the Church. Below is a list of some of the key campus ministry events during the school year. For questions about any of these events, contact SJCS Campus Minister Gabe Lewis.

Other Campus Ministry Events

• Freshmen Trip - This trip for incoming freshmen at St. Joe’s serves not only as an introduction to classmates and teachers at St. Joe’s, but more importantly as a first encounter with the Catholic spirit of the school. Senior class members of campus ministry help lead the freshmen in small groups, games, times of prayer, and more during this trip. 
• High School Campus Ministry Kick-off Day - On this day, open to any and all high school students, SJCS Campus Ministry proposes the school year theme in a way that is relevant to students, as a path to follow toward Christ during the academic year. The event takes place early in the school year on a Saturday afternoon, off-campus, and includes a meal, games, and a bonfire, as well as a brief lesson, discussion, and prayer.
• March for Life, Washington DC - Each year hundreds of thousands of young people and families gather in Washington D.C. to give witness to the sanctity of human life from conception until natural death. St. Joe’s sees this testimony as part of Christ’s calling to cherish and protect “the least of these my brothers and sisters.” St. Joseph’s students are invited to attend the March for Life as part of their experience of the Christian family in action in the world. 
• New York Encounter - Each year St. Joe’s brings a group of upperclassmen to participate in “The New York Encounter”, An annual three-day public cultural event in the heart of New York City, offering opportunities for education, dialogue, and friendship.  newyorkencounter
• Lenten Penance Service - The sacrament of confession is a privileged way to encounter the love and mercy of Christ in the Catholic Church. To this end, the school offers a penance service during Lent, when several priests from the diocese come to St. Joe’s to hear our students confessions. 
• Senior Mission Trip - As a capstone experience to the students’ journey at St. Joseph’s, members of the senior senate plan, promote, and execute the “Senior Mission Trip”, a trip to do charitable work for a community in need and to have a final class experience before graduating.