SAN DIEGO — Bella Carvajal has attended the Diocesan Young Adult Retreat three times.
When she joins around 150 fellow young adults for this year’s installment, which will be held Sept. 13 to 15 at Whispering Winds Catholic Camp and Conference Center, that will make four.
What has kept her coming back?
“This event is so special because it is really the one time a year we get to escape our lives and just be still,” said Carvajal, 21, a member of St. Pius X Parish in Chula Vista. “For a moment, our worries pause; we are allowed to take a break, be renewed … so that we can resume our work with more of the Lord’s heart for those we cater to.”
The retreat, open to Catholics ages 18 to 39 from across the diocese, is sponsored by the diocesan Office for Youth and Young Adult Ministry.
The office’s director, Maricruz Flores-Strauss, said that the popular event is “a moment of renewal” for many young adults. She wants participants “to leave your … burdens at home” and “be in tune with the peace that God is ready to give us.”
She said a record 163 young adults participated last year. This year’s event is expected to sell out before the Sept. 1 registration deadline.
The theme is “Hope Rising,” inspired by a verse from one of St. Paul’s epistles: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13).
“The theme … speaks to something that we need as a society,” said Brilema Perez, an associate director of the Office for Youth and Young Adult Ministry. “We need to have hope in God, to remember that He is in charge of everything and that He wants us to have peace … and trust Him.”
Check-in will be at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, with participants departing by 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. In between, there will be inspiring talks, breakout sessions, small-group discussions, personal reflection time, fun group activities, Eucharistic adoration and opportunities for confession.
The keynote speakers will be Brya Hanan, a licensed marriage and family therapist and life coach, and Father John Francis, a member of the Community of St. John who serves in youth and young adult ministry as chaplain of Eagle Eye Ministries and Seton Hall University.
During her talk, Hanan will help participants to understand how different nervous system states can lock them into survival mode and disconnect them from experiencing hope.
“My prayer is that retreatants, through the grace of God, experience deeper healing and learn how to regulate their bodies well, so they can move away from survival and rest in God,” said Hanan, who is the author of “Befriending Your Inner Child: A Catholic Approach to Healing and Wholeness.”
Perez said that Father Francis’ talk will be “on the spiritual side of hope,” complementing Hanan’s exploration of the topic from the perspective of psychology and neuroscience.
Carvajal admitted that she hadn’t known what to expect when she attended the retreat for the first time in 2021.
What she encountered was a “lively, welcoming, and generally pretty diverse” group.
“We are all here because we love Jesus,” Carvajal said of the participants. “It’s amazing! Conversations in small group — and everywhere, really — are just so intentional.”
Alex Agpaoa, a 27-year-old member of St. Therese of Carmel Parish, is another returning participant. This will be the third consecutive year that he has attended the event.
What drew him the first time was the prospect of making friends with other practicing Catholics.
“The retreat was exactly what I needed,” he said. “I ended up meeting some of my closest friends there and also got introduced to the overall young adult community in San Diego to which I’m very involved in to this day.”
Agpaoa said the retreat is “one of the best places to be introduced to this community.”
The cost to attend is $195 per person.
For more information or to register, visit sdcatholic.org/youngadult.
