School Retreat in Drongen

The lockdowns during Covid has done much to each of us. This can obviously be seen in the changes in behavior of our students which reminds us of the importance of cura personalis. The cura personalis also applies to our staff members, who have been going true a lot the past two years.

Every year we offer a school retreat in de Old Abbey in Drongen. We have done this since the 1980’s. The format of marriage encounter has for long time formed the blueprint for the retreat. Although this format is still the backbone of the program, some elements has changed to be able to be accessible for those who are not familiar with marriage encounter.

This year the number of applicants was twice the amount of last years. The staff members pointed out that covid brought up the need to reflect upon the way their life has been going. Of course if covid was a crisis, it gave the opportunity to choose whether to go ahead as always or take a new path in life.

Guided by Bart Bekkers SJ and Peter Peelen Sj the staff members took on 2,5 days of quiet reflection, prayer and dialogue. The retreat had the theme “Dare to live!” which derived from the Ignatian notion of formation of the whole person, this time, the person of the staff member.

In the ELC the Ignatian Paradigm is “summarized” in 10 points, called “movements”. This year the last five movements formed the content of the program. These are: The 4 C’s, Unity in diversity, finding God in All Things, en todo amar y server, the Examen. These photo’s give a certain impression of the weekend.