Is this just a Catholic thing?

eclaires

So I went to a private Catholic high school, and they do a big senior retreat - it's like 4 days long.

Anyway, on one of the days [I think 3rd - It's been almost 10 years since mine], they give letters to the students that their family/friends write.  I think the retreat leaders read the letters from their parents and then they get like seriously a bag full of letters after that from everyone in the community.

As a former retreater, I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to have been writing letters for every retreat since I went, but I only do it for my family and friends.

Tonight, I'm writing the one to my cousin, who is like my little sister, and it's so hard - because I am way too emotional about it.  Ahhhhhh.

and here she is - she's beautiful. 

 

BubblyToes

She's gorgeous. 

Angela814

I'm Catholic and have never done anything like that. Maybe it's specific to a Catholic high school?

eclaires

Could be - all of my friends who went to Catholic high schools have done it.

I think some of the parishes run programs like it, too, but it seems much more popular with the high schools.

cristiana

She's beautiful!

I went to a Catholic, all-girls school, and we did that too. I still have all of my letters somewhere around here.

HAFranklin

I also went to a private Catholic High School. We did go on retreat, but our letters were written by us, to ourselves on our first day of freshman year. We had to list goals we had wished to accomplish throughout our high school experience, and moral values we had hoped to adhere to.

Yodajo

She's gorgeous.

Like the pp, I have never heard of that and I have gone to Catholic schools from elementary through college and been to lots of retreats as well.  I'm a little jealous.  Its sounds really special.

If you think you're an emotional mess now, just wait until you have to write own for your own kids.  I would be a sobbing, emotional wreck, I think!

eclaires

cristiana:

She's beautiful!

I went to a Catholic, all-girls school, and we did that too. I still have all of my letters somewhere around here.

me too, xti!    LOL, I should dig those out.

I still remember my letter from my grandpa because he signed it with a heart that had our initials in it.  I kept it on my bulletin board all through college, too, because it always made me smile when I saw it.

eclaires

Yodajo - I know - it's insane to even think about, but I really hope the Catholic schools here do it if we haven't moved back to my hometown.

It's a really great experience - the whole idea of the retreat is to show that you're loveable and special and important.  And it's nice to take the opportunity to tell people how you feel about them - I loved doing this for my brothers when they went on retreat.

At our high school it was a surprise about the letters - we had no idea.  Then the last day when we come back from retreat, all of our parents, friends, and former retreat people are there waiting for you.  That was a total shock too.

cristiana

eclaires:

cristiana:

She's beautiful!

I went to a Catholic, all-girls school, and we did that too. I still have all of my letters somewhere around here.

me too, xti!    LOL, I should dig those out.

I still remember my letter from my grandpa because he signed it with a heart that had our initials in it.  I kept it on my bulletin board all through college, too, because it always made me smile when I saw it.

How cute!

What else did you guys do? I vaguely remember making friendship bread and literally sitting around a campfire, holding hands, and singing Kumbaya. lol!

eclaires

LOL, I have somehow blocked out most of it beyond that we had small groups in our bigger group and our retreat leaders [former students and current faculty] would give speeches about their lives/struggles.

But yes, we always joked that it was about breaking us down emotionally until all we could think was how awesome senior retreat was.  The other big thing besides the letters was that everyone met us at school on the day we got back, even though we all thought we'd just be seeing them later [like I had carpooled with my best friend to school the day we left for retreat so we could leave only one car there].

Oh and the pins we all got said [LOL] - "I'm Loveable.  God doesn't make junk."  hehe.  The other big thing was "Live the 4th" because retreat was 4ish days long and the point was remember that feeling on the 4th day and live each day like that or something.

It's been a long time since I've been involved beyond writing letters since I didn't live in my hometown after I graduated.  Some of my friends have gone as retreat leaders, though.  They really enjoyed that.  I probably would hate it since I hate talking in front of people and sharing my life story.

Kersbear

I'm Catholic and we had letters written for us on our confirmation retreat.

Temp108743750006959

I was in a Catholic group called Antioch when I was in hs (and I was Jewish, go figure) and letter writing was big. It was nice.

Yodajo

I feel incredibly gypped after reading the replies in this post.  12+ years of Catholic school and not even one stinkin' letter?! 

And seriously, I can't think of a better time than high school to get a letter saying how loved and special you are.   Your self esteem takes such a beating in high school that letters like that should be standard!

CleoKitty

I went to a Jesuit high school. We had Kairos retreats each year but they were optional and you had to pay extra for them (or maybe they were only for the juniors/seniors- I don't remember for certain). I was one of the few people who never went to a single one. My family had lots of financial issues and there was no way they were paying for a retreat.

Even if we did have the money though I still didn't want to do it because of the whole letter thing. Someone offered to pay for me to go once but I declined because I knew that the whole letter-writing thing would be horrible and totally backfire. I doubt my parents would have been willing to write such a letter and even if they had, I would have been highly uncomfortable reading it. 

Chrisy-Wyobride

I went to Catholic school & did do a retreat but I don't recall the letter thing.  BUT we had an optional retreat most of us did called TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) & there you are suprised by friends & family who write letters & come (if possible) that last night.  It's a great experience for most everyone that participates.

https://www.tecconference.org/1.html 

meglew

I went to a Catholic high school and we also did something similar, only it was our Junior year.  I also think I might have the letters stored away somewhere.  I bawled like a baby while reading some of the letters.  The retreat overall was a great experience.

dpdw

I went to Catholic school from K through college & never went on an overnight retreat.  Not even for pre-Cana.  Maybe I'm just a bad Catholic?

prism207

Sounds like Kairos to me, the Catholic HS I taught at does them.  The kids always came back weepy and so on.

 

heyitsme

There is no big senior retreat at my Catholic HS but I went on and ran MANY retreats involving Palancas. I know they're called different things on different retreats, though. I loved loved loved writing them. But I love to write, so it always seemed easy.