Spirituality and Ministry: Catholic Youth Organization Retreats in the Archdiocese of Boston, 1965–1985

Abstract

While spiritual retreats had been part of Catholic clerical and religious life for centuries, this specialized time of concentrated prayer and reflection became normative for the laity only in the twentieth century. At approximately the same time, youth ministry, a specialized outreach to teenagers, was inaugurated under the moniker of the Catholic Youth Organization. Beginning in 1965, these two relatively new ministries, laymen's retreats and youth ministry, combined in the Archdiocese of Boston in a series of retreats known as the SEARCH for Christian Maturity. Under Monsignor Robert McNeill's guidance, the retreats were offered to high school juniors and seniors, and a second program, Overnight, was offered to freshman and sophomores. The retreats became mainstays for Boston high school students' spiritual development for two decades. This specific outreach to youth prepared leaders for the Boston Church in the latter twentieth century and beyond.