MONROE — Six young people and five chaperones from St. Francis of Assisi Church in Jefferson attended a two-day confirmation retreat at Guardian Angel Monastery in Monroe, a first for the parish.
In addition to joining the Missionaries of the Poor in their prayer times, the whole crew pulled five wheelbarrows of weeds from the garden and sorted and stocked food donated by St. Francis Parish and other contributors at the monastery’s warehouse.
The young people also took turns cooking the meals during the retreat. The retreat experience offered them an opportunity to put in practice the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, learning the true joy there is in giving.
— Patrick Hession, correspondent