Invations from the ACCC Chairman and Retreat Director

My Lords, Fathers and Deacons,

In his famous treatise on the spiritual life, The Soul of the Apostolate, Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard poignantly declared: “We must never leave the God of works for the works of God!” The Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy is pleased to offer this retreat as an opportunity for you to come away from the work of the Lord so as to rediscover the Lord of the work. Over six restful days, we will hear encouraging conferences from Fr Joseph Carola SJ and join together for reverent and dignified prayer within the beautiful setting of Hartzer Park Retreat Center. Intimacy with the Lord is imperative for any minister of God, but especially so in the increasingly difficult times in which we live. I commend this retreat to you, confident that it will truly enable you to encounter the living God.

In Christ,

Fr Gregory Pritchard
Chairman, Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy

Dear Bishops, Priests and Deacons of Australia,

“Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” the good Lord compassionately commands (Matt 11:28). In Jesus’ humble Heart we rest secure. It is our refuge and safe harbour amid the storm. No harm can ever come to us bathed there in His mercy. The sabbatical leisure of Christ’s Heart ensures our celibacy is lived for the sake of the Kingdom. Its contemplative repose heals the fractured reality of a world continually fragmented by sin. The Heart of Jesus is, if you will, a technology-free zone. The digital stressors that threaten our lives have no place there. Just as Jesus invited His disciples to go off to a deserted place and rest awhile from their apostolic labours, so too does He invite thinly stretched and overly-taxed priests in our own age to enter into His Heart, where His Mother Mary continually places us, and to find our rest. For it is there that He, the Good Shepherd, revives and nourishes the drooping spirits of his priests. I invite you to join me on this retreat for a week of rest and renewal in the Heart of the Lord.

In Domino,

Fr Joseph Carola SJ
Retreat Director

Retreat Director | Fr Joseph Carola SJ

Fr Joseph Carola SJ was born in Houston, Texas, in 1962. After entering the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus in 1980 he was ordained a priest in 1993. In 2001 he obtained his doctorate in theology and patristic sciences from the Patristic Institute Augustinianum in Rome and has been a professor of patristic theology at the Gregorian University since 2002. He is a skilled retreat master, having directed retreats for many Roman and American seminarians and clergy. In the Year for Priests he published a volume of meditations on priestly life and ministry, Conformed to Christ Crucified (Gregorian & Biblical Press), to which he has since added two further volumes. Fr Carola’s “A Patristic Pastoral Trilogy: Striving after holiness for the sake of our service,” which features in his third volume of meditations, was presented at the ACCC’s 2010 International Conference in Rome.

Proposed Horarium