Spiritual Retreats for Priests in Pakistan

Priests, to be able to muster all the love and spiritual strength required for their vocation, need to have “the spiritual heart muscles of a Rambo,” said then-Fr. Mauro Piacenza, now Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, back in 2009, during the Year of the Priest. Indeed, the challenges and demands that priests often have to face — sometimes in the most challenging of conditions — can often lead to exhaustion and occasionally even genuine spiritual crisis. Retreats and days of reflection can help them to regenerate their inner strength, in prayer and silence, and find spiritual accompaniment in shared fraternal community with other priests.

Thanks to your generous support, every year, we are able to help priests in many countries around the world to take part in such retreats — countries like Pakistan, where religious live in a state of constant tension. At every moment, they face the threat of terrorism, violence, and false accusations. In a country where Christians are regularly persecuted and discriminated against, the priest often stands alone in the face of immense challenges, while the Catholic faithful, overwhelmingly from the lowest rungs of society and defenseless in these situations, turn to him for every need. “In the seminary, we are prepared spiritually for the priesthood,” one priest explains. “But the real ‘training’ of the priest happens outside the seminary.” For $150 or an amount that feels right to you, you can a help a priest in Pakistan to draw strength from this vital source of spiritual renewal.

Will you join us in supporting their spiritual life?

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