We were very blessed to host ~200 women on retreat on Saturday, 3/28! The day was filled with grace. The retreat included Mass, talks, Adoration, confession, small groups, 1 on 1 time, fellowship, and, of course, food! Thank you to the many people who helped with this retreat, especially the 12 priests who came to hear confessions. 

We were blessed to host spring break groups from Michigan State University, Carroll College (Helena, MT), Ferris State (Big Rapids, MI), and St. Ambrose (Davenport, IA)

Michigan State’s trip was just for medical students. They assisted with clinics at the pantries and health presentations for kids and seniors. The other groups were undergrads who helped with the pantries, cleaning, moving, helping at the afterschool program and more! We are grateful for all the help!

We had a confirmation retreat for over 300 students last weekend on February 28th! Students listened to talks, went to Adoration, could go to confession, had Mass, played games, did small groups, and, of course, ate food! It was an awesome day + filled with grace. Please check out some highlights here:

We hosted an awesome men’s retreat in mid January! Over 70 men attended, with an amazing mix of ages, parishes, professions, and states of life. The day included Mass, talks by Bishop Bob, our friend Deacon Conrad, and Sr. Stephanie, small groups, opportunities for prayer and personal reflection, a Eucharistic Holy Hour, the sacrament of Reconciliation, and a fun, funny, and very informative panel on prayer with Bishop Bob and two of our Chicago transitional deacons (and long-time friends of the community), Deacon Conrad and Deacon John. Reach out to us at olamission@gmail.com if you want to get on the wait-list for next year’s Men’s Retreat!

We also ran a confirmation retreat at Queen of All Saints for about 220 confirmandi. Retreat included Mass, talks, Adoration, confession, games, and more! It was a blessed day, enjoyed by all!

We were blessed to host a group from Diocese of Joliet who sponsored and helped us with a community lunch for about 150 of our neighbors on 9/27. The group heard retreat talks from Franciscans Friday- Sunday, prayed with the Franciscans, and helped set up/ serve/ clean up from our community lunch! Thank you!

We were blessed to host over 60 students from the University of Illinois Chicago Newman Center for their spring retreat last week! We were blessed to host them at the Mission.

We were blessed to host about 70 men on retreat on 1/18/25. This was our first open registration men's retreat! We had time for Eucharistic Adoration, talks, confession, individual prayer, a panel on prayer, and time for fellowship. It was a very blessed day!

We were blessed to host about 100 women on retreat on 9/21/24. This was the first retreat we have ever hosted with open registration for anyone who wanted to sign up. We had time for Eucharistic Adoration, talks, confession, individual prayer, intercessory pray teams, a panel on prayer, and time for fellowship. It was a very blessed day!

We were grateful to have students from Midwestern State University (Wichita Falls, TX) this week who helped with the pantry, afterschool program, gardening and more!! They were a huge help.

We hosted an awesome retreat for ~50 young adults from St. Clement's Parish this last weekend. The theme of the retreat was centered on Mass, Adoration, and talks from the Franciscans. Thank you so much for joining us, St. Clement's!

We were blessed to host 50+ people from the UIC Newman center were on retreat at the Mission this weekend. It was a blessing to have them!

We were so grateful to host a parish group from St. John's, IN for a service retreat that included serving at the mobile pantry, helping with background tasks, Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, personal prayer time, and small groups! It was an awesome weekend for all involved.

We were blessed to be joined by groups from Iowa State University, University of Notre Dame, Northern State University (Aberdeen, SD) this week!! We were able to do so much around the Mission, plus we had an awesome Night of Mercy at Jesus Bread of Life Parish where HUNDREDS of people came to Adoration and went to confession! Pictures below are from the Night of Mercy + show the group from Northern State.

We had 4 college groups serve with us over their spring break and hosted an awesome young adult retreat from St. Clement's! It has been such a blessing to use the new retreat center. Thank you to all who have made this possible.
The group from Ferris State University's Catholic Center is pictured below! This group helped with the pantry and building maintenance- thank you for your help!

We hosted 50+ young adults on retreat in the former school this weekend from UIC-Newman! It was our first official young adult retreat.