Retreat Serves Residents and Volunteers Alike

At the beginning of the REC (Residents Encounter Christ) retreat weekend, some of the participants are standoffish. It’s understandable. As residents at Barnstable Correctional Facility in Bourne, Massachusetts, each has his or her own story of how life has been difficult.

By the end of the weekend, however, participants have undergone a transformation. “Without question, residents change in some way,” said Theresa Brosnan, who directs several most of the retreats. “It could be minor, their facial features, the way they carry themselves, but there is a definite physical change in them. Everything is different.”

Theresa has been a member of the American Association’s Boston Area for five years and has worked in prison ministry for 25 years. Before COVID, in addition to helping to run the REC retreats, she would make weekly visits to the prison. “What we are doing is bringing spirituality, a sense of God and purpose to their lives,” she said.

REC provides six retreats a year at Barnstable, three for men and three for women. Anywhere from 20 to 40 participants join in along with 15 to 18 volunteers. The retreats are a variation of Cursillo with adjustment to meet the needs of the incarcerated. Components include witness talks, reflection time, and a shared meal. Priests are available on Saturday to administer Reconciliation, and on Sunday a priest celebrates Mass.

During the weekend, residents are divided into discussion groups, which Theresa said is where a lot of the sharing begins. An aspect of the retreat that differs from the Cursillo, and where sharing also takes place, is the Broken Chains talk. Often given by someone who has been in jail, it presents an example of how the Holy Spirit intervened to help the individual break the chains.

REC benefits, not only the residents, but also the team that runs the retreat. “There is such love in that group,” Theresa said. “And when we go in, we go in as a force with that love. I think that’s part of what brings the change in the residents. And it brings a change in me as well.”

REC is an inter denominational Christian ministry to prisoners that began in the late 1960s and takes place in various locations throughout the United States as well as Nicaragua.

For more information visit www.cursillos.ca/en/expansion/groupes/rec.htm.