Retreat Programs Available
at HRC
Tres Dias
Tres Dias is an inter-denominational 3-day
weekend retreat.
The focus of the weekend is "God's
unmerited love. The weekend
is designed to show the special love
that God pours out on us.
This is love that is unconditional,
unmerited, and for which
the only true response can be love in
return. The goal is to
empower Christians to become leaders
within their families, their
small groups, their churches, and their
communities. Participants
often return to their own church with
renewed commitment.
Here's the upcoming Tres Dias dates for '08:
Men's #144 01/31/08 - 06/10/08
Women's #144 02/21/08 - 0 2/24/08
Men's #145 05/29/08 - 06/01/08
Women's #145 07/10/08 - 07/13/08
Men's #146 10/30/08 - 11/02/08
Women's #146 12/04/08 - 12/07/08
All weekends are held at Mt. Alvernia in Wappingers Falls. All weekends
start on a Thursday evening and ends on late Sunday afternoon.
The History of Tres Dias
The Three Days (Tres
Dias) had it's beginnings in the turmoil and
destruction of civil warfare and the
Second World War, which left
Spain with empty churches and a sense
of aimlessness and diminished
dreams. Late in the 1940's, a sense of
revival was stirring within the
Roman Catholic Church. Small group of of friends in various Catholic
action groups began to share their
faith regularly to help one another.
Pilgrimages were organized whereby men
and women could rededicate their
lives toward Christian ideals. Bishop
Juan Hervas, who was active in
action groups and renewal activities
with the men on the
met through these sharing groups. They
began to see how the church could
benefit and the lives of people could
be changed through studying and
sharing their lives in Christ.
With a broadening vision of what these
small Reunion Groups could
accomplish, weekly meetings produced
periodic retreats where the
reality of living a Christian life was
intensively taught and
experienced through support of the
Reunion Groups. These retreats
became known as Cursillos
de Christiandad, which means "short courses
in Christianity." Originally, the
retreats grew out of the Reunion Groups!
At first, Cursillos
were open only to men. After the tragedy of war in
revitalize the church, this meant
bringing men back into the activities
of the church.
The Cursillo
movement was confined to
a group of men from the Spanish Air
Force who were training in
and in a Reunion Group, conducted the
first Cursillo in the
Among the Spanish-speaking people the
movement began to spread across
the
the early 1960's.
When Protestants began attending
weekends, Roman Catholics saw the need
to make the experience available to
Protestants which led to the development
of the ecumenical Tres
Dias Movement. The first Tres Dias weekend, open
to all Christian traditions, was held
in
(at the Oblate House -- the same
location where Mid-Hudson Tres Dias weekends
were held until 2001 when the Oblate
House was sold and later demolished!).
Dave McManigal,
a Protestant who had attended a Roman Catholic Cursillo
and who was led to be instrumental in
forming Tres Dias, was the first
Rector. From there Tres
Dias spread into
the national Tres
Dias organization. As of 2005, there were over 60 Tres
Dias communities worldwide. The
International Secretariat meets three
times per year. For more information on
the worldwide aspects of Tres Dias,
go to the international Tres Dias website at www.tresdias.org.
Tres Dias is unique in that it is a Christian
experience open to all
who are in agreement with the Statement
of Faith and who desire a deeper
relationship with Jesus Christ. Tres Dias is not sponsored by any single
Christian denomination.
As this movement continues to grow, we
pray that it will continue to be
faithful to God's Spirit. May we be
among the Christian leaders God is
using to revitalize His people.
MOST IMPORTANT: Although Tres Dias is a powerful tool which God has used
consistently, it must NEVER take the
place of, or be a substitute for
worship in your own church. Rather, it
should enhance your regular church
commitment!
HRC’ers who have experienced Tres
Dias:
Amy/Ron Abramowitz
Dianne/Doug Archer
Faith Archer
Jim Archer
Stephen Archer
Barbara/Bernie Argyle
Amy Barton
Dawn/Norm Bell
susan Bremiller
David Bushey
Gary/Barbara Cassaro
Birgit/Duncan Chisholm
Tom Csillag
Holly/Jim Collins
Tony/Maryann Congi
Babs/Steve Conklin
Janie/Steve Dambra
Leslie Doerler/Mark
McConnell
Gerry Enger
Matt Feehan
Susie/Carl Fehrmann
Cindy/Steve Pfluger
Teresa/Jeff Gerlach
Pam/Chris Hansen
Cathy/Taylor Holbrook
Sherri/Tom Hondorp
Judy/Pete Jaeger
Veronica/David Kaleta
Lourdes Kleid
Carole/ Kevin Kosakowski
Rick Knesnik
Kurt Knoernschild
Carole Kuney
Marge Lawrence
Barbara/Ray LeGrand
Bill Levy
Faye/Rich Lotze
Elke/Neal Marsh
Mary/Bob Merillat
Lynn/Wayne Morrison
Carol/Dave O'Malley
Pat Oreson
Susan/Nelson Nieves
Bruce Pearson
Stephanie/Mike Reynolds
Beverly/Rick Rieland
Stuart Silvern
Linda/Bruce Smith
Lorraine Valk
Fred Wells
Ginny/John Young
Linda Zieres
Marilyn Zieres
Vida Nueva
Vida Nueva is an ecumenical,
evangelical Christian retreat weekend
and movement. It encourages teenagers
to commit their lives to Jesus
Christ and to live as Christians.
Vida Nueva ...
· is Spanish for "New Life".
· is a three-day weekend retreat
spanning Friday evening through
· Sunday evening.
· is a weekend of living in community.
· embodies personal witness, but is not
a revival meeting.
· involves group dynamics, but is not
group therapy.
· employs Christian instruction, but is
not a church school.
· does have follow-up activities, but
is not a church substitute.
· is an experience with Jesus Christ.
About the Weekend
The Vida Nueva weekend contains a series
of talks given by a
volunteer team of clergy, youth, and
adults. The talks follow
the basic themes of Christianity in its
day-to-day application,
and are followed by table discussions.
Worship during the weekend is in the
Protestant tradition.
Young men and women from age 15 to 20
may attend.
April 13-15, 2007 Young Women's
Mid-Hudson VN# 99
April 27-29, 2007 Young Men's
Mid-Hudson VN# 100
HRC Youth Attendees (in addition to the
adults above):
Faith Archer Jim Archer
Steve Archer Paul Eckhardt
David Merillat Mike Miller
Kairos
Kairos is translated as "God's Special
Time" and it's
· Christian - Kairos
volunteers represent the Christian faith
and present a Christian perspective.
· Ecumenical - Kairos
volunteers come from many Christian
denominations, but present only those
principles that all
share in common.
· Lay-led - Kairos
leadership is drawn from lay persons,
although clergy play a vital role.
· Volunteer - Kairos
is an overwhelmingly volunteer organization,
with over 20,000 volunteers worldwide.
· Ministry - Kairos
ministers to incarcerated individuals, their
families, and those who work with them.
KAIROS MINISTRIES
- Beacon Kairos
for women - April '07
- Fishkill Kairos
for men - March 22 - 25, '07
Kairos Programs for Incarcerated Men and Women
Well-organized and well-trained
volunteer teams of men and women
from the communities surrounding an
institution present an
introductory 3-day weekend, described
as a short course in Christianity.
This inter-denominational team of
volunteers - both clergy and
laypersons - works in cooperation with
the Chaplain who carefully
selects up to 42 inmate leaders to
attend. A well-organized
follow up program is part of this
ministry.
Kairos Torch for Youthful Offenders
Kairos Torch offers unconditional love and
acceptance, encouraging
young men and women to share their life
journey through participation
in a long term mentoring process. The
program begins with a weekend
retreat inside the prison. Torch team
members commit to a weekly
mentoring process with the youthful
offenders for six months after
the weekend.
Kairos Outside for Female Family and Friends
Kairos Outside is a special weekend retreat
designed to support the
female loved ones of men and women who
are or have been incarcerated.
Families of the
incarcerated "do time" right along with their loved
ones. In a safe environment with loving people,
women interact with
other women who are in similar
situations and learn to form small
groups to support and give them
strength for the challenges they face.
Kairos Facts
Kairos is a Christian, lay-led, ecumenical,
volunteer
international prison ministry, in which
men and women
volunteers bring Christ's love and
forgiveness to incarcerated
individuals and to their families. Kairos consists of three
programs: the Men's and Women's
Ministry, begun in 1976,
Kairos Outside, begun in 1991, and Kairos Torch, begun in 1997.
The Men's and Women's Ministry
addresses the spiritual needs
of prisoners. Kairos
volunteers go into prisons in teams of
20 to 40 to pray, share the love and
forgiveness of Jesus Christ,
share meals, and fellowship with the
incarcerated on a one-to-one
basis. The first visit is a three-day
event, during which time
the team teaches a short introductory
course on Christianity.
Subsequent visits are monthly half-day
reunions with the prisoners
over a twelve-month period.
Kairos Outside provides spiritual healing to
families of the
incarcerated, who often feel that they
too are "doing time".
Spouses, parents and other relatives of
prisoners meet with teams
of Kairos
volunteers to share their faith and gain strength from
Christian community.
Kairos Torch provides a ministry to youthful
offenders, the
most rapidly growing segment of the
prison system. Because young
people between the ages of 13 and 19
are generally housed in smaller
institutions than adult offenders,
smaller-sized teams participate
in this ministry.
Kairos Ministries currently operates in 270 prisons
in 33 states,
170,000 incarcerated men and women have
been introduced to Kairos,
since its inception. The current number
of volunteers exceeds
20,000 per year.
Kairos Outside is active in 19 states,
and
in 10 locations.
Kairos Prison Ministry affects the lives of
prisoners in countless
positive ways. Lives have been changed,
and former inmates re-enter
society as better spouses, parents and
employees. Many released
prisoners become volunteers, and give
back to society. Some start
their own ministries, pastor churches,
while others run re-entry
programs, and become mentors.
In 2003, Kairos
volunteers donated over 3.5 million volunteer
hours to the various departments of
corrections here and abroad.
If you multiply 3.5 million times the
minimum wage in the
$5.15 per hour, our ministry donated
$18 million in volunteer time.
Volunteers paid $2 million for
supplies, bringing the total donation
to $20 million.
Last year we held 618 weekend programs
in 309 ministry sites:
502 Kairos
weekends,
80 Kairos
Outside weekends
36 Torch weekends.
The remaining volunteer time was spent
in pre-weekend and post-weekend
trainings and activities.
In addition to having a positive impact
on prisoners, the program
also has a very favorable effect upon
volunteers. Many volunteers
acknowledge that the team training,
with its emphasis on introspection,
honesty, sharing, and community,
enhances their spirituality.
Kairos programs have gained the respect of the correctional
system too.
In a study of 505 inmates released from
rate was 15.7% among those who had
participated in one Kairos session,
and 10% among those who had
participated in two or more Kairos sessions.
The non-Kairos
control group in the study had a recidivism rate of 23.4%.
The savings to the taxpayer are
substantial. As one former prisoner put
it: "It cost the government about $1,000,000 to try me and to
imprison me
for several years, but a $100 program keeps me out".