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Next retreat Nov 17-19, 2023

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A Retreat For Adult Children of Divorced/Separated Parents

Dealing with our parents' divorce is not easy but confronting this wound with faith can allow us to find great healing. We hope that you will become part of our supportive community and receive the many graces available through this ministry.

Healing Retreat

Attending the three-day retreat is a great way to start this journey of healing. The retreat focuses on discovering our identity as children of God, although it also focuses on overcoming the effects of parental divorce, forgiving our parents, and connecting with others from this background.

This retreat has something for any adult child of divorce or separation, no matter how much healing you have received or need.

The weekend includes presentations, small group sharing, adoration, spiritual direction, and Mass. This three-day retreat is the centerpiece of this ministry.

Themes covered on the weekend include:

• Finding Our Deepest Identity
• Faith and Our Relationship with God
• Love, Dating, and the Sacrament of Marriage
• Loneliness
• Anger and Anxiety
• False Guilt and Shame
• Forgiveness and Reconciliation
• Family Boundaries
• The Christian Meaning of Suffering
• Healing and the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist
• and more!

 

Fr Luke's testimony

 

Retreat team biographies

 

Fr. Luke Joseph Leighton

Fr. Luke grew up in Red Bank, NJ. He had a conversion experience in high school that led him to receive the Sacraments of Initiation at 15 years old. About a year later, he felt invited by the Lord to share in his priesthood. As a seminarian for the Diocese of Trenton, Fr. Luke attended Seton Hall University, where his knowledge of the faith and the life of prayer grew tremendously.

After graduating, he entered the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and served in the friars’ mission of preaching the Gospel and attending to the needs of the poor in NYC for fifteen years. While living in the Bronx, he served at the Saint Francis Youth Center, Saint Anthony’s Shelter for Renewal, and Cardinal Spellman High School. Fr. Luke was ordained a priest by His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in May of 2013. He completed the Institute for Priestly Formation’s Spiritual Direction Training Program in January 2020. During his time as assistant chaplain at Cardinal Spellman High School Fr. Luke published videos on YouTube which can be viewed here.

 

Brean Bettancourt

Originally from the Central Valley, Brean has worked as a business development professional in the specialty food/agriculture industry for the past 10+ years. She had her first retreat experience with Life-Giving Wounds earlier this year and felt called to give back to a ministry that blessed her immensely.

Brean studied agriculture & communications at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. From 2014-2018, she served as International Responsible for Youth Teams of Our Lady (an international apostolate), which she considers one of her life’s most humbling blessings and adventures. In 2020, she became an alumnus of the California Agricultural Leadership Program, a fellowship aimed at developing leaders for a vibrant agricultural community.

Most recently, Brean uncovered a longstanding desire to serve as an instrument of God’s healing through the helping profession. In 2021, she began pursuing a Master’s Degree in Counseling at Divine Mercy University through their online program. Her dream is to serve as a Catholic Mental Health Professional and to offer reduced cost/complimentary mental health services to religious and consecrated life.

Brean lives in Ventura County and enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, reading, and all things food (cooking, dining, wine, & cocktails!) Most importantly, she enjoys learning more about the Catholic faith and finds it is truly an ocean of beauty, joy, rich tradition, and purpose.

 

Katherine Ambrose 

Katherine grew up in the suburbs of Portland, Maine with her four siblings. She graduated from The University of New Hampshire with her Master’s in Occupational Therapy (OT) and spent the first few years of her career working as a travel OT, living in NYC and Maui. Katherine now resides in San Francisco at Priory East, a Catholic women’s house, and works at a pediatric clinic in the city. She has a passion for building community, connecting people, and helping others maximize their potential. Katherine is the co-president of the Bay Area Association of Pediatric Therapists, host of The Visitation Podcast, and founder of Miss Sensational, a non-profit in Maine for girls and women with disabilities.

Her parents divorced and annulled their marriage when she was 6 years old, and she began the journey of intentional healing in early adulthood through therapy and reversion to the Catholic faith that deepened her relationship with God. Katherine attended her first Life Giving Wounds retreat in March 2022, and she is honored to accompany all those sharing the wound of divorced parents. When she’s not too busy with one of her many side projects or creating action plans, you can find Katherine working out, hiking, skiing, sipping coffee, FaceTiming with her adorable nephew, or browsing the vegan snacks at Trader Joe’s.

 

Hallie Colorado

Hallie Colorado, knew from a very young age that God created her to be a servant to others. As a young child she set up a folding lawn chair in her driveway and offered neighborhood kids advice for all their life’s problems. That love of helping others continues with her to this day, and she has spent her life educating herself in the field of psychology and mental health.

Hallie Colorado holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and has worked with several populations, including Catholic seminarians as adjunct professor at St. Patrick’s seminary in Menlo Park, and the school counselor for two archdiocese K-8 schools. Dr. Colorado has also spent years working with engaged couples leading Engaging the Heart, as well as working at Stanford Children’s hospital’s pediatric cardiology unit.

She is currently the Director of Parish Outreach and Community at St. Raymond Catholic church where she and her family have been parishioners for over a decade. Hallie is the proud mother of a beautiful group of little ladies, and is happily married to her favorite guy. She is an adult child of divorce and is incredibly passionate about helping others through the grief, trauma and healing associated with this life altering event. 

 

Kellen Troxell

Born and raised in Southern California, Kellen is a high school Theology teacher in the Bay Area. She completed a BA in Theology and Religious Studies at St. Mary’s College of California and is finishing up masters degrees in philosophy and theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, CA. Kellen is passionate about integrating intellectual and personal growth as well as the possibility of healing and restoration that Christ offers to each one of us.

Divorce and dysfunction go back multiple generations in Kellen’s extended family. Attending the November LGW retreat was a powerful step forward in her healing journey. She is grateful for the opportunity to now walk this journey with others.

When she isn’t busy grading papers or writing her masters thesis, she can be found taking long drives through western Marin County, listening to a podcast, reading, hanging out in local coffee shops, or planning her next cooking adventure.

 

Before registering, please be aware of the following:

• All are very welcome to join us on retreat whether you are Catholic or not, but please be aware that the content of this retreat will be Catholic.


• A team of presenters will speak about this wound and its effects, and there will be moments for you to share your experiences with others in small groups.


• As with all retreats, everything will be treated on a strictly confidential basis.  This is a spiritual retreat, not primarily psychological, but we will have a list of counselors available as a resource outside of the retreat itself for those who are interested.


• Healing retreats pair well with counseling and/or spiritual direction. If you are not already working through this wound with someone, we would encourage you to consider it. If you would like a recommendation, please give us a call.

 

Begins on Friday (Mar 17) at 6:00 pm, and ends Sunday (Mar 19) at 3:30 pm.  Includes Holy Mass, chance for confessions and Adoration.

Registration is $425 for a single room, $375 for a double (shared) room.  Limited scholarships are available - contact Ed Hopfner