March 11, 2015 By Amanda Miner Ogdensburg – Chamil Perera, a student at Clarkson University in Potsdam, was one of 20 college students from campuses across the North Country who gathered at Wadhams Hall Feb. 20-22 for a Lenten retreat. He told the North Country Catholic that the theme of the retreat, “I will give you a new heart” (Ezekiel 26:36.) captured his experience perfectly. “Indeed I felt Jesus touching my heart and renewing my spirit to engage with Him with more prayer and to serve Him by sharing His love with my brothers and sisters in college,” he said. “It was a wonderful experience to see my friends again from the fall retreat 2014 and get to know new faces from St. Lawrence and SUNY Canton,”Chamil said. Students also came to Wadhams Hall from SUNY Potsdam, SUNY Plattsburgh and Jefferson Community College in Watertown. As the weekend opened with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Confession, the students were able to spend time with many diocesan priests, including Fathers Thomas Higman, Scott Belina, Bryan Stitt, Mark Reilly, Douglas Lucia and Msgr. Robert Aucoin. Saturday’s schedule included workshops on Courage and the Saints, How to Improve Your Prayer Life, and New Age Trends & The Occult. Kristen Skovan, SUNY Potsdam, said that she particularly enjoyed the workshop presented by Father Higman who broke down the meaning of fortitude and presented St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Gianna Molla as examples of moral courage. The priest then shared some very modern examples of courage to help the students relate. Students read letters from James Foley and Kayla Mueller, who were recently captured and killed by ISIS. They worked in small groups to find examples of fortitude in their words. Ms. Skovan said, “I found the talks on this retreat inspiring. My faith was strengthened through discussions on courage and vulnerability. “However,” she said, “my heart changed the most through fellowship with the other students, who inspired me to be courageously vulnerable.” The retreat was meant to be a time of rest and refueling for the students during Lent. Retreats like these give students the tools to live their faith on secular college campuses. Nikki Zeitzmann, SUNY Canton, said, “I go on the retreats for more spiritual guidance through my busy college schedule. I have a good relationship with God but it can always be improved.
The students were each assigned a saint to “adopt” during Lent. They also received holy water after confession to bring back to their dorms and, after learning about spiritual warfare, they each were given Miraculous Medals on chains. Bishop Terry LaValley celebrated Mass on Saturday evening of the retreat and then spent some time with the students during dinner. Other highlights included Stations of the Cross led by Father Belina, a talk on confession by Father Stitt, a discussion about adoration led by Msgr. Aucoin and a viewing of the movie “The Giver,” followed by discussion.
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“My favorite part of the retreat was getting to experience being closer to God with pe
ople my age who I could relate to,” she said. “So many times we get wrapped up in our own world, sometimes it's nice to step aside for a weekend and give a thank you back to Him.”
