Behold the Man and Be Strengthened
for your Holy Week journey
This Holy Week, begin by pressing pause on the chaos of life and lean into the Sacred Mysteries as they reach their liturgical and spiritual culmination.
“Ecce Homo: The Last Supper”, happening March 26-28, is a retreat designed with the busy, modern Catholic in mind.
But that doesn’t mean this is “Holy Week Lite.” Quite the contrary.
Here at the Avila Foundation, everything we do is designed to take you deeper, past the surface-level–or far worse, the false–spirituality of the times. This retreat, as with everything we do, will no doubt be an invitation into a great interior silence. One that will make the world fall away for a while. One that will make us marvel at mystery and bow to the sacred realities unfolding in our midst.
Jesus Christ died and rose that we might know true peace.
Come and partake of the peace that he died for.
Join us for “Ecce Homo: The Last Supper’ by signing up here:
Schedule
Thursday, March 26
- 4:30PM – 8:00PM CST
Friday, March 27
- 11:00AM – 8:00PM CST
Saturday, March 28
- 11:00AM – 3:00PM CST
*Schedule subject to revision*
**All times are in central time zone**
Meet Our Speakers!
Dan Burke
Dan Burke is the past President and C.O.O. of EWTN’s worldwide news network. He is presently the founder and President of the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation, which offers graduate and personal enrichment studies in spiritual theology to priests, deacons, religious, and laity in 90 countries and prepares men for seminary in over 40 dioceses. Dan is the author and editor of numerous books on authentic Catholic spirituality and hosts the Divine Intimacy Radio show with his wife, Stephanie, which is broadcast weekly on EWTN Radio. Past episodes can be found, along with thousands of articles on the interior life, at SpiritualDirection.com. In his deep commitment to the advancement of faithful Catholic spirituality, he is also the founder of Apostoli Viae, a world-wide, private association of the faithful dedicated to living and advancing the authentic spiritual patrimony of the Church. Most importantly, Dan is a blessed husband, father of four, grandfather of one—and grateful to be Catholic.
Dr. Ralph Martin
Ralph Martin is the president of Renewal Ministries and the host of the weekly Catholic television program The Choices We Face. He holds a doctorate in theology and is the director of Graduate Theology Programs in the New Evangelization at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of Detroit. Ralph is also the author of the widely read A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward and The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook for the Journey to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints.
Ralph and his wife, Anne, reside in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and have six children and nineteen grandchildren.
Dr. Mark Miravalle
Dr. Mark Miravalle earned his Sacred Theological Doctorate at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He holds the Saint John Paul II Chair of Mariology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he has been teaching since 1986.
Dr. Miravalle is the founder and senior editor of Ecce Mater Tua, an international journal of Mariology research. He is also president of the International Marian Association, comprised of more than 130 theologians, bishops, clergy, and laity worldwide who seek to promote Marian devotion and doctrine.
Fr. Boniface Hicks, OSB
Father Boniface Hicks, OSB, is a Benedictine monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Since his ordination to the priesthood in 2004, he has provided spiritual direction for many men and women, including married couples, seminarians, consecrated religious, and priests, even while completing his PhD in computer science at Penn State University. He became the programming manager and an on-air contributor for We Are One Body® Catholic radio in 2010 and has recorded thousands of radio programs on theology and the spiritual life. Father Boniface has extensive experience as a retreat master for laity, consecrated religious, and priests. He became the director of Spiritual Formation for Saint Vincent Seminary in 2016 and has offered courses there on spiritual direction. In 2018 he became a founding contributor of the Saint Vincent Seminary Institute of Ministry Formation through which he offers teaching on the spiritual life and also provides spiritual direction formation. Together with Father Thomas Acklin, OSB, he is the author of Spiritual Direction: A Guide for Sharing the Father’s Love, published by Emmaus Road Publishing.
Dr. John Bergsma
A former Protestant pastor, Dr. Bergsma has authored numerous books on Scripture and the Catholic faith, including Jesus and the Jubilee: The Biblical Roots of the Year of God’s Favor and The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings series. He has also published over two dozen peer-reviewed or invited essays and articles in various scholarly journals, festschrifts, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and essay collections. Dr. Bergsma speaks regularly for parish missions, diocesan conferences, clergy convocations, and other events nationally and internationally. He and his wife Dawn reside with their eight children in Steubenville, Ohio.
Christopher Carstens
Christopher Carstens directs the Office for Sacred Worship in the Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin; coordinates the Institute for Liturgical Studies at Christendom College; and edits the Adoremus Bulletin. He serves as a consultant to the USCCB’s Committee on Divine Worship, and he is the author of A Devotional Journey into the Mass and A Devotional Journey into the Easter Mystery (Sophia), as well as Principles of Sacred Liturgy: Forming a Sacramental Vision (Hillenbrand Books). He and his family live in Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin.
Dr. Anthony Lilles
Anthony Lilles, STD, a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, completed his graduate and post-graduate studies in Rome at the Angelicum. His expertise is in Saint Elisabeth of the Trinity and the Carmelite Doctors of the Church. He is currently a professor of spiritual theology at St Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, CA. Previously he was a founding faculty member of St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, and afterwards an associate professor at St John’s Seminary for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In 2012, Discerning Hearts published his book “Hidden Mountain, Secret Garden: A Theological Contemplation on Prayer,”. Through Emmaus Press, he and Dan Burke wrote “30 Days with Teresa of Avila”and Living the Mystery of Merciful Love: 30 Days with Therese of Lisieux. . And, his book “Fire from Above” was published in 2016 by Sophia Institute Press. Prof. Lilles assisted Dan Burke in founding the Avila Institute and the High Calling Program for priestly vocations. He podcasts at www.discerninghearts.com, offers retreats to religious communities, gives spiritual conferences and lectures on the Catholic Spiritual Tradition.
Dr. Helene Paharik
Coming Soon