All 235 9th graders attended their annual retreat this week, held on the campus of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart school St. Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The goal of the retreat was to promote and expose students to various prayer forms. Music minister Cooper Ray, of Dallas, Texas, was the featured presenter; he led the entire group through ice breakers and an overall introduction to the day. He also led multiple break out sessions on lifting voices to God in prayer through song. Senior student ministers led small group discussions on the school pier about the obstacles to prayer. Religion teachers James Casadaban ’06 and Gerald Ursin ’07 provided the students an opportunity to read, reflect, and create a prayer in response to social justice issues worldwide. Brother Louis Couvillon, S.C., guided the students through a prayer experience in the Brothers’ cemetery, with specific emphasis on three of the first brothers arriving in America as well as Brother Martin Hernandez himself. The day ended with the ultimate form of prayer: celebration of Mass and the Eucharist at Our Lady of Gulf Church.
