Retreat Center Meeting Grieving Families' Needs

Jill Richard and Deacon Steve Ferran welcome visitors to the Saint Joseph Abbey Retreat Center.

You already knew the Saint Joseph Abbey Retreat Center is busy hosting weekly retreats, but did you know that the Retreat Center has also been used for small funerals as well as post funeral receptions? Deacon Steve Ferran, director, said the Retreat Center has successfully hosted several of these events during the past year and “it has been gratifying to see how much the families appreciate the fact that we can handle the many details involved.”

Retreat center chapel.

For gatherings of up to 60 people, the funeral Mass can take place in the Retreat Center Chapel and the post funeral meal/reception can be accommodated in the Retreat Center Refectory and the St. Thomas Aquinas Room.

Recently, the Retreat Center hosted 200 people for a wake and 125 people for a post-funeral meal. Many out of town family members and friends of the deceased also stayed overnight in the Retreat Center. Because of the size of that particular event, the funeral Mass was celebrated in the Abbey Church.

“We provided dinner and breakfast for the family in the serene and comfortable setting of the Abbey Retreat Center,” Ferran said. “The family was most appreciative of our willingness to host them, as it provided a comfortable, private place for family and friends to gather, reconnect and reminisce.”

There is great convenience and peace of mind that the Abbey can offer to grieving families by hosting the funeral Mass either at the Retreat Center Chapel or Abbey Church, providing the casket or urn from Abbey Woodworks, offering cemetery plots or niches in the Abbey Cemetery and hosting family and friends for a reception or meal at the Abbey Retreat Center.

Of course, using the Retreat Center depends on availability. Contact Deacon Steve or Jill Richard at the Retreat Center at 985-892-3473 or abbeyretreat@sjasc.edu.