Life-Giving Wounds Retreat

Life-Giving Wounds Retreat
March 22, 2024 - March 24, 2024
6:00pm (03/22) - 3:30pm (03/24)
Vallombrosa Retreat Center
250 Oak Grove Ave
Menlo Park, California 94025

March 22-24, 2024


Registration for our spring retreat has closed.  We will offer another in November.


Please contact Ed Hopfner for updates.


 





 




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


 

Father Carl  

Fr. Carl entered the Dominicans of the Western Province in 1990 and was ordained in 1998. He currently serves as Pastor at St. Dominic, Benicia, which is the oldest foundation of the Western Dominican Province. Prior to that he has served at a variety of parishes and campus ministries throughout the west, including the University of Utah and Stanford University. He is a San Francisco Bay Area native.

Fr. Carl is an only child whose parents divorced when he was seven. He is an alum of the first Life-Giving Wounds retreat on the West coast, in March 2022. On his retreat, he found a passion for helping other adult children of divorce overcome the pain and stigma of talking about the experience of being a child of separated or divorced parents, both among themselves and to those from intact marriages. He is excited by the rush of healing that comes from a LWG weekend and the long-term, ongoing healing that comes from staying engaged with fellow children of divorce.

 

Tanguy  

Tanguy (tahn-GHEE) grew up in Southern France. After studying classical music at conservatory level during his childhood years, he switched to engineering and graduated from Supelec in Paris. He later received the MS and PhD in electrical engineering and the MS in public policy, all from Georgia Tech, and currently works in renewable energy research for a global non-profit corporation. Personal interests include backpacking, history, baroque music, and cooking for friends.

Most recently, Tanguy has been studying icon painting under several master iconographers, and theological anthropology at the Theology of the Body (TOB) Institute. In complement to his experience with Life-Giving Wounds, programs run by the John Paul II Healing Center have greatly influenced his healing journey, including the Restore the Glory podcast.

Tanguy is a parishioner at St Dominic’s in San Francisco.

 

Kent and Sarah  

Kent and Sarah are a married couple who live a fast-paced, Christ-centered life in the Bay Area aboard their sailboat "Metanoia." Kent is a life-long sailor, a mechanical whiz, and currently works in robotics for an agricultural tech company. Sarah is an amateur sailor, building her portfolio in communications, and thrives in service to others.

They are both children of divorced families, and alumni of the Life-Giving Wounds Retreat. Kent was raised in the quiet lowcountry of South Carolina. He's the oldest of two children, raised in a rather secular family with parents who divorced when he was 11. Sarah grew up in southwest Virginia, the youngest child of Christian parents who divorced when she was 15.

Kent and Sarah are both converts to the Catholic faith. Their family experiences exposed both common ground and hurdles to overcome as they dated and entered into marriage. They've found that with prayer and healing, God's vision of marriage is within reach -- and it's pretty fun too!

 

Jerick

Jerick is currently a seminarian for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, in his fifth year of formation for the secular priesthood.  Previously he worked in Enterprise Tech Sales in the Bay Area, and heard his adult call to pursue priesthood while a daily parishioner of St. Dominic's in San Francisco.

He previously attended his first Life Giving Wounds retreat in March 2022, and though he was at first reluctant to recognize its value, he came to realize the power of this retreat and is a huge proponent of its capacity to heal and transform the crosses that all children of divorce now carry.

He is a CAL alumnus (GO BEARS!), and is originally from the city of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels (LA).

 

Katherine   

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. She spent the first few years of her career working as a travel OT, living in NYC and Maui, & now resides in San Francisco. In addition to her work at a sensory integration clinic, Katherine is also the president of the Bay Area Association of Pediatric Therapists. She has a passion for building community, connecting people, and helping others maximize their potential. In her free time Katherine enjoys all things health and fitness, outdoor adventures including skiing and hiking, listening to audiobooks & podcasts, and catching up with loved ones over a cup of coffee.

Her parents divorced and annulled their marriage when she was 6 years old. She began the journey of intentional healing in early adulthood through therapy. During this period, she also rediscovered her Catholic faith. Through growing in relationship with God and frequenting the sacraments, she found a deeper way to reconcile many family-related wounds. Katherine attended her first Life Giving Wounds retreat in March 2022, and is honored to accompany all those sharing her wound of divorced parents.

 

Brean  

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.

 

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 22) at 6:00 pm, and ends Sunday (Mar 24) 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

 

 
Life-Giving Wounds Retreat
March 22, 2024 - March 24, 2024
6:00pm (03/22) - 3:30pm (03/24)
Vallombrosa Retreat Center
250 Oak Grove Ave
Menlo Park, California 94025
Ed Hopfner
(415) 614-5547