The annual Pierre Toussaint Scholars Retreat Weekend was held Friday, June 21 to Sunday, June 23 at Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh. The retreat is designed to be “fun, educational, enlightening, and help [attendees] deepen their faith,” said Leah Dixon, associate director of the Pierre Toussaint Scholarship Fund & Program.            

The gathering is sponsored each year by the Office of Black Ministry, Archdiocese of New York. Eighty program scholars and graduates attended. This year’s theme was, “Speak Lord, I Am Listening.” [The Toussaint program provides scholarships to graduating high school seniors of diverse backgrounds from public, private and parochial schools throughout the Archdiocese of New York].                      

“It’s definitely very calming; it helps me go back to my roots to the faith,” one of the scholars, Hope Dias, 21,told The Good Newsroom after the Saturday lunch break, in speaking about the annual retreat. “It’s just so chaotic out there in this world, in this generation especially. It’s hard to juggle everything, with college and work, and then I have family responsibilities.”       

Dias said participating in the retreat “allows me to settle down, just remember where I came from and stay grounded in my faith.” She noted that one retreat message she appreciated was the importance of “taking time to be in the quiet – meditation, silence and prayer; try to reflect on your day and how you’re serving God and others.” She will complete the four-year Pierre Toussaint Scholars program in May 2025. Her career goal is to become a nurse, possibly a military nurse eventually. This fall, she will enter her senior year at Mercy University in Dobbs Ferry.        

Speakers at the retreat  

The gathering featured three retreat leaders, including Father Brendan Gottschall, SJ (Society of Jesus), who was ordained this summer, June 8, at Fordham University Church. He has taught middle and high school Classics, Theology, and Economics at Loyola Blakefield in Baltimore; he is studying Theology at the Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry.     

Also serving as a retreat leader was Sister Lynn Marie Ralph, SBS, who has been a member of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for more than 40 years. She is a pastoral care assistant at Redeemer Health, in Philadelphia, having also served as school teacher, principal and religious education director; her ministry locations have included Harlem and New Orleans. 

The third retreat leader was Brandon Morel, director of Youth Evangelization and Digital Ministry at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Brooklyn. As a key figure in the origin of the Sainthood in the City podcast, Morel co-hosts the show alongside Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Espaillat, Dr. Alex Gotay, Jr., and Henry Virgil.

In their talks and workshops, the retreat leaders offered guiding words related to faith and hope, encouragement and perseverance, and love – keeping in mind the gathering’s theme, “Speak Lord, I Am Listening.”

“God says that the snake is cursed, but God never says that human beings themselves are cursed,” Father Gottschall told the scholars during a Saturday afternoon workshop, in discussing the story of Adam and Eve. “Things are going to have to change, that are going to keep human beings humble. But the humans are never cursed in this story. God never gives up this project of humanity that God has – this project of love.”  

Jeremy Laguerre served as the retreat music director. He is a Haitian-Mauritian American who serves as music director at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Brooklyn. He is a vocalist/pianist who is a recording artist and has performed at Carnegie Hall, various retreats, and Holy Hours. He recently released a single entitled “C’est La Vie” (That’s Life). On hand during the weekend was a retreat counselor, Riquelmy Lamour, LCSW, who encourages the people she counsels to practice “emotional regulation,” (i.e rethinking a challenging situation to reduce anger or anxiety).   

Retreat included a service project 

For this year’s retreat service project, the scholars made motivational buttons that will be donated to a Catholic Charities New York program, the Casita Maria Summer Camp in the Bronx. The retreat ended with a Mass on Sunday, celebrated by Father Kareem Smith, pastor of St. Michael the Archangel/Co-op City, the Bronx, who is also the Toussaint program senior chaplain. Father Gottschall delivered the homily.  

Joseph Giraldy, 21, was also one of the scholars at the retreat. 

“When we’re here we can come together with something that we have in common, which is our faith,” Giraldy told The Good Newsroom. “We can praise the Lord together, and we can really just talk to one another about what we go through; we all know each other’s struggles.” He will complete the Pierre Toussaint Scholars program in May 2025. His career goal is to become a prosthetist (creating prosthetic devices for amputees). This fall, he will enter his senior year at Fordham University; he is an engineer and physics major.