Our ministry started conducting live retreats about 15 years ago.
Since there were no regular spiritual retreats available in our local area, we were eager to fill the void in our community by organizing at least one retreat per year, especially during Lent.
The retreats are conducted for the benefit of all our dear brothers and sisters and for the glory of our dear Lord with gratitude for the abundant gifts and blessings He has showered upon all of us.
In 2009, we organized our first retreat with only twenty-five people at our house in Bridgewater, NJ.
With the wholehearted support of the MCA-EC Presidents, the Board members, and MCA-EC members, the number of attendees soon grew to 175. As the number increased, we started holding the retreats at our Lady of Peace Church in North Brunswick, NJ.
Deacon Dr. Francis and his wife Dr. Wilma always encouraged us with this endeavor.
During our formative years, the former president of the Goan Association, Felix Menezes and his committee members, wholeheartedly assisted us by encouraging the GOANJ members to join the retreat.
Simultaneously, the Sri Lankan Prayer group leaders, Lucky and Nilmini, also sent a request to their members to join our retreats. Soon, many Sri Lankan members started to attend; they also kindly offered their services to conduct the Praise and Worship of our retreats with their vibrant spirit filled hymns.
A husband-and-wife team who are master pianists and singers of the Sri Lankan prayer group and our dear family friends, always led the praise and worship for our retreats. To create maximum participation, they project their spiritual hymns for the entire audience. This dedicated and ever-ready couple has supported us from day one. We are indebted to them for sharing their musical gifts.
In 2020, due to Covid, we were forced to conduct virtual retreats by Zoom. This was only possible due to the invaluable support and help of our dear friend Prakash Anthony (CEO & Co-Founder of KORCOMPTENZ INC.) and his family. The OITS prayer group supported HFIM by attending the retreats regularly.
Brother Prakash voluntarily prepared the Retreat fliers and allowed us to use his Zoom service from 2020. His prayer group also helps us in the preparation of our hymns, praise and worship and the animated Stations of The Cross.
The highlight of our 2021 virtual retreat was that it was conducted by seven well-known speakers from 7 to 8 PM on seven consecutive Saturdays from February 13th to Mar 27th.
It was a delight to see so many people attending these talks on each of the 7 Saturdays. All of us benefited richly from the Holy Spirit-filled talks of these great preachers.
All the preachers very graciously conducted the healing service at the end of the retreat for the benefit of all attendees.
Many people also benefited by personally meeting the preachers to pray over their intentions.
Several attendees called and sent messages to the ministry appreciating the preaching of these reputed speakers and how much these talks helped them during Lent to prepare to meet the Risen Lord! We repeated this 7-week virtual retreat once again in 2022, with equal success.
Our regular spiritual leader for the past 15 years has been Dr. Jayanand from Bangalore. He is an internationally renowned preacher with over 42 years of personal experience. Dr. Jayanand has been kind enough to travel to the United States every year during Lent to conduct our special retreat. We are grateful for his invaluable encouragement, gentle guidance, and constant prayer support. Many families have benefited from his praying over them during his stay in NJ.
Our spiritual event is considered the official retreat of MCA-EC. Their participation and help in sending fliers to all the members and managing the food pantry has been a source of great support at all our live full day retreats. Year after year, we are indebted to the MCA-EC President, the Board, and volunteers for supporting this event with great dedication and making the retreat a wonderful success.
During the past several years, the Goan community has actively been taking part to support the combined efforts of conducting this retreat.
They have been lending a helping hand by joining the MCA-EC volunteers, and for this, we are profoundly grateful to them.
The help and support of the various Presidents / Board members and Prayer Group leaders/ core group members has been unforgettable. This has generated a lot of unity among the social and spiritual organizations, all for the glory of our dear Lord Jesus Christ.
We have decided to continue the Zoom retreats since it is conveniently accessible worldwide by our many preachers from their hometowns as well as for the convenience of our dear brothers and sisters who can attend the retreats from their homes.
My dear wife has been my partner and great supporter in organizing these retreats, accommodating many preachers, priests, and Bishops at our house and making their stay comfortable.
A nonprofit spiritual organization purely dedicated to the spiritual uplift of our dear brothers and sisters and to the Glory of our dear Lord Jesus Christ.
All expenses are borne by the organizers and their partners by not charging any fee to the attendees.