Lehman seniors return from religious retreat

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SIDNEY— The senior class at Lehman Catholic High School took a break from AP classes and college applications this month to shift to a different focus. Fifty students attended their religious retreat at the Bergamo Center in Dayton from Dec. 6-10. A religious retreat during the senior year is a requirement for graduation from Lehman.

The retreat – called Kairos – is a three and a half-day overnight experience geared to high school seniors. Many Catholic high schools across the country use the Kairos model for their senior retreats. This is the 23rd year that Lehman has used the program but for the first several years, the class was divided into two groups for fall and spring retreats. Now the entire class attends together and this will mark the 37th Lehman Kairos retreat.

Kairos is the Greek word for time – “God’s time.” In Scripture, Kairos is a time of salvation. In the context of the retreat, Kairos means a time away from chronos or clock time, the ordinary day-to-day time in which we follow schedules and become immersed in tasks to be completed. At Kairos, the students put themselves on God’s time and connect with God and their classmates without the stress of daily to-do lists. The challenge of Kairos is to live out that message in everyday life.

Joe Schmiesing, Lehman faculty member who is again organized this year’s retreat, said that Kairos is a time for the students to “gain a deeper faith and an encounter with Jesus Christ.”

“Students were challenged during the retreat to break through the walls that are usually up between themselves and others,” he said. “The hope is that the spirit of Kairos will extend beyond today, beyond senior year, and into the rest of their lives.”

One unique characteristic about the Kairos program is that the retreat is facilitated by the students themselves. Students chosen to be leaders of this year’s retreat attended Kairos 36 last year as juniors to prepare to lead this retreat. A group of juniors are attending this retreat with the seniors to prepare to lead Kairos 38 for their class next December.

Student leaders for Kairos 37 were Dylan Arnold, Elijah Baker, Sidney Chapman, Hannah Fogt, John-Henry Frantz, Kara Gillman, Kaitrin O’Leary and Jacob Schmiesing

Adult leaders from the Lehman staff who attended Kairos 36 were the Rev. James Riehle, Leah Bertke, Kim Koverman, Melissa Bennett, Joe Schmiesing and Sister Ginny Scherer. Seminarian Jeff Stegbauer attended as an observer.

Junior students who attended the retreat to train for next year were Maria Adams, Alvaro Barrera, Grace Dexter, Jake Emrick, Ryan Goettemoeller, Kameron Lee, Brogan McIver and Alanna O’Leary.

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Staff report

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