This Lent, our parish is hosting Lenten Retreats for Men and Women. The retreats each features three conferences, Confessions, and Holy Mass.
As we enter into passiontide and Lent, take a moment to prepare yourself for the celebration of the most important events of the Liturgical year.
Prodigal Daughters
Fr. Tony was born in 1976 and is a native of Angelus, Kansas. He graduated from a public high school in 1995, and afterwards he attended Christendom College in Front Royal Virginia. Discerning a call to religious life and the priesthood, he joined the Fathers of Mercy in 2000. In 2001, Fr. Tony professed the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and then he studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. While at the Josephinum, he received his Master of Divinity degree. He was ordained a priest in 2005, and he served for two years as the assistant pastor of St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Nicholasville, KY. In 2007, Fr. Tony was assigned to begin traveling and preaching parish retreats, also known as “parish missions”. His travels have taken him all over the United States, into Canada, and also to different parts of the Australian Continent. From 2009-2015, he served as the Vocations Director and Student Master for the community. During this time, he also helped out part time in the preaching apostolate of the Congregation. Beginning in August of 2015, he joined the formation faculty at the Mt. St. Mary’s of the West in Cincinnati, OH, where he workedas the Vice Rector and Director of Formation until the Spring of 2021. After completing a six year term at the seminary, he rejoined the Fathers of Mercy mission band as a traveling mission preacher in the fall of 2021.
The Congregation of the Fathers of Mercy was founded in 1808, originally under the title of “the Missionaries of France.” The community was founded for the purpose of re-evangelizing the French people after the Catholic Faith had been subjected to years of attacks and persecution during the French Revolution. It is now an exclusively American community, headquartered in South Union, Kentucky. The primary apostolate of the Fathers of Mercy is to conduct parish missions and retreats in effort to re-evangelize and revitalize the faith of those who seek God’s Truth and Mercy.
Womens's Retreat
8:30am – Mass (Optional)
9:30am – Sign-in, coffee & donuts
10:00am – 1st Conference
10:45am – Personal prayer
11:30am – 2nd Conference
12:15pm – Lunch (silent)
1:00pm – 3rd Conference
2:00pm – Adoration & Confessions
3:30pm – Benediction & Conclusion
4:00pm – Rosary, Vespers & Mass (optional)
Suggested donation $40.
Light refreshments & lunch provided.
The retreats will be held in the Church Hall and the Church. The retreats will not be live streamed.
He Who Humbles Himself Will be Exalted
Fr. Ricardo was born on August 4, 1987, into a Catholic family of both Salvadoran and
Mexican descent. He is the fourth of five children, and a native of San Diego, California.
Following high school, he attended the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
While in studies at Notre Dame, he played trumpet in the marching Band of the Fighting
Irish. In May of 2008, he graduated from Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Philosophy and a minor in Theology.
Fr. Ricardo began hearing a call to the priesthood as early as age 6, but it was not until his
freshmen year of high school that he began serious discernment of his vocation in prayer.
This discernment continued throughout high school and college. After learning more about
the vocation to priesthood as well as the vocation to marriage, he discovered that although
the thought of marriage made him happy, he understood that he would be happier as a priest,
serving God for the salvation of souls. So by the end of his second year at Notre Dame, he
had accepted God’s call to the priesthood with a firm “Yes!” In time, he further discerned a
call to the religious life.
Fr. Ricardo joined the Fathers of Mercy as a postulant in July of 2008. Following his one-
year novitiate, he professed his first year of temporary vows of Obedience, Poverty, and
Chastity on August 14, 2009. He graduated from Holy Apostles College and Seminary and
was ordained a priest for the Fathers of Mercy in May of 2013. For three years, he served as
an associate pastor of four small parishes in the Archdiocese of Louisville. In June of 2016,
he was reassigned to the Fathers of Mercy Mission Band. He also currently serves as the
community’s Treasurer General.
Men's Retreat
8:30am – Mass (Optional)
9:30am – Sign-in, coffee & donuts
10:00am – 1st Conference
10:45am – Personal prayer
11:30am – 2nd Conference
12:15pm – Lunch (silent)
1:00pm – 3rd Conference
2:00pm – Adoration & Confessions
3:30pm – Benediction & Conclusion
4:00pm – Rosary, Vespers & Mass (optional)
Suggested donation $40.
Light refreshments & lunch provided.
The retreats will be held in the Church Hall and the Church. The retreats will not be live streamed.