Strengthened and renewed
Many of us are familiar with the idea of going on a personal retreat. Have you ever considered a retreat for your whole family?
Cana Colony offers families an experience of simple, rustic living in a beautiful rural setting on the shores of Bennett Lake, near Combermere. It is in operation for five weeks each summer.
A family-centered retreat? Yes! Let’s suppose your family has made a reservation, has prepared, and is just arriving at Cana Colony on a Sunday afternoon in July or early August. Coming around the last bend in the road, you see a wide, open field, encircled by eight cabins, a large cookhouse, and a supply shed.
Perched on a small hill, overlooking the whole open area, is Our Lady of the Lake Chapel.
Little children are playing in the large sand pit at one side of the field. Older ones are on the swing set. And all ages may be swimming in the lake, which is clean and shallow enough for even toddlers to safely play under supervision.
The cookhouse is divided into two spacious rooms for cooking and eating. It is a central gathering place for everyone and serves as a cozy place for family recreation on rainy days. There is a woodstove to provide warmth on cool mornings.
The host family for your week welcomes you and helps you get settled, indicating which of the one-room cabins is for your family, and which table, refrigerator, and shelf-space are yours in the cookhouse. Families bring their own food and make their own meals, at whatever time of day they wish, sharing the stoves and sinks with other families participating that week.
The structure of the week at Cana is minimal. A Madonna House priest, layman, and laywoman are present with the families, and together with the host family couple, they help with the day-to-day running of the camp.
The Holy Eucharist is celebrated each morning. Madonna House members or the host family couple give a conference to the parents in the afternoon. (During this conference, supervision is provided for all children.) Throughout the week the sacrament of reconciliation is readily available.
Since daily Mass and the afternoon parents’ conferences are the only scheduled events at Cana, there is a lot of time for swimming, boating, fishing, hikes, campfires, singsongs, and many other sporting and recreational activities. There is also plenty of time for leisurely meals, games, and engaging conversations with Madonna House members.
Cana Colony was born from Pope Pius XII’s urgent appeal to Catherine Doherty in 1951 that she do everything in her power to help the family, the most important unit of society and the Church. He could see that the family would be increasingly beset by trials and tribulations and would be threatened in the very fabric of its existence.
Catherine took the Holy Father’s urgent appeal to heart, and the very next summer she started Madonna House’s Cana Colony, a summer camp for families.
The vacation aspect offered by Cana Colony is present but is secondary to its primary purpose of helping families encounter Christ and be more deeply rooted in him so as to love him and touch him in their neighbor.
It’s a privileged time for them to share their faith and to support one another in their mission of witnessing to Christ and his life-giving love in the midst of an increasingly secularized world.
In a word, Cana Colony exists to help establish Christ in people’s hearts and to incarnate him in their deeds. It’s our fervent hope that families will be able to return home strengthened and renewed in their ability to incarnate the Word of God in their daily lives.
God always seems to come through with abundant graces for the families each week, simply through the relaxed routine, the beauty of nature, the Mass and sacraments, the teaching and sharing, and the recreational activities. Over the years, many families have commented that Cana is “holy ground,” a place where the water of everyday life is changed into wine, a place where they feel protected. The outstretched arms of Our Lady of Combermere reach out to embrace all.
Registration for Cana Colony begins on January 1 of each year. Families are encouraged to apply early, as the cabins get booked rather quickly.
For more information and application forms visit: https://madonnahouse.org/experience/family-retreat/
or write to: mhcanacolony@gmail.com
or phone: 613 756 3713.
Cana photos by ©Jenna Gernon and ©Richard Valenti.
