Twenty-five years ago today (November 14, 1997), a group of Catholic young adults in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis commenced the first of three annual ROMA 2000 retreats in preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000. Under the leadership of Daniel Gordon Dozier (now Byzantine-rite priest Father Dozier), the ROMA 2000 retreats were
designed to help Catholics prepare for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. Topically it follows the plan laid out for the years of preparation by Pope John Paul II. (1997 Jesus Christ, 1998 The Holy Spirit, 1999 The Father). While building on these themes, the retreat takes as its basis the pattern of life in the early Church. The Book of Acts gives us an indication of the “common life” which was the experience of the early Christian community after having. received the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in Jerusalem: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the koinonia (meaning communion or fellowship), to the breaking of the bread, and the prayers.” (Acts 2:42)
from the 1998 Retreat Guide – The Holy Spirit: The Fire of God’s Love
ROMA 2000 retreats seek to be faithful to this ancient pattern by providing:
• Dynamically orthodox Catholic teaching.
• Catholic worship of the Holy Trinity which is centered around the “breaking of bread,” that is the Holy Eucharist.
• Fellowship, prayer, and study with other Catholics.
The trifold brochure promoting the first retreat, dedicated to theme Jesus Christ: The Same Yesterday, Today and Forever, included this description:
Many Catholics today may know that they are Catholic, but are hungering for reasons to believe in their Faith. Others are searching for a deeper experience of God and the Ancient Faith of the Apostles and Martyrs. ROMA 2000 is a retreat weekend that seeks to help the seeker find reasons to believe, and to discover anew the joy of faith in Christ! It is also a celebration of our identity as Catholics, and a challenge to all to live the Gospel without compromise!
I became involved with ROMA 2000 when I attended a Franciscan University alumni reunion at Holy Family Church in Saint Louis, Park, MN, in the summer of 1997. I had just discerned out of the major seminary in the spring, and it was a blessing to connect with this new apostolate during a season of transition in my life. I have many fond memories of late-night core team meetings in the basement of the small home at the corner of Kenneth Street and Wellesley Avenue in Saint Paul… frequent trips to Kinko’s to duplicate retreat materials on colored paper (Lift Off Lemon!)… folding trifold brochures… designing silly name tags for the participants… inviting laypeople (ages 18-88+!) and vocations directors from every religious order present in the Archdiocese (here comes everybody!)… welcoming priest friends to hear confessions at the retreat and Archbishop Flynn to celebrate the closing Mass on Sunday… laminating icons for a unique prayer experience called the Emmaus Walk, etc.
One of our core team members wrote a letter to then-Cardinal Ratzinger to let him know of the event and to invite him to attend! Alas, he had other commitments that weekend, we learned in a cordial written response he sent back to the team.
Though we didn’t have “hundreds of young Catholics from around the United States” in attendance, the music was beautiful, the liturgies were reverent, and the speakers were inspiring. I remember the ROMA 2000 retreats fondly as a singular time of friendship, devotion and missionary endeavor. The people I served alongside remain friends to this day, though scattered across the globe in a variety of vocations and apostolates. And I remain convinced, now as much as then — and perhaps even more convinced — that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
