Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Kingsville hold "awakening"

On Feb. 20-22, the Newman Centers at Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Kingsville joined together for their first Awakening Retreat. The retreat caters towards college students in hopes of “awakening” their faith in God and setting their hearts ablaze for him.

"It was an amazing experience, and a huge success," said Amanda Macias, a junior at Texas A&M Corpus Christi studying biology. She has been involved with Islander Catholic, the Catholic Student organization at Texas A&M Corpus Christi for three years and will be leading the Awakening Retreat for Islander Catholic in the spring 2017.

Retreats like the Awakening are important for college students because they tend to turn away from God once out from under the influence of their parents, Macias said. By showing there is a large community of Catholic students, others are encouraged to continue practicing their faith as well as well as to continue growing in it.

"For me, I never really imagined that God would become my God. By going through this growing process with others around my age, I was able to see that God is not just for my parents, but he is ever present in my own life and the lives of other young adults," Macias said.

Throughout the retreat, there were many activities that aided in building faith in God and building friendships between fellow retreaters. Student staff members gave talks about various aspects of their faith that most of participants either forgot about or never really imagined had a part in what they believed.

"As an assistant coordinator of the retreat, I was able to watch the transformation of the retreaters from an outside perspective, and what I saw was incredible," Macias said. "There was truly a sense of community between those from Corpus Christi and Kingsville, and it was evident that God was the center of their growing friendship."

Many participants said they had not felt God’s presence that strongly before or in such a long time. God became their God over the weekend, Macias said, and with the friends that were made, they are able to continue to support one another in the continuous journey of growing closer to God.

Many are eager to staff the next retreat happening in fall 2016, which will be led by Kingsville. Some students are already asking when preparations for the next retreat were going to start, Macias said.

She said, the retreat would not have been possible without Deacon Alfonso Ramirez, whose vision and hope was to help young adults grow stronger in their faith. It was he who decided to start the retreat in the diocese. In April 2014 Deacon Ramirez sent six individuals, four from Corpus Christi and two from Kingsville, to attend a retreat hosted by the University of Texas Pan Am who became the starting staff for the local retreat.

Deacon Ramirez passed away in November 2014, before the awakening retreat could be held.

"We were all eager to start planning, but things became difficult once deacon’s illness became worse. Many preparations were put on hold because, as students who had never staffed a starting retreat before we were completely lost. If it wasn’t for Tony Guajardo, who assists at the Newman Center in Corpus Christi, the retreat would not have happened, Macias said. "He took over and made the preparations over the past fall semester. We are all extremely grateful because Tony made Deacon Alfonso’s dream come true, as well as really build up a strong community of young adults."

Macias said the retreat is a blessing for the diocese, and is confident that it will continue in both Corpus and Kingsville and hopefully spread to other campuses.

"We need more opportunities for young adults because we will be the ones to continue spreading the faith, and without really experiencing the awesome greatness of God, going out and being disciples won’t be possible," she said.