Nearly sixty confreres from the U.S. Province of Sulpicians gathered at the Bon Secours Spiritual Center in Marriottsville, Maryland, just outside Baltimore, for a retreat and community day from 26 to 30 May, 2013.

The Most Rev. John C. WESTER, Sulpician alumnus of St. Patrick Seminary & University in Menlo Park, California, and Bishop of Salt Lake City (Utah), preached the retreat on the theme of “Discipleship.”

Participants also experienced a “community day” at the end of the retreat, in order to address some provincial business. The Provincial, Father Thomas R. ULSHAFER, gave a detailed report on the Province, and two confreres, Lawrence TERRIEN and Anthony POGORELC, gave separate continuing education sessions, respectively, on spiritual direction according to Father Jean-Jacques OLIER, and sociological studies on young adults and the implications for seminary formation.

A highlight of the week was a Mass and reception celebrated at the restored historic chapel on Paca Street, where St. Mary’s Seminary & University began in 1791, the first Catholic seminary in the United States.