What is ACTS ?
An ACTS Retreat is a parish-based 3-day, 3-night retreat, which offers parishioners an opportunity to experience the love of Jesus Christ. This in turn fosters a desire for intentional discipleship.
ACTS Retreats are given by parishioners for parishioners, and in this way, serve to build Christian community at a parish.
The ACTS Retreat begins Thursday evening and ends with Sunday Mass in the parish. While utilizing prayer, service, and teaching, the ACTS Retreat meets people where they are in their spiritual journey and invites them to experience God in a manner that is both personal and communal.
In this way, the ACTS Retreat fulfills the mission of:
"Spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ among Catholic communities through ACTS."
The ACTS Retreat experience is rooted in the Pascal Mystery in that retreatants are invited to reflect on the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Throughout the weekend, they are invited to prayerfully consider how they can respond to His love by spiritually surrendering to Jesus in order to have new life with Him. This invitation is extended through the pillars of the apostolate:
Adoration: A response to God's love through prayer and worship
Community: Participating in the One Body of Christ as Church
Theology: Deepening our relationship with God in order to better fulfill His will
Service: Answering the call to discipleship by following the model He gave us
Why Attend?
Those who attend an ACTS retreat share in an experience that has impacted more than one million lives worldwide since the first retreat in 1987. There are numerous testimonies describing retreatants who were evangelized through a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. They witness to becoming better fathers, mothers, husbands, wives and children.
Parishes have been revitalized, diaconate classes have been filled, and all seek to deepen their relationship with Christ through prayer and service.
As a result, ACTS is supported by bishops and priests worldwide as a legitimate participant in the Church's New Evangelization. Through ACTS, the laity respond to their baptismal call, and seek to participate in the apostolic mission of the Church to "go and make disciples of all nations," and this has been found to be good.
As of October 2017, ACTS Missions is represented worldwide.
96 parishes in the Archdiocese of San Antonio
All 15 dioceses of Texas
27 states in the US representing 74 dioceses
6 countries including the US: Mexico, Panama, Honduras, South Africa, and Canada, representing 28 international dioceses
569 parishes worldwide