These preached retreats are an opportunity for priests in the Diocese of Orlando to spend time in prayer, reflection and fellowship.

**These retreats are only open to priests in the Diocese of Orlando**

october 5-9, 2026

The Open Heart of Jesus: The Priest’s Call to Intimacy with Christ

Led by Fr. Stephen Dominic Hayes, O.P.

This retreat will reflect on the meaning of Christ’s open and unhealed Heart—a summons to deeper intimacy with those who persevere with Him in the work of His Cross. The conferences will explore God’s invitation to hospitality and communion with the human race from the beginning, tracing the Scriptural patterns through which He draws near to us. In Christ, we are invited to recognize this divine intimacy not only as God’s desire for us, but as the very heart of our vocation as His disciples.

$825 Private Guest Room
$550 Commuter

Father Hayes is currently assigned as a full-time mission and retreat preacher based at Saint Patrick Priory, Columbus Ohio. He is a native of Boston, Massachusetts. Born in 1953, he has seven brothers and sisters and rejoices in his Irish heritage.

He holds an A.B. in Biology from Saint Anselm College, Manchester, New Hampshire, a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, and an S.T.B. from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception (the Dominican House of Studies) in Washington, DC.

In June 2022, he received a certificate as an Associate Scholar in the Hebraic Context of the Bible program from the Israel Institute of Biblical Studies (accreditation with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem).

After practicing law for a few years, he entered the Dominican Order in 1982, made solemn profession in 1986, and was ordained a priest in 1988. He has served as a priest, pastor, and preacher based for 36 years in Ohio and Kentucky. Fr. Hayes currently enjoys the priestly faculties of the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio.

In addition to parochial service, Father Hayes has had experience in retreat work, parish missions, pilgrimage direction, as a spiritual director and confessor, and in Catholic radio and print media.

He has served as a National Eucharistic Preacher for the National Eucharistic Revival conducted by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He has for many years been active in the Knights of Columbus and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. He is particularly interested in Holy Scripture, Sacramentology, and medieval Christian history.

October 12-16, 2026

A Priest Is An Icon of Christ

Led By Fr. Larry Richards

This retreat invites priests to reflect more deeply on their call to embody Christ the Good Shepherd—not only in their ministry, but in the very way they live, pray, and love. Beginning with the priest’s identity as a beloved son of God, the retreat explores the spiritual foundations of priestly life and the ways a priest is called to become a living reflection of Christ.

Through a series of reflections, we will consider the priest as an Icon of Mercy, Joy, Peace, Love, and Holiness, exploring how these qualities flow from a life surrendered to the Holy Spirit and rooted in prayer. As priests grow in intimacy with Christ and surrender more fully to the will of the Father, they become more capable of bringing Christ’s mercy, peace, and joy to those entrusted to their care.

At the heart of the retreat is a simple yet profound invitation: to become more fully the priest God has called you to be by becoming more fully an icon of Christ.

$825 Private Guest Room
$550 Commuter

Father Larry Richards was ordained to the priesthood in 1989 and has been a pastor in Erie, Pennsylvania since 2002. He currently serves as pastor of St. Luke Church and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church. He has conducted thousands of Parish Missions, Conferences, and Retreats. He is best known for making the love of God real in his talks. Father Larry is the founder of The Reason for Our Hope Foundation and has many Media presentations, including The Truth, The Mass Explained, and Confession, with hundreds of thousands of copies distributed worldwide and now available for FREE on OurHope.TV. He is the author of Be a Man! Becoming the Man God Created You to Be, a #1 best seller for Ignatius Press, having sold over 160,000 copies. He authored a second book called Surrender! The Life Changing Power of Doing God’s Will, published by Our Sunday Visitor, which has sold over 55,000 copies. You can see him on EWTN Global Catholic Television on Living Right with Dr. Ray. He is the Spiritual Director for the Catholic Men’s Leadership Alliance and hosts a weekly podcast titled Anchored In Hope. His daily homily can be heard on your favorite podcast app.

October 19-23, 2026

The Face of Christ, God’s Glory Revealed

Led by Fr. Dominic Buckley

This October retreat week serves as time to contemplate the human face of Christ as the revelation of God’s glory and path of ecclesial communion. Talks will support a fraternal week of growing in our desire to live face-to-face with Christ and his flock, touching upon common challenges and blessings along our way. Whether it is the face of truth and suffering or life and death, we experience divine communion when we turn our faces toward the Lord, and we experience the opposite when we turn away. There will be time for optional daily Eucharistic adoration and an optional daily scriptural rosary to help us contemplate the face of Christ.

$825 Private Guest Room
$550 Commuter

Fr. Dominic Buckley is a priest of the Diocese of Orlando. Ordained in 2013, he served as parochial vicar of Most Precious Blood in Oviedo before Bishop Noonan sent him to Rome in 2016 to study moral theology and eventually philosophy at the Angelicum, obtaining a Pontifical Licentiate in philosophy and beginning a pontifical doctoral degree in Thomistic metaphysics. Since 2020, he has worked full-time at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach as a seminary formator, philosophy professor, Director of Pre-Theology, and now Dean of Human Formation. Fr. Dominic has found great joy accompanying hundreds of priestly vocations from many dioceses and living priestly fraternity with the 14 resident priests at SVDP. In his free time, he enjoys playing his guitars and solving the world’s problems with friends.

October 26-28, 2026

Aging With Grace: Aging Gracefully

Led by Fr. Ken Metz

This is a directed retreat for Retired Priests and Active Priests age 65+, in the Diocese of Orlando to spend time in prayer, reflection and fellowship.

If Retired: All Retreat Fees Are Paid By The Diocese
If In Active Ministry:
$550 Private Room
$250 Commuter

To register offline, call our office at (407) 671-6322 ext. 115