ACTS Guidelines During COVID

Groups hosting an event at the CRC coordinate many details and during COVID, we have prepared a helpful guide to ensure your group remains safe and to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

Group Leader Packet for COVID

Be Not Afraid! During moments of crisis, we recognize our reliance on God and just how small we are! It is also in some of the worst situations that we see Saints rising up! We at the CRC are committed to providing you a safe and sacred place for your next event. In February, our team had already put specific actions in place to keep our retreatants safe, recognizing the potential for Coronavirus as well as to stock up on needed disinfectant supplies. The CRC acted before any requirements were put in place by the CDC, State of Texas, or the Archdiocese. You need to know we take your safety seriously and not do anything to jeopardize your health (our Director's first degree was in Emergency Management). This is the current situation at the CRC, and we are ready to host your group for a retreat or your family for a socially distanced vacation!

New Bookings: To help parishes and groups who have lost income, the CRC for new bookings is offering only a 15% deposit as opposed to a 25% deposit until parishes are back up and operating at full capacity. We also offer last-minute booking specials taking 25% off the meeting space and lodging rates when booked within 3-months. Our new contracts include an Act of God policy, to let you book with confidence. 

ACTS: Book with confidence. As you plan your upcoming 2021 ACTS retreat, the CRC is here to help. When the Oblate community was leaving the CRC, the ACTS brothers and sisters came together to keep the CRC running. During this time of COVID, we want to help our ACTS Teams plan with confidence. When you book your normal ACTS retreat, plan with confidence. Book for Eugene Hall and set-up your normal contract. Then if at the time of your retreat we are still limited to 6-foot capacity, the CRC will offer you the ability to run your ACTS retreat for a guarantee of 40 people for $225 per person. This will include eight meals (Thursday dinner - Sunday breakfast), private bedrooms and bathrooms, linens in the room, coffee for the hall, and Eugene Hall. This is following all the recommendations given by ACTS Missions. 

If your event has to be canceled due to Coronavirus and Archdiocese closing parishes (like we did with March, April, May retreats), we will let you rescheduled for a later date per contract Acts of God, with no financial penalty. Failure to respond to CRC staff to reschedule your retreat will result in a cancellation and forfeiture of your deposit. PLEASE respond to the CRC staff on the 1st email. After our 4th email notice, we will be forced to accept your event as a cancellation. If your group size is too large to meet based on restrictions, we will allow you to reschedule for later in 2020. We will give you at least three date options to select from. If your event has to be canceled in 2020 later due to Coronavirus, we will move your retreat again at no cost to you. Moving to 2021 is not possible since we need the retreat income in 2020 to stay open. Without your support, the CRC will close. People are going back to Mass, out to eat, and shopping, so people are doing things. Canceling your retreat when people are out and about does not make spiritual or financial sense. You must reschedule your retreat date at least 45-days in advance; anything within 45-days will be considered a cancellation and follow your contract cancellation policy (with the exception of the CRC having to close). 

If you cancel your event for fall at this time, you will follow the cancellation policy. At the same time, we could not book you for that date for 2021 since our priority booking gives first priority to the group that was scheduled this year, and we will do our best to the sale that date. Summer and Fall dates are extremely popular. If you want to hold your date for 2021 but want to cancel 2020's retreat and still outside the timeline for canceling your event, we will allow you to forfeit 50% of your deposit and hold your dates for 2021.

The CRC has been running retreats during COVID since May 30, 2020, without a single issue. Our protocols are in place to keep you safe. Be confident when booking your retreat at the CRC that socially-distance and spiritually-connected retreats work!

Cleaning & Disinfecting: the CRC has a fantastic operations staff ready and dedicated to keeping you safe by keeping viruses away! Before the stay at home order in March, our team was already cleaning and disinfecting daily high touch surfaces in the meeting halls, cafeteria, and Chapels. This includes light switches, doorknobs, bathrooms, etc. We are currently doing this three times a day for overnight groups in their meeting spaces. 

Face Covering: Face Covering is required when on the CRC grounds (exception swimming in the pool or walking on the bayou alone or only with household members) or common shared indoor spaces. So when you're on the sidewalk, you must be in a face covering. The CRC staff are all wearing a face mask to keep each other and our guests safe. The Face mask should be worn when in shared spaces like the meeting room, Chapel, or walkways. 

Overnight Accommodations: During this time, the CRC is only having one person in a room unless they live together. The lodges are currently allowed to have 3-non-household guests with each on their side and each with their own designated toilet, sink, and shower (the same household can be in the same section together). Partitions are set-up to separate the sleeping space in the lodges. Following CDC guidelines for airflow in the lodges, two windows will be left 1-inch open to circulate air. CRC Staff will clean high touch surfaces once a day in the lodges. 

No Additional Cost for Operating Under COVID Guidelines: We are not charging your group the additional money for these accommodations since it is outside of your control. The CRC is absorbing this cost to keep your retreat on and the CRC open. The additional cost of labor for daily cleaning the lodges, running HVAC, as well as additional disinfectants, is being covered by the CRC. In between groups, we are cleaning and disinfecting. We are serious about your safety. 

Meeting Spaces: At this time, all CRC common areas are limited to keeping 6-foot between non-household members. Current Capacity:

- Ali Center: 20 Individuals or 12 Couples (plus Speaker)

- Gerard Room: 24 Individuals or 16 Couples (plus speaker)

- Oblate Hall: 30 Individuals or 20 Couples (plus Speaker)

- Eugene Hall: 40 Individuals or 28 Couples (plus Speaker)

To help absorb some of the cost in 2021, if your group was booked for a smaller venue and now due to capacity limitations, you need a larger space, we will upgrade you to a larger hall at no charge. Our team will also come into your meeting space three times a day to clean and disinfect all high-touch surfaces. Every meeting space also has a hand sanitizer station at the entrance, and washing hands is preferred. To keep people away from contact, we will leave restroom doors open to avoid the need to touch the bathroom door. We are serious about your safety. When Mass capacity increases in the Archdiocese, so will our capacity for CRC meeting space. Current Archdiocese capacity is 6-foot social distance and up to 50%. 

Chapel: The Chapel, based on 6-foot social distancing, can accommodate 40 Individuals or 26 Couples (plus Priest and Deacon). Cardinal DiNardo is not permitting Outdoor Masses or Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament (we did ask). If more than one group uses the Chapel, it will be clean and disinfected by our crew in-between every use. If only one group is using the Chapel, our staff will place a number on the pews to identify where people are to set. Your seat will become your seat for the entire retreat to limit cross-contamination. Please have a staff to ensure people sit where placed to allow for the 6-foot of social-distancing. When going for communion, you are to remain socially distanced and wear a face mask. After receiving communion from the Priest, step 12 feet away, face the altar, remove your face cover to receive communion (red X marked on the ground). The choir books have been removed from the Chapel during this time. The Priest must bring all their own vestments and liturgical items for the Mass. All prayer cards are to be provided by the group. As always, groups bring their own host and wine. The only items provided by the CRC will be stationary candles. This will prevent any cross-contamination. The sacristry closet will be off-limits to you. We have three confessionals for confession that will keep the Priest and the penitent in two separate spaces. We have made modifications to add a cloth fabric between the rooms as well as have the penitent looking sideways instead of speaking into the screen. We have removed the Holy Water from the font and installed a hand sanitizer at the entrance of the Chapel and at each confessional. The restroom in the Chapel is only for the Clergy and not for retreatants/staff. Per the Cardinal, only the Priest may distribute Holy Communion under the form of bread in hand. For Mass, only one lector to avoid multiple people coming in contact with the Ambo. 

Food Service: At this time, the CRC is boxing meals individually to allow your group to eat in your meeting space. With the limited capacity, your group has plenty of space in your hall to set-up tables to eat to allow social distancing of 6-feet apart. When the weather is nice, groups have eaten outside, and some groups return to their bedroom to eat. If your group needs a separate venue to eat due to retreat activities and set-up, we will be happy to provide your group with additional space at no charge as space permits. All meals will be individually packaged. We recommend assigning one person on your team to wash their hands and for pouring coffee (to avoid cross-contamination). Our staff will serve meals in the hall. These precautions will keep our team from coming in contact with your group to ensure all future groups are safe. The cafeteria is off-limits to non-CRC staff. This allows us to ensure the safety of where food is prepared for all guests and avoid cross-contamination between groups. If your group needs ice, let our staff know, and we will deliver ice to your hall. With meals being provided in your meeting space, the fridge in the cafeteria is off-limits since it will be used by CRC staff (once again avoiding cross-contamination). If a retreatant for dietary needs, needs to have items in a refrigerator, we will assign you a room with a fridge. Your people can use the microwave in the hall. 

CRC Employees: The CRC has notified employees that if any employee is sick to stay home and if showing signs to get tested. Our team has been working in isolation and avoiding working in the same room together. We have been doing our part to stay healthy and keep the CRC running. Due to Coronavirus's financial impact, the CRC has been forced to lay off 69% of our employees and reduce the pay/hours of employees (20-33%).

The CRC is facing a financial crisis. We have lost retreat income in March, April, May, June, July, August, as well as the cancellations are running into 2021. We promise to do right by our customers, and we hope you will do right by us. 

If your event has to be canceled due to Coronavirus and Archdiocese closing parishes (like we did with March, April, May retreats), we will let you rescheduled for a later date per contract Acts of God, with no financial penalty. Failure to respond to CRC staff to reschedule your retreat will result in a cancellation and forfeiture of your deposit. PLEASE respond to the CRC staff on the 1st email. After our 4th email notice, we will be forced to accept your event as a cancellation. Without your support, the CRC will close. People are going back to Mass, out to eat, and shopping, so people are doing things. Canceling your retreat when people are out and about does not make spiritual or financial sense. 

You Make the Difference: Every penny counts right now, and keeping the CRC operating is our goal. We have no fairy Godmother to come in and save us; if we do not have the funds, the CRC will close, and the largest Catholic retreat center in the Archdiocese will be lost. The Archdiocese has made cuts, including four schools for the next school year, and does not have the resources to help (I did ask). The laity came in to save and run the CRC when the Oblates left, and we need the laity to come to our aide now. Consider making a donation online or by mailing it into Christian Renewal Center, PO Box 699, Dickinson, Texas 77539. We also really need monthly support, so consider becoming a monthly donor. If 80 people (an ACTS retreat) became a monthly donor at $25 a month, that would give us $2,000 a month in income. A little amount goes a long way and will be the difference in keeping the CRC open.

Please keep the CRC in your prayers and know that you all have been and will continue to be in our prayers. We are acting as good stewards and doing everything we can. Every employee is working hard, and we are making so much progress right now. No employee has been sitting around collecting a check. They are working harder than ever for you! Once again, I sincerely ask and beg you to please consider becoming a monthly donor. Our team has been working nonstop to make much-needed improvements, and it would be a shame to lose our dedicated staff that has been serving you for years (sometimes decades) or to has to close the retreat center. Our trust is in God, and we know that He can pull us through this, and if you read this far, He might be inviting you to take action!