Join Kim Brown for a Lenten Day Retreat on Thursday, February 25 from 10AM - 2PM at the CRC. The retreat will focus on meditative prayer and the Stations of the Cross.
The CRC has been hit by the winter storm. Power has been out since late Sunday night. Without power, we have had to cancel or reschedule our retreats scheduled for this week/weekend. Please check your email and respond by email. Without power the CRC phone system is not working.
Upcoming Tours: 2021 Tour Dates at Noon: February 24, March 23, April 23, May 3, June 7, August 2, October 4, & December 6 2021 Tour Dates at 6PM: February 2, April 6, July 6, & September 7 Meet Outside the Cafeteria. Currently must be in face-covering. Great opportunity to see available resources, see improvements, walk-through for your retreat, and chance to ask questions.
The CRC staff is pleased to announce that Cardinal DiNardo has given permission for the Blessed Sacrament to be housed 24/7 at the CRC in our Meditation Chapel. This means that when the group arrives at the CRC, that Jesus Christ is physically present in the tabernacle!!!
Friends 72 and older or 70.5 by January 1, 2020, did you know you could bless the CRC with funds from your IRA? The US Government requires you to remove funds from your IRA each year of face a financial penalty. You could make an IRA rollover gift each year to the CRC. The IRA Rollover allows donors to transfer up to $100,000 directly from their IRA annually. Of course, we would be happy with any amount that you bless us with! Talk with your CPA or financial planner if an IRA Charitable Rollover is right for you. This allows you to gift directed from your IRA without taking the funds out, paying income taxes, and using after-tax funds to make a donation. These tax-exempt gifts are vital to the CRC's success now more than ever and keeping this Holy Ground open and improving.
Under the CARES Act, donors can get a Federal income tax deduction for charitable contributions of up to 100% of their Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). It was formerly 50%. If for example someone earned $100,000 and they gave $100,000 cash to charity, they could previously only offset $50,000 of their income (50%), but this year they can offset 100% and the entire $100,000. What You Can Do: Thanks to generous people like you, the CRC has been able to continue ministering and keeping the Holy Ground open for retreats. And with your continued support, we will continue to provide retreats that allow people to encounter Jesus Christ and His Church through retreat ministry. COVID has created a longing for God and the CRC is here to minister spiritually. If you have questions or need more information about your gift, please contact your CPA or Financial Planner for help. Be sure to get your gift into the CRC by December 31, 2020, to go towards the 2020 calendar year.
What a wonderful day of golf and fellowship we had this past Monday at South Shore Harbour for the 2nd Annual CRC Golf Tournament. We are grateful for your support of the CRC. As you know, our goal was to raise $20,000 profit for the CRC. We were close, but we still needed about $6,000 more. One of our fellow golfers has offered to do a $3,000 Matching Gift, which means dollar for dollar, your gift gets doubled up to $3,000!!! Please help us reach our goal by donating online at All funds donated by this Sunday will go towards the Matching Gift opportunity.
CRC Novena as we prepare for Consecration to Christ the King. Please prayerfully considering joining us in this consecration to Christ the King. We will pray for nine days starting on Friday, November 13, and ending on November 21 on the Feast of Christ the King's vigil.
The CRC has hosted many Eagle Scout Projects over the years. Scouts have found working with the CRC to be very easy and a fast way to plan, implement, and complete their Eagle Scout Project. The CRC offers a variety of projects that range in money from $0 - $10,000 as well as working in a variety of areas: landscaping, woodworking, concrete, building, sheetrock, etc. Plus many projects are perfect for Social-Distancing. Eagle Scout Project List: - Room Drainage (digging paths for water to travel away from the side of the rooms) - ADA Confessional (cutting out sheetrock and framing 36-inch door), installing sheetrock, patching, and painting. - ADA Sidewalk (identifying ADA issues, having company slapjack concrete in the needed area, replacing wood spacers as needed, replacing awning support beams as needed) - Awning Improvement (cutting away rot at bottom, replacing support beams as needed, sanding beams, and painting new color). - Building a Marian Grotto in the Woods (including cutting away small trees, pouring slab foundation, stone work to build grotto and installing Marian Statue). - Building a Gaga Pit (wood building) - Build a Low Ropes Course (wood building and cement pouring) - Install Water Line to Fire Pit on Lodge & Room Side (trenching, installing pipe) - Building 14 Bench Swings (wood building) - Building a Prayer Labyrinth (dirt work and concrete) - Building Benches for Fire Pit Lodge Side (removing current rotted benches & wood building)
Together miracles are happening at the CRC. In July Kim was trying to figure out a way to generate additional donations for the CRC and started studying Matching Gift campaigns. A week later a gentleman attending a CRC event offered to be a Matching Gift donor for $2,000 if Kim could find others to do the same. Kim started looking and asking and 4 others step forward. With $10,000 in Matching Gift Funds, the campaign started with the event Be Transformed! Donations started coming in and we were amazed. Then another donor offered $3,000 additional Matching Gift dollars if we were able to get to the original $10,000. Well as of today, 3 weeks later we have raised to date $17,167 plus the $13,000 Matching = $30,167!!!!! We are grateful to God for the success of this campaign and to each of you that supported us.
The CRC has an incredible opportunity to raise some serious money to support the CRC during these challenging times. What started out as a $10,000 Matching Gift has become a $13,000 Matching Gift opportunity. Dollar for Dollar is Matched up to $13,000!!!!
Join the CRC on Friday, September 4 at 7PM for 30 Transformational minutes! The event will include a keynote by Catholic author, speaker, and Spiritual Director, Kim Brown, a musical performance by grammy-award winning artist Cecilia Shinn, as well as a big CRC announcement! All coming to you live through facebook.
The CRC has been hosting retreats for families and adults since May 30th under specific guidelines to keep our retreatants safe due to Coronavirus. These events have maintained socially-distanced for non-household members while facilitating a spiritually-connected retreat. The ability to draw people into a relationship with Jesus and His Church has remained our focus and core while some external factors look different (mask, social-distancing, package meals, etc). The CRC is committed to providing a safe space for retreats during the Corona Crisis!
Unfortunately, the financial impact of Coronavirus has led to painful decisions at the CRC. Due to lost retreat income due to Coronavirus, the CRC estimated $688,683 in lost retreat income for 2020. Our Federal PPP Loan to keep employees working runs out in 2-weeks. We are having to lay-off employees as well as reduce the pay of our employees 20-33%. We are trying to save the CRC & outlast Coronavirus. In January 2020 our employees together worked 570 hours a week to take care of our retreats and continue making improvements. Starting in 2-weeks, our staff will be half what we formally were with a weekly total of 284 hours a week between our employees. Every CRC employee has been impacted and together we will do whatever it takes to keep the CRC open. The CRC needs your help. Please donate one-time or become a monthly donor today!
The CRC is hosting socially distanced retreats for the family and adults. To learn more about what a socially distanced retreat looks like, reach out to the CRC staff who will be happy to help you plan your retreat!
The CRC Spiritual Companion program is designed to form members of the laity in the Catholic faith as disciples; so that they can help others become disciples through a deeper spiritual life. This program is composed of four, four-month semesters for a total of 16 months. The first cohort begins in August 2020 and concluded in December 2021 (Scholarships Available)! This program will only admit 12 students per semester. This allows for a true School of Discipleship and it also works for Social Distancing!!! The Facilitator and primary instructor for the program will be Kim Brown.
CRC is offering Socially Distance Family Vacations. 3 Nights in Lodge (sleeps 16 people) with Lodge Kitchen for only $750 6 Nights in Lodge w/ Lodge Kitchen for only $1,000 This gives your family access to the CRC grounds, bayou for fishing, trails, sports pavilion, and gaga pits. For an extra $100 the CRC will staff and prepare your campfire. For an extra $250 the CRC will provide a lifeguard and let you swim for 3 different one-hour periods. Lastly, want to be taken care of? The CRC will prepare your meals for $10 per person per meal. Contact Kris Bright at kbright@retreatcentercrc.org to schedule. These prices allow your family to be only group at the CRC during your stay in May or June. Enjoy 52 acres in a safe and sanitize manner!
The CRC is committed to doing the right thing, even when it means it cost us money. If you are registered for a CRC event and due to Coronavirus the CRC has to cancel the event we will give you the option to be fully refunded (with CRC paying credit card fees) or be rescheduled to a new date. If your group is to host an event and due to Coronavirus the event needs to be canceled, we will allow you to reschedule later in the year with no additional fee. We also recognize that right now without having your congregation that most Churches, revenue is down. To help you we have reduced the Deposit to 15% for new retreats during this time until Church's income is restored. The CRC will do right by our customers, so don't be afraid to book a retreat with us!
The CRC has lost the retreat revenue of $291,000 during the months of March, April, and May due to retreat cancelations from Coronavirus. We were blessed to receive $107,200 from the Federal Government for the Paycheck Protection Program. This allows us to pay our staff and all utilities for 8-weeks. Our staff is working on the renovations from money raised in 2019 for this purpose. We thank you for your support and ask for your prayers and financial donations to help the CRC. Becoming a monthly donor is the best way to support the CRC and help us count on your monthly gift.
Since March 13, Kim Brown has given a Friday Night Mission for Free on Facebook to help people in quarantine draw closer to God. Every Friday night log on to the CRC Facebook Page at 8PM for a Mission by Kim Brown. It's live so post questions, comments, etc!