Walking Together: The 2025 October Salesian Leadership Retreat

By Chioma Okoye, Communications Director, Mary Help of Christians Center, Tampa, FL

(Tampa, Fl. – October 27) – The 2025 October Salesian Leadership Retreat (SLR) took place from Friday, October 3, through Thursday, October 9, at the Don Bosco Retreat Center in Stony Point, NY. A total of 117 people attended from the 10 SDB and FMA high schools in our Salesian province. As this retreat rounded out the 50th anniversary of the beginning of Salesian Leadership Retreat, what also encircled the retreat was the gift of Salesian accompaniment.

This was the first leadership retreat following the addition of Bro. Travis Gunther and Fr. Sean McEwen, SDBs, as chaplains. The core team also consisted of newer members, including a current Salesian Lay Missioner and two recent Salesian school alumni. This conjoining of both newer and veteran team members proved to be a beautiful melding of experience, wisdom, humility, and trust.

For many, the SLR is a life-changing retreat. For me as a returning core team member, it always serves as a time to adjust my vision outside its regular line of sight and gaze upon the greater yet narrower path ahead. Whenever I do, I find I’m pleasantly surprised to notice a few new friends walking alongside me, to which I am forever grateful.

As in all things, it was the Lord who both initiated and brought to fruition this time spent together. This was clearly seen through the witness of Salesian Family present throughout the week: professed Salesian priests, brothers, and sisters, men and women in Salesian formation, Salesian Cooperators and aspirants, teachers, collaborators, Salesian Lay Missioners, and past pupils, all converged for the salvation of souls.

Throughout the early mornings, late nights, and seemingly infinite days, there were countless opportunities to encounter the Lord, in both the Blessed Sacrament and in our companions. The most common revelation shared at the end of the retreat was the experience of feeling close to Jesus and knowing that no one is truly alone on their journey of life. To me, this is a defining characteristic of the Salesian Leadership Retreat: its ability to provide little transformations that highlight Jesus’ ever-present proximity to each of us.

Even after the retreat ends, there is a lingering sense of desire among the young for this newly realized heavenly goal. It’s truly a gift to share it with all the Salesian Family!