Redemptorist Retreat Center

By 1927, the world had become a pretty amazing place.  Lindbergh had flown over the Atlantic and Admiral Byrd had flown over the North Pole.  There were transatlantic telephone calls and even movies that talked.   All this “progress” had a way of distracting people away from God, and so it was with the idea of bringing men and women back to God that the Redemptorists began the retreat movement in Oconomowoc.

During the summer of 1927 when the students moved to Snyder’s pasture, the seminary building was readied for its first retreatants.  The Knights of Columbus from Beaver Dam led off with a good crowd of 41 men.  Father Polk, a veteran Redemptorist missionary, led the conferences.