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Leah Perreault’s upcoming Hearts of the Flesh retreat at Star of the North retreat centre in Alberta aims to open retreatants up to a “world that longs for love.”
Photo courtesy Star of the North retreat centre
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Canadian Catholic speaker and author Leah Perrault will empower attendees of her forthcoming Oct. 31 to Nov 2. hybrid retreat, in partnership with the Star of the North retreat centre in St. Albert, Alta., to seek the gift the Lord promised in Ezekiel 36:26.
The verse reads: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Perrault, who also serves as executive director of the Mount St. Francis Retreat Centre in Cochrane, Alta., and writes a monthly column for The Catholic Register, said this message is acutely imperative at this moment.
“At a time when there's a real temptation in our culture to close people off, to cut ourselves apart and withdraw from places that are painful, synodality, and the invitation to commune, invites us to draw closer to places that are difficult so we can be healed,” she said.
Drawing insights and testimony from her 2018 book My Heart of Flesh: Choosing Life in the Midst of the Mess, Perrault’s five keynote sessions will provide retreatants steps on how to “allow God to keep our hearts soft and open to a world that longs for love.”
Attendees will also be invited to participate in artistic reflection, journaling, an intentional mediative walk and prayer sessions throughout the weekend.
This Hearts of Flesh retreat is open to all who wish to draw closer to God, but Perrault said she wished to share a “special word to those who might be grieving, who feel a bit lost and who are carrying a heavy burden.” She said that God “has promised to give us rest and that His promises are trustworthy.”
She invites Catholics wearied with adversity to “give themselves the gift of lightening the load by coming to be carried by the retreat itself.” She emphasized that while participants are more than welcome to talk about their trials during the facilitated sharing session, they will not be required or pressured to speak.
After over two decades of serving in senior leadership roles in Saskatchewan on behalf of the Diocese of Saskatoon, Emmanuel Health and St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon, and Southwest Homes in Swift Current, Perrault is embracing her new opportunity in the neighbouring province.
“We're so fortunate in Alberta to have a number of partners, Catholic and Protestant, engaged in retreat work and communities that are committed to supporting them,” said Perrault. “It's just been really wonderful to get to know the people at the Mount (St. Francis Retreat Centre): the friars, the secular Franciscans and the community members in Cochrane, Calgary and the surrounding area that come to the Mount for peace, healing and prayer.”
The registration deadline for the Hearts of Flesh in-person and online retreat is Oct. 1. Learn more details by visiting starofthenorth.ca.
(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)
A version of this story appeared in the September 28, 2025, issue of The Catholic Registerwith the headline "Perreault's retreat an invite to commune with the Lord".
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