"Come aside and rest awhile."

I'm back to the ol' grind now after a great weekend retreat with the ACE (Alliance for Catholic Education) Fellowship. Let me give a little background before showing a few pictures to illustrate just how great this retreat was.

The ACE Fellowship is a recently created network of current and former ACE teachers and friends. Basically the idea is to keep people connected so as to greater serve the needs of Catholic schools. This weekend, though, was very much about stepping aside to rest and reflect, which was something I really needed about now.

Let me also say that I didn't think there was any way we could top last year's weekend at Newport Beach. Leave it to ACE to prove me wrong on that...

Here's the Ocean view we enjoyed for most of the weekend:


And at sunset -- The view kind of reminds me of Cathead:


Good company, some quiet reflection time, Mass with the Pacific Ocean in the background...what's missing here? Why a boat tour of the area, of course. By the way, this "boat" has more square footage than my apartment!


Haha. Get it? This is Andrew. It turns out we both were at Willow Hill Elementary at the same time. He graduated from ACE last year and is still teaching in LA. Small world.


Don't worry, Fr. Scully didn't fall in . . .


Group picture from the top deck: Cort, Dave, Mark, Mike, Me


"Good Golly Miss Molly" -- A little impromptu evening sing-along.


Aaah, the beach...


And finally, a group picture with our more than gracious hosts.

I came back from the weekend really refreshed. It was just a great time, and I think we all enjoyed some well needed rest and reflection. ACE always has a way of organizing the best retreat experiences, and this was no exception.

Love thee, Notre Dame.

-chc