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Fr. Sam Samuel, Director of Divine Retreat Centre Toronto addresses the congregation at last year's DRC Bible Convention on August 12, 2023.
Photo courtesy Divine Retreat Centre, Toronto
July 25, 2024
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In collaboration with the Archdiocese of Toronto, the Divine Retreat Centre of Toronto will host its annual Bible Convention event in August with this year marking a decade of celebration among the local Vincentian community.
This year’s convention will take place Aug. 3-4. Attendees will be treated to various spiritual talks, music, Eucharistic adoration and Holy Mass on Sunday celebrated this year by Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Ivan Camilleri.
“While I have been here for the past eight years, on this coming Nov. 29 we will be celebrating our anniversary of 10 years,” said Fr. Sam Samuel, director of Divine Retreat Centre Toronto. “Every year at the annual Bible Convention we are blessed with a visiting priest and either a bishop, archbishop or cardinal to celebrate the Holy Mass along with a large gathering of up to around 600 to 700 people.”
With Camilleri set as the celebrant for this year’s Mass, visiting priest Fr. Antony Parankimalil, V.C, director of Divine Retreat Centre Rwanda, will be responsible for leading spiritual talks and prayer over the two-day event.
With a background in parish retreats and mission work for the poor, the Divine Retreat Centre opened its doors in 2014 under the guidance of the Vincentian Provincial Superior and in consultation with the Archdiocese of Toronto.
Despite always hosting spiritual retreats each month, Samuel says that each yearly Bible Convention is the largest gathering for the centre and something he personally looks forward to celebrating.
“We host retreats for people every month with around 60 to 70 people showing up, but then during the Bible Convention, we have hundreds of people attending even though they may not have come for a while,” he explained. “Those people come to be a part of the big crowd because the bishop is coming and they want to hear the teachings of our visiting priest. It all makes for an event where people from all over can come and get blessed together.”
A theme for each respective convention is selected annually by the visiting priest, with Parankimalil taking inspiration from Isaiah 10:17 — “The light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.”
“The theme will be mostly on repentance, getting closer to the Church and being faithful to the sacraments,” Samuel explained in further detail.
The $20 registration for the DRC’s Bible Convention 2024 is now open, with full participation on both days required. While the event is in-person at the centre located at 69 William St. in Toronto, online participation is also available.
As Samuel awaits the last Bible Convention before his transfer to another position with the Vincentians later this year, he hopes that the Divine Retreat Centre continues to be a house of prayer for all peoples through its ongoing relationship with the Archdiocese of Toronto.
“It is always a joyful experience when we know that the archdiocese completely supports the Divine Mercy Retreat Centre. When people attend these conventions and big events, they constantly hear us preaching the Word of God, and even one Word of God may strike them,” he said. “We look forward to people coming and giving their hearts to God through being faithful to the Church and the sacraments, not just being a 'Sunday Christian,' but by sharing that love in their day-to-day lives in work for the social and charitable Church as well.”
Registration for the event is available at https://divineretreatcentretoronto.org/event2/bible-convention-2024/.
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