By Jay Sorgi • Posted December 4, 2025

Everyday life for many people today involves working multiple jobs, taking care of the home and family, and countless other responsibilities that allow little opportunity for rest. Many who come to America from abroad also find the added struggle of a new culture and new way of life.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s African Catholic Apostolate (ACA) is offering a period for rest and spiritual rejuvenation to thousands in Philadelphia who embody that experience.

The Sister to Sister Weekend Retreat for African Catholic Women begins 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5 at the Mother Boniface Spirituality Center, 3501 Solly Avenue in the Holmesburg neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia.

The retreat includes the sacrament of penance and reconciliation plus morning Mass on Sunday, Dec. 7 celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Efren V. Esmilla.

“To come and relax, just to rest, just to relax, forget about the job, forget about the children, forget about your husband, forget about whatever, just relax and enjoy the gift of that realization,” said Sister Florence Enechukwu, MSHR, the ACA’s coordinator.

“In that piece of realization, hear God speaking to us, speaking to them in the depth of their being, without distraction.”

Vincentian Father Patrick Obot of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Philadelphia’s Germantown section is scheduled to present a special talk during the retreat that will feature small and large group conversations.

The retreat will include solitary quiet time where retreatants may enjoy artistic self-expression and further sharing.

Women who are interested can follow the following links for registration and payment. The cost is $80.

The first hours of the retreat will allow each retreatant to share a unique piece of her own national culture by preparing a dish for an icebreaking potluck dinner, according to Sister Florence.

“There are 54 African countries, and each one is very unique. The language is different, cultural appearances are different, food is different, everything,” she said.

“‘Oh, I eat the food from Sierra Leone. It’s really very nice,’ one may say. ‘No, this one from Kenya is more like our own food, but maybe it’s very hot, another may say. But there is that joy and connectedness that we are one. That is what we are building.”

Repeat retreatants will also get a chance to renew connections while others can begin to forge new friendships, all in a space dedicated to stepping away from the fast pace of life and allowing God to enter their journey.

“They come, they see other women, they just relax and enjoy themselves and forget all the headaches, all the anxieties and worries for just that moment. That’s what brings about that transformation in their lives,” Sister Florence said.

“Apart from that, over and above all, to be able to deepen their own relationship with God, because when they are able to understand more about their relationship with God and what God is doing in them, we help them to realize how they can relate with others, because you cannot give what you don’t have. You have to have that to be able to give.”

Sister Florence points to a popular women’s talk during the retreat, allowing the retreatants to set the agenda.

“Some of them are professionals. Some of them are working in different fields. They have been very helpful for each other,” she said. “I like that moment for them to share and reconnect and then let each person learn from each other.”

A rosary procession and adoration with song concludes Saturday, with a vibrant, emotionally powerful Mass infusing retreatants’ cultures set for Sunday morning.

“We are an expressive kind of a people. We express our joy,” Sister Florence said. “We don’t keep it deep within.”

She describes the ministry of friendship that retreatants co-create with God during and after the retreat as a kind of missionary discipleship.

“How they transform, what goes inside, I cannot put (into) words,” she said, “but what I have seen from Friday to Sunday, you see the joy, the connectedness, the deep happiness coming within. Everybody’s hugging each other, greeting each other. ‘Give me your phone number so that we can talk.’ They just reach out to each one (and) extend to others.”

Sister Florence says the retreat experience offers retreatants the chance to “detox” themselves and “feel renewed,” she said.

“You feel transformed and you will feel it in your bones, in your spirit, in everything, when you come back.”

Anyone with questions is encouraged to reach out to Sister Florence by email or calling 267-282-3487.