Day Programs

You are welcome to wear casual, comfortable clothes during your retreat, and we also encourage you to dress in layers. Other items to consider bringing:

• Travel mug and/or water bottle
• Personal Journal
• Walking shoes and/or hiking boots to enjoy our trails
• Sunblock and/or bug spray depending on the season

A light continental breakfast with tea, coffee, juices, pastries, and fresh fruit is usually provided before the start of the retreat. Lunch includes beverages, salad bar, soup, an entrée, and a dessert.

If you have not yet advised us of your specific dietary needs, please contact our office at least two weeks prior to your retreat (847-381-1261, retreats@jesuitretreat.org).

For a day of reflection, please arrive between 8:15-8:45 am, to check in, receive your retreat materials, and enjoy a light continental breakfast.

As is traditional in Ignatian retreats, silence begins after the first retreat talk.

A Retreat Leader will give three or four talks centered on a particular theme and incorporating St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises. You will have the opportunity to participate in the celebration of the Eucharist.

All parts of the retreat are optional, however, we ask that everyone is quiet to allow everyone to find the peace and quiet they are seeking.

Simple, clean, and comfortable. We offer cookies, water, coffee, and tea.

The main retreat house is home to the kitchen and dining room, office, several lounges, two libraries, and two Chapels in addition to bedrooms on all three floors. You are welcome to spend time in any open area of the retreat house that calls you into God’s presence.

Outdoors you will have 80 acres of nature to explore with prairie walks, a wooded trail, several gardens, Stations of the Cross and a Crucifix Chalice Garden.

Bellarmine offers opportunities during this program to invite you into an encounter with Christ, including Mass. Confession is available during Advent and Lenten programs.

We encourage you to register online. If you wish to make a gift to Bellarmine, or are purchasing items from our Resource Center or convenience area, please bring a check or credit card.

We encourage you to leave electronics behind or silence them and leave them in your car. All common areas of the retreat house, including our grounds, are quiet, cell phone-free zones.

Absolutely! We welcome all men and women of faith to come and experience a silent, Ignatian program. You are welcome to participate in the retreat activities as fully as you wish. If you have questions about Catholic liturgy and the extent to which you can participate in the Eucharist and other sacraments, please ask a member of the ministry team or staff. The prayer book located at each seat in the Chapel offers more information on retreat activities, Ignatian Spirituality, and Catholic traditions.

If you prefer to sit in the same seat in the Chapel, there are cards that you can hand write your name on just outside of the Chapel and place on the ledge of your kneeler.

Tell a friend or family member that, in the event of an emergency during your program, you can be reached by calling our main number: 847-381-1261. The voicemail will have specific instructions for emergency situations.

Should you need to cancel your reservation, please notify the office as soon as possible, at least four days in advance of your program. Given that notice, we are able to move your non-refundable deposit one time to another program within the same retreat season. A full listing of retreats and programs for this season is available here.

If you need to arrive later than 9:00 am, please call our main office. When you arrive, please sign into our Guest Book in the Welcome Room before heading to the program. If the program’s silence has already begun, please be mindful of others as you arrive.

There are hearing assistance devices available, located outside of the Chapel.