Life at St. Paul’s can be hectic for students and teachers alike, and the roster of what is offered at the school is full of all kinds of extra-curriculars: from drama to sports, chess to debating.  Time spent in these pursuits is looked back on fondly by many alumni.  But there is one ‘extra,’ one ‘club’ that well over a thousand alumni can look back on with not only warm fondness and memories of laughs and time spent with friends, but reverence and awe for a time spent away, a special time spent with God.

Kairos is God’s time. “Kairos” is an ancient Greek word meaning the “right or opportune moment”. The ancient Greeks had two words for time, chronos and kairos. While the former refers to chronological or sequential time (as on a clock), the latter signifies a period of time in which “something special” happens. In the context of the retreat, Kairos is “the Lord’s time.”

Kairos was brought to St. Paul’s by Fr. Paul Crouch, S.J., then the newly appointed Director of the school apostolate. He had experienced the retreat while in the United States. In April of 1999, Father Paul and Larry Franz took six grade eleven students (Wyatt Alexander, Graham Petz, Joe Kim, Marc Gomez, Michael Kinsner and Derek Palson) to Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, MO, to make a Kairos retreat and to bring the retreat back to St. Paul's High School.

In October of 1999, St Paul’s conducted its first Kairos retreat at Villa Maria Retreat House with the above students acting as student leaders and adding adult leaders Ray Comeault and Bernadette Phillips to the team.

Two senior retreats and one grade eleven retreat (with 24 retreatants each) were held that year and Kairos began to grow in popularity with the senior students. In January of 2000, Fr. Paul suddenly passed away and the responsibility for the retreat fell to Larry Franz. Kairos moved to St. Benedict’s Retreat Center in October of 2002 for K10 and it has been held there to this date. 

In time the retreat has expanded in scope, an extra student leader (group) has been added and to accommodate popular demand the school now runs four retreats (with 30-36 retreatants each) every year. Student leaders are students who have made the retreat and have offered their services to keep the program going.

June of 2013 marked the passing of the 50th Kairos the school has held, entrenching it even more firmly into the institution and what going to St. Paul’s can mean for young men.

Kairos is and always has been a voluntary retreat, but with each passing year, it becomes more and more popular, with well over 90% of each graduating class choosing to participate.

One of the beauties of Kairos is the ‘not knowing.’  Much of the retreat is kept secret, only allowing itself to become known as it is experienced, an extraordinary feat considering how many young men have participated in the past. 

There is excitement and trepidation for new retreatants, who are faithfully putting their trust in their peer leaders and in God, who has led them to this time and place.  Kairos is a truly extraordinary time.  Young men face themselves and their peers with unprecedented trust and honesty, allow themselves to be guided and supported and are able to experience revelations they may not have otherwise been privy to in their regular days at the school.

The retreat has become an incredibly important and moving experience for all involved, retreatants and their friends, the adult leaders, even the families of those involved. Many young men come home from Kairos a ‘new man,’ parents report.  A Man for Others.

That is the importance and the strength of the retreat, its enduring quality, and its magic.  It changes everyone involved for the better, helps the retreatants see themselves more clearly and God more as a friend than a judge.  With that kind of message, extraordinary things happen for the students involved.  The impossible becomes the possible, and God becomes our greatest supporter.

The human team cannot be overlooked on Kairos.  Both student (peer) and adult (teacher) leaders make the retreat with the boys, journeying with them, guiding and supporting.

Since 2000, Kairos has been in the capable hands of Mr. Larry Franz. Mr. Franz has a long history with Kairos, having been on every single retreat the school has made. With 50 Kairoses under his belt, Mr. Franz is truly the Moses of the retreat, the ‘Old Man of the Mountain.’ Kairos would not have survived as strongly and as profoundly at the school without his guidance, leadership and gentle nurturing of the program.  To him go many thanks and much praise.

St. Paul’s offers young men many things, many tools to aid in their growth into men and Men for Others.  Kairos has, and will continue, to play a leading role in that.  Praise and thanks be to God for the program, the leaders and the continued interest in our young men to participate.  Long may it remain so.