SPONSORS
Art & Prayer: An Artist’s Retreat
In his Letter to Artists, Pope St. John Paul II wrote about the specific demands that the search for “new epiphanies of beauty” puts on the artistic soul. Come spent time with Jesus and fellow artists for two days of prayer, reflection, and community, at the beautiful National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe at Marytown.
This year we will have thoughtful fellow artists as presenters and the focus will be on art, prayer and the artist's vocation. There will be 24 hour Eucharistic Adoration, a beautiful liturgy, confessions, and spiritual direction to help you renew your vocation to holiness through creativity.
This retreat is open to creators of all disciplines including fine artists, designers, photographers, architects, writers, musicians, and anyone studying or working in a creative field who is seeking spiritual direction, time in prayer and reflection, as well as a time to retreat from the demands of an artistic vocation.
Retreat Presenters
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Artist & Priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago (retired).
Very Rev. Fr. Joshua Caswell SJC
Superior General of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, Chicago
Dr. Barbara Nicolosi
Awarding Winning Screenwriter, Author & Professor
Reverend Anthony J. Brankin was ordained to the priesthood on May 14, 1975 for theArchdiocese of Chicago. He received his S.T.L. (License in Sacred Theology) magna cum laude from the University of St. Mary of the Lake. In May of 1981 he was sent tostudy art at the Bel’ Arte Academy in Rome, Italy. He also completed further studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois. Father Brankin has produced major sculptures, works in bronze, religious altar pieces, drawings, icons and prints for organizations in the US and Italy.
Very Reverend Fr. Joshua Caswell, SJC Superior General of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, Chicago. Born and raised in Saskatchewan, Canada, Fr. Joshua Caswell felt a call to the priesthood early in his life and moved to Chicago in 2004 to begin the process of discernment with the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. Fr. Caswell received his priestly formation and a Masters of Divinity from Holy Apostles College and Seminary. He has served St. John Cantius as Associate Pastor starting in 2014 and as Pastor from 2020-2024. He now serves the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius as Superior General. St. John Cantius Parish is renown for their excellence in liturgy, music and art.
Barbara Nicolosi is award-winning writer, speaker, professor and producer, Dr. Barbara Nicolosi has spoken at hundreds of conferences, universities, and churches. She is the featured host on the Mystagogy podcast. She has also given retreats for parish ministers. With 23 years of experience working in Hollywood as a writer and producer, Dr. Nicolosi speaks about the intersection of faith and culture, the role of art and beauty in the Church and world, and how to engage the secular mainstream with Gospel themes. She is a Great Books professor and former member of a religious community, speaking regularly on the topics of literature and philosophy the importance of friendship, various aspects of prayer and spirituality, the history and social importance of story and art, and how the Church can more effectively find a voice in the marketplace of ideas.
Dr. Nicolosi is founder of the Write Spirit creative writing program of the Catholic Art Institute. A member of the Writers Guild of America-West she has written screenplays for several Hollywood production companies including Fatima (2020), directed by Marco Pontecorvo and starring Harvey Keitel and Sonia Braga. Barbara has a doctorate in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University in the UK, a Masters in Film & Television from Northwestern University, and a B.A. from the Great Books program at Magdalen College. She has taught at the university level for twenty years. She has been a script analyst, production company executive, and consultant on scores of entertainment projects including the features The Passion of the Christ and TV shows Joan of Arcadia (CBS) and Saving Grace (TNT). Barbara has delivered hundreds of addresses all over the world including at the Vatican and for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Barbara has been a grants panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and a reader for the Humanitas Prize which has been called the Pulitzer of screenwriting. For more, visit https://mystagogy.net/
Retreat Presenters
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Artist & Priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago (retired).
Very Rev. Fr. Joshua Caswell SJC
Superior General of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, Chicago
Dr. Barbara Nicolosi
Awarding Winning Screenwriter, Author & Professor
Reverend Anthony J. Brankin was ordained to the priesthood on May 14, 1975 for theArchdiocese of Chicago. He received his S.T.L. (License in Sacred Theology) magna cum laude from the University of St. Mary of the Lake. In May of 1981 he was sent tostudy art at the Bel’ Arte Academy in Rome, Italy. He also completed further studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois. Father Brankin has produced major sculptures, works in bronze, religious altar pieces, drawings, icons and prints for organizations in the US and Italy.
Very Reverend Fr. Joshua Caswell, SJC Superior General of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, Chicago. Born and raised in Saskatchewan, Canada, Fr. Joshua Caswell felt a call to the priesthood early in his life and moved to Chicago in 2004 to begin the process of discernment with the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. Fr. Caswell received his priestly formation and a Masters of Divinity from Holy Apostles College and Seminary. He has served St. John Cantius as Associate Pastor starting in 2014 and as Pastor from 2020-2024. He now serves the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius as Superior General. St. John Cantius Parish is renown for their excellence in liturgy, music and art.
Barbara Nicolosi is award-winning writer, speaker, professor and producer, Dr. Barbara Nicolosi has spoken at hundreds of conferences, universities, and churches. She is the featured host on the Mystagogy podcast. She has also given retreats for parish ministers. With 23 years of experience working in Hollywood as a writer and producer, Dr. Nicolosi speaks about the intersection of faith and culture, the role of art and beauty in the Church and world, and how to engage the secular mainstream with Gospel themes. She is a Great Books professor and former member of a religious community, speaking regularly on the topics of literature and philosophy the importance of friendship, various aspects of prayer and spirituality, the history and social importance of story and art, and how the Church can more effectively find a voice in the marketplace of ideas.
Dr. Nicolosi is founder of the Write Spirit creative writing program of the Catholic Art Institute. A member of the Writers Guild of America-West she has written screenplays for several Hollywood production companies including Fatima (2020), directed by Marco Pontecorvo and starring Harvey Keitel and Sonia Braga. Barbara has a doctorate in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University in the UK, a Masters in Film & Television from Northwestern University, and a B.A. from the Great Books program at Magdalen College. She has taught at the university level for twenty years. She has been a script analyst, production company executive, and consultant on scores of entertainment projects including the features The Passion of the Christ and TV shows Joan of Arcadia (CBS) and Saving Grace (TNT). Barbara has delivered hundreds of addresses all over the world including at the Vatican and for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Barbara has been a grants panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and a reader for the Humanitas Prize which has been called the Pulitzer of screenwriting. For more, visit https://mystagogy.net/
About The National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe
Marytown—the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe is a pilgrimage site and sacred space in Libertyville, Illinois in the Archdiocese of Chicago. It is a ministry of the Conventual Franciscan Friars of St. Bonaventure Province. Here the Friars live together in community with the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience according to the ideals of Saint Francis, and daily celebrate the Eucharist in the Holy Mass, pray the Divine Office, adore the Blessed Sacrament and participate in the devotions of the Liturgical year.
Today, the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe at Marytown includes a Retreat House, Conference Center and the Marytown Gift Shop & Book Store, an educational Holocaust exhibit, relics of Saint Maximilian and several outdoor shrines, all set on 15 acres of beautiful land in Libertyville, Illinois. At the center of Marytown is the Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, considered one of the most beautiful pilgrimage sites in the nation. It is referred to as the “Third City of the Immaculate” modeled after the evangelization centers created by Kolbe at Niepokalanów, Poland and Nagasaki, Japan.
The grounds have been a sanctuary of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament since June 7, 1928, when a temporary chapel was blessed and opened for 24-hour Exposition. The permanent chapel was dedicated on October 2, 1932. At that time, the monstrance was transferred to its current location and the chapel has remained open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In the years since the Conventual Franciscan Friars began their ministry at Marytown, the spirit of Saint Francis was added to the chapel. Most prominent is the San Damiano Crucifix, patterned after the original in Assisi, Italy, where the Lord famously commissioned Saint Francis to “Rebuild My Church.”
The National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe, as declared by the U.S. Catholic Bishops in the Jubilee Year 2000, is a place of pilgrimage for the faithful. It is dedicated to promoting the witness and life of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar, priest, scholar and patriot martyred in the Holocaust at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. St. John Paul II referred to him as the “prophet of the civilization of love” and a “Martyr of Charity” for Kolbe’s exemplification of love without limits.
Today, Marytown serves the spiritual needs of a broad community of people—locally and nationally—through our Eucharistic Adoration apostolate, Prison Ministry, daily Masses, weekday Confessions, catechesis, retreats and conferences.
“And they shall make me a sanctuary and I will dwell in the midst of them.” – Exodus 25:8
Photo Gallery of the Kolbe Shrine
"COME AWAY BY YOURSELVES,… AND REST A WHILE" (MARK 6:31)
Retreat Schedule
FRIDAY 6/20
12:30- 1:00 Check-in
1:00-1:40 - Introductions
1:40 – 1:45 Kathleen Carr, Welcome Remarks
1:45 – 2:45 Opening Prayer & First Presentation, Fr. Joshua Caswell SJC
2:45 – 3:15 Break and Confessions, Spiritual Direction
3:15 – 4:00 Second Presentation Fr. Anthony Brankin
5:15- Dinner is served at the Kolbe Shrine
6:15 - On - Free time for prayer, Eucharistic Adoration, visiting the shrines within the campus, walking around St. Mary's Lake, etc.
SATURDAY 6/21
8:00 – 9:00 Breakfast
9:20 – 9:55 Adoration/Spiritual Direction with Fr. Anthony Brankin
10:00 – 11:00 Third Presentation with Fr. Anthony Brankin
11:00 – 12:15 Mass in the Main Chapel, Kolbe Shrine
12:15– 1:30 Lunch *starts at 12:30 / Spiritual Direction
1:30 – 2:30 Fourth Presentation with Dr. Barbara Nicolosi
2:30 – 3:30 Creative time / Prayer Time / Project Time / Spiritual Direction/ Confessions
3:30 – 4:30 Group Discussion
4:30 – 5:00 Closing Adoration, Artists's Offering Written Intentions on the Altar
5:00 Retreat Ends
*Artists are invited to bring a small example of their work to share with this group, this can include a drawing, painting, music or writing composition, photography, architectural rendering, or the like.
The retreat includes the following meals: breakfast, lunch, coffee, water and snacks. Friday evening dinner is optional and not included in retreat costs.
Schedule start and end times will not change but some details could be subject to updates or changes.
Enrollment Details & Costs
Enrollment options include staying in at the Shrine in an overnight room or commuting (staying at a local hotel or for locals driving to the retreat) . All enrollment rates include the full retreat, including dinner on Friday, breakfast and lunch on Saturday, plus drinks available the entire time.
Member Commuter Rate (includes meals) - $125
Non-Member Commuter Rate (includes meals) - $150
Deadline for Enrolling for Commuter Options is June 18, 2025
Shrine Retreat Single Rooms w/ Private Bath - Member Rate (includes meals) - $265
Shrine Retreat Single Rooms w/ Private Bath - Non Member Rate (includes meals) - $285
Deadline for Enrolling for Commuter Options is June 13, 2025
Shrine Retreat Rooms are limited to 30 guests and will likely sell out quickly so if you'd like to attend and stay at the Shrine, book asap.
Hotel Information for Commuters
If you're like to purchase a commuter enrollment and stay at a local hotel there are three within about a 7 min. driving distance and they include: Holiday Inn Express & Suites Chicago-Libertyville, an IHG Hotel ($155 a night approx) or
WoodSpring Suites Libertyville - Chicago ($168 a night approx) or WoodSpring Suites Libertyville - Chicago ($100 a night approx).
The National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe is located at 1600 W Park Avenue
Libertyville, IL 60048, USA
Traveling to the Shrine
The Shrine is accessible by car, train and flight. The closest airport to the Shrine is O'Hare International Airport which is approximately 30 minutes away. The closest train station is the Mundelein Metra Station: https://metra.com/train-lines/stations/mundelein. The Mundelien train station is connected to O'Hare Airport and about a five minute by car/rideshare to the Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe.
Parking at the Shrine
Ample parking is available at the Shrine for those commuting to the retreat.
Questions?
Please email any questions to contact@catholicartinstitute.org
Refunds
Full refunds are available until June 1, 2025. After June 1, 2025, a 50% refund is available. No refunds after June 12, 2025.