60 Years of Teens Encounter Christ...and counting!

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Teens Encounter Christ (also known as TEC), a high school and young adult retreat, is a national Catholic movement that aims to bring young teens and young adults to encounter Jesus personally on a three-day weekend that is shaped around the Paschal Mystery: the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The retreats are conducted by a team of a priest, members of religious orders, teens, young adults, and adults. Talks are given by team members and interspersed throughout the weekend are opportunities for Reconciliation and Mass, so the Sunday obligation will not be a worry. Even though it is a retreat based on Catholic teachings, participants of other Christian denominations are welcome.

TEC was founded in 1965 in Lansing, Michigan, by a nun, Sr. Mary Concetta, and a priest, Fr. Matthew Fedewa. Around that time, Vatican II was ending and the conciliar documents were being promulgated. Fr. Fedewa had begun to notice that retreats that the parishes were doing for the high school teens were not working in the way parishes hoped, so he designed TEC, which takes its inspiration from the lay movement Cursillo, the adult version of TEC. In the following years, the TEC movement has flourished and has opened centers around the United States and abroad, including Canada, Puerto Rico, Czechia, and Germany. You can find the nearest TEC centers and upcoming retreats here and here.  Some centers have opened, some have closed, but all still retain a place in the TEC family. It is governed by a central committee known as the TEC conference, created in 1981, which oversees and maintains the mission and provides unity in the unfolding of the weekend, which is essential to keeping the charism authentic.

Each year, since then, there have been annual gatherings known as the TEC Encounter where TECites from around the world meet and discuss topics related to TEC while growing deeper in their relationship with Christ. This past summer, the movement celebrated its 60th Anniversary in Evansville, Indiana. The celebration included the commemoration of the opening of the brand new Port Hope TEC center, which conducted its first retreat this past summer. TEC#2 is being planned for sometime early 2026.

Many participants that I have talked to have said that the program has brought them into a deeper focus in their prayer life and relationship with God and others, and an understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

Encourage your teen or young adult to make a retreat today.