Join us on the Saint Louis Abbey and Priory High School campus on Friday, Dec. 27th, 2024 for a day of building your physical and spiritual health with fitness coach and owner of REDDY Health & Performance, Dave Reddy, and St. Louis Abbey priest, monk, and fitness enthusiast, Father Athanasius Soto.
We’re excited to share this upcoming retreat experience, and we promise to challenge you physically and spiritually in a fun and supportive group setting.
Participants check in at the monastery around 7:45 am. After a morning of movement assessments, agility, calisthenics, and discussion, we will attend Mass, enjoy a catered high-protein lunch, and continue into the weight room and finish with stretching and mobility exercises around 2:30 pm.
The retreat will include opportunities for personal reflection, movement, customized assessments and programming, discussion, and journaling, with time for prayer with the St. Louis Abbey monks, as we discuss and experience the following:
Growing in holiness:
Growing in health and fitness:
Father Athanasius, a Catholic priest and monk from St. Louis Abbey, teaches advanced statistics at St. Louis Priory High School and serves as the school's guest master, monastic bursar, and sacristan. Father Athanasius is a passionate fitness enthusiast whose struggle with obesity in his youth and adolescence inspired him to improve not only his physical but also his spiritual well-being. Father will discuss the significance of having a well-ordered self-love and how practicing the biological virtues of our created animal nature can help you align with the Creator Himself. Motto: Anima sancta in corpore sano. ("A holy soul in a healthy body.")
Along with being the owner of REDDY Health & Performance and a fitness trainer, Dave is also the director of Webster University's undergraduate Exercise Science curriculum, the creator of the CatholicFIT PE program, and the athletic director of Chesterton Academy in St. Louis. Over the past few years, Dave has been exploring the intersection of his Catholic faith and personal fitness, which he believes has strengthened both. Dave is a weekend warrior who trains to keep up with the young guys on the basketball court, whether he is coaching or playing. These days, he uses his virtual workshops, retreats, and PE programs to share this journey.
All fitness levels are welcomed, as the goal is ti provide tips for starting and staying on track with a sustainable, daily fitness practice customized to you.
Yes, after many inquiries, a father and son registration option was added. College-aged, young men and older best fit the format of the day, but if you high school son is aware of his body, interested in the discussion, and is OK getting up and moving with some older guys, then please bring him along too. We plan to create a program specifically for fathers and sons in the future.
Yes, we will ebb and flow between theological, philosophical and research-based discussions for living a healthy and fit lifestyle, with several opportunities for training. We will practice “good posture”, elevate your heart rate as we discuss zone training, go through a weight room workout modified for all levels, practice some core training, and more.
Wear comfortable clothes you would go to the gym in. Sweats with shorts and a t shirt underneath if we break a sweat. We will be getting on the floor, doing stretches and more so whatever is most comfortable for you in that regard.
Thank you to the Saint Louis Abbey and Priory High School for hosting the very first CatholicFIT Men’s Retreat: The Faith and fitness: growing in health and holiness.
The Saint Louis Abbey address is:
500 South Mason Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63141
Schedule a visit or find out more at:
vocationsdirector@priory.org