"I have Men of St. Joseph Outback to thank for how our family has grown together the past few years in faith and overall." ~Cooper Brown
My name is Cooper Brown and I am currently a sophomore at University of South Carolina. I have lived in Mobile my whole life before I left for college.
My family has always been Catholic, but we have not always been devout Catholics. We were that family that went to mass on Christmas and Easter. Also, our family was not very strong; we fought all the time.
This changed when my dad signed him and me up for a religious retreat named Outback. Before the trip you are completely unaware what you will encounter, so we were a little hesitant. My relationship with my dad was not the best before the trip, but through the weekend I experienced, what I can only describe as, God's presence, I saw the beauty of the world and the love of all the couples in the retreat. I saw how much I really mattered to my dad and how much he really mattered to me.
On the last day members of the retreat could come up to the stage and talk about their experience. My dad had the courage to do so and verified what I had already learned from the weekend, Jesus and he loved me unconditionally. After Outback our family now goes to mass every Sunday and I attend my church's youth group after mass. We have never been stronger as a family unit and I have God to thank for that.
I have Men of St. Joseph Outback to thank for how our family has grown together the past few years in faith and overall. I recommend just trying it; I was not very thrilled of the idea at first. My relationship with my dad completely changed as a result of this experience and I would not change it for the world. Also, if your parent has not asked you to go, don’t feel scared to ask them, I think they would appreciate it more than you could possibly imagine.
About Cooper Brown Cooper Brown is a lifelong parishioner at St. Ignatius Catholic Church and is the daughter of Betsy and Joe Brown.
