Your generous support of our retreat ministry helps foster the spiritual development of people of faith. As Pope Francis reminds us, Salus populi suprema lex: People first; the spiritual welfare of people above all.
Often those most in need of a retreat are financially unable to afford one. The Fr. Fussner Fund was established to help make it possible for those in need of financial assistance to experience the grace and peace of a retreat. The fund is named in honor of Fr. Raymond Fussner, SJ, who welcomed Bellarmine retreatants and directed many through the Spiritual Exercises from 1969 to 1992.
While our suggested retreat contributions do not cover the actual cost of a retreat, thanks to the generosity of many retreatants and benefactors we can ask for this suggested contribution amount. Any contribution you make to the Fr. Fussner Fund is tax-deductible.
May Bellarmine’s core values of Ignatian Spirituality, Silence, Prayer, Hospitality, Service to the Poor, and Sacred Spaces continue to resonate in your life, and may you and your family experience God’s peace and blessings as you strive to find God in all things.
Tradition of Generosity
Before departing Bellarmine, the first retreatants declared that “the spiritual benefits of a retreat at Bellarmine… [should] be available to the widest possible number regardless of ability to pay a full share of the expenses” and adopted a formal resolution recommending “that each group make an earnest effort to defray the expenses of the group.”
At the second retreat, January 16-18, 1948, the retreatants adopted and reaffirmed the resolution, and recommended that each retreatant make a monthly contribution in such amount as he may desire. Said contributions were to be used to defray expenses of Bellarmine and to foster the purposes of Bellarmine.
Your generous gifts make it possible for Bellarmine to further its core values – sharing Ignatian Spirituality with adults and youth, offering times of silence, providing opportunities for prayer, extending hospitality to all who visit the retreat house, serving the poor, and sharing sacred spaces with all who visit Bellarmine.