“SHALOM” – A Biblical and Existential Challenge.

“In these times of complexity and unrest, what does it mean to pursue and embody God’s Completeness-Shalom”. Fr. Patrick Cronauer.
As a Benedictine Oblate affiliated with the monks of St. Vincent, I was privileged to attend the retreat “Shalom: A Biblical and Existential Challenge” June 27, 2026 at the St. Vincent Archabbey. The retreat master, Fr. Patrick Cronauer challenged us to articulate the meaning of Shalom for us personally. By means of a detailed discussion of both Old and New Testament scriptures, he provided us with tools for understanding the meaning of Shalom in the Bible and in our lives. We were encouraged on numerous occasions, to break up into groups and “brainstorm” about the scriptures and their application to practicing “Shalom”. Fr. Cronauer is very knowledgeable on the topic; his presentation reflected years of insightful research and practical application.
In his discussion of the deeper meaning of Shalom, he explained the intention of God for wholeness and peace in our relationships with each other and in creation. Forgiveness, love and healing are central tenets to the Covenantal relationship “Shalom”, requiring respect for the relationship between God and “man” as prescribed in the Adamic Covenant. We discussed Chaos as the opposite of Shalom, rejection of the covenant resulting from our sins.
He closed the retreat with more table discussion on how to nurture “Shalom” in our everyday relationships with our neighbors. Excellent retreat. Thank you Fr. Cronauer.

Peace of Christ be with you!
What a powerful day retreat on "Shalom"! So blessed to have Fr. Patrick be our presenter who had lived many years in Jerusalem to acquire a pontifical doctorate degree. So much wonderful information, resources and simply many things to open our horizons on what Shalom-peace really envelops in our world, community and our personal lives. An awesome day!
God Bless and Thank you!

The speaker was very knowledgeable and presented this knowledgeable in a very easy to understand way. He also presented in a way that that made you think about what Shalom means in your own life and how it impacts every aspect of your life. He was also very personable and shared some of his personal experiences which added even more depth to all of our experiences. He was absolutely wonderful and I would definitely attend any other presentations by him.
Thank you for offering these wonderful experiences.

After Fr. Cronauer's fascinating and revealing explanation of the full and complete meaning of Shalom, it caused me to deeply ponder how I could bring all of the components of that one word into my daily life. Fr. Cronauer's process of explaining the ancient roots of Shalom and demonstrating its use in Biblical texts, as well as its relationship to covenants, opened my eyes to the breadth of this simple (and sometimes over-simplified) word. He also made this very understandable for those of us who do not have the biblical & theological background and experience that he does, and he did it with some light-hearted humor also. But he also challenged me to think about the application of Shalom in my life. I left this retreat with a different mindset about Shalom. It was 3 hours very well spent!

I felt very blessed to have attended this retreat. I’m grateful to have learned a lot about the concept of Shalom - I never realized there was so much there. I hope to attend more retreats at Saint Vincent in the future.