Office of Faith Formation

“Perfectionism — and specifically, spiritual perfectionism — is a subtle but surprisingly widespread problem today, particularly among highly committed Catholics,” explains Colleen Carroll Campbell. “The unspoken belief that we have to earn God’s love, white-knuckle our way to heaven, or outperform everyone around us to achieve holiness can be lethal to intimacy with the Lord and to our efforts to share his love with others.”

Campbell will be the keynote speaker for the 2026 Refuel Retreat, January 23-25 at the Terra Sancta Retreat Center. She will share the heart of her story — from dorm rooms to the papal palace. Bringing the power of the saints to others through her own story, she will chronicle her life struggles, where she found no answers in the secular world but discovered how these saints kept stepping forward to walk with her. After a fifteen-year quest to understand the meaning of her life and identity in light of her Christian faith, she found real freedom, a freedom in life with the saints as her guide. A lifelong overachiever, she discovered her attachment to perfectionism when she became a mother of twins. It was then that she recognized how subtly perfectionism had crept into her heart and how it threatened her happiness, her spiritual life, and her family.

She said her experience mirrors a widespread reality. As Colleen notes, “Many saints struggled with the toxic cycle of pride, sin, shame, blame, and discouragement that spiritual perfectionism fuels. Learning from their struggles can help us chart our own course to freedom.”

At Refuel, she will explore not only spiritual perfectionism but also the broader challenge of evangelizing today. “I’ll be exploring what the saints can teach us about how to evangelize effectively in a hostile culture and how to resist the twin temptations of distraction and dilution of the faith,” she notes. “Here again, we find the stories of the saints — from the famous mystics and Doctors of the Church to the most obscure desert hermits — have so much to teach us. Their wisdom is truly timeless.”

The annual Refuel Retreat, held each January at Terra Sancta, was created to rejuvenate those who minister in the Church — religious educators, catechists, youth and adult ministers, liturgists, music ministers, marriage and family ministers, and parish staff. The conference offers inspiration, spiritual renewal, and fellowship during a time when the long days of the season can take hold with a cold grasp — Refuel gives a person a chance to get away from the dark days of winter and motivate the inner soul of those who cheerfully serve the diocese and who generously give their hearts to Christ. It invites those who give so much of themselves to step away, rest, and rediscover the joy of ministry.

Campbell captures the heart of the event well. “Evangelizing and educating others in the faith is a high calling. It’s also an exhausting one … That’s why I love the title of this annual retreat, “Refuel.” That’s exactly what I hope this experience will be: a chance for us to come together and let Jesus and his saints rekindle our passion for taking the Good News to the ends of the earth, one soul at a time.”

Discover how the saints can transform your life, just as they did for Colleen Carroll Campbell at Refuel. Click here to register and learn more about our speaker. The retreat is open to all who are interested.