Unveiled Retreat coming to Wichita this summer
A few years ago, Jake Samour and his wife, Ramie, decided to experience an Unveiled Couples’ Retreat organized by the Tallahassee, Florida-based John Paul II Healing Center. As head of the Catholic Diocese of Wichita’s Office of Marriage and Family Life, Samour already had a high opinion of the John Paul II Healing Center, as well as the work of its founder, Dr. Bob Schuchts, who, along with his daughter Carrie Schuchts Daunt, helps present at Unveiled Retreats.
But with that year’s retreat taking place in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Samours decided to join the considerable number of registrants who would participate online.
“We not only wanted to do the Unveiled Retreat together, but with other couples,” he said. “We invited some other couples we know from our parish and others, and experienced the livestream together with around 15 other couples.”
The retreat proved so worthwhile for the Samours and the other participants, he relates, that when JP II Healing Center decided to hold the 2026 Unveiled Retreat – scheduled for July 16-18 – at Wichita’s Church of the Magdalen, Samour instantly knew where to turn for volunteers to help with the event.
“The majority of the couples that participated in 2023 are part of the core team,” he said.
But even though Unveiled is coming to Wichita, Samour adds, couples who attend need not assume that physical presence will tie them to the location during the retreat’s entire time window. Like those on the livestream, he says, participants have some flexibility.
“It’s a single talk on Thursday and Friday evening, and then Saturday,” he said. “If that seems daunting with busy summer schedules, all registrants have access to the recorded sessions for 30 days after the retreat.”
And if that still feels like a big commitment, Samour considers, a marriage is an even greater one. Sometimes caring for it must take precedent.
“We all want a thriving marriage, but we also postpone things,” he said. Samour went on to cite Luke 12:49, in which Jesus attests, “I have come to bring fire to the Earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.”
The passage keeps coming back to him, Samour indicates. “God wants to set our hearts ablaze,” he said. “There is no time better than the present to do something about it.”
For
any
marriage
The JP II Healing Center notes that an Unveiled Retreat is based on St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, and explores God’s design for marriage and the skills to build unity, passion, and intimacy, as well as enable marital healing and reconciliation. “During this three-day weekend conference, hosted once a year in a parish community in the United States, you will experience renewed intimacy with your spouse (or future spouse) and gain the tools to strengthen the bonds of unity, resolve conflicts, restore passion, and heal from past hurts,” the organization says.
Moreover, Samour observes, the retreat has something to offer for marriages of all sorts. Regardless of whether a relationship is straining to survive or firing on all cylinders, the retreat will help couples improve it. “There’s no couple I know of that does not seek greater unity, intimacy, and connection,” he said. “Spiritual and emotional intimacy are the major themes.”
Although the retreat will take place in July, Samour notes that registration opens online at 9 a.m. on Monday, April 13 at https://jpiihealingcenter.org/event/unveiled-couples-retreat-july-2026/.
Thinking back to the retreat experience he shared with his wife in 2023, Samour observes that even well-intentioned couples in strong marriages inevitably find that even something as mundane as a hectic schedule can prompt a spouse to steer clear of topics that warrant discussion. An Unveiled Retreat allows them to shed light on such matters.
“A spouse may think ‘I don’t want to have what may be a difficult conversation because things might get out of control,’” Samour said. “A guided retreat with boundaries on how to address these things helps open different avenues to greater unity.”