February 8 - 13, 2026

Black Rock Retreat Center in Quarryville, PA

Taught by Christopher West, Andrew Comiskey, Abbey Foard, Marco Casanova, and Katie Comiskey

Course Description:

The Theology of the Body Institute is excited to partner with Desert Stream Ministries for a unique and immersive healing and training opportunity. In this five day retreat, you will experience a compacted version of the Desert Stream Ministries flagship “Living Waters” program — an opportunity to apply the content of Theology of the Body personally and practically. The week will include:

3 daily sessions with dynamic teaching on topics such as:

The Father’s plan and design for our identity, and learning walk it out personally and concretely;
Identifying blocks to gender and sexual wholeness, and addressing wounds and struggles with addiction, abuse, early roots of brokenness, etc.;
Understanding and offering our gender gift to the “other”;
Restoring our unique dignity as man and woman;
Inspiring the Church to become a beautiful and healing space for men and women with sexual and relational brokenness;

2 daily small groups with focus on receiving prayer in specific areas of growth and integration.

All our week-long retreats include:

Five days of learning & interactive lecture (30 hours of master’s level instruction)
Daily Mass, adoration, and confession
Accommodations & delicious meals at Black Rock Retreat Center
Gorgeous grounds to soak in God’s natural beauty
Optional round trip shuttle from Philadelphia International Airport

Meet Your Instructors

Christopher West, Th.D.

Christopher West, Th.D., serves as President and Senior Lecturer for the Theology of the Body Institute near Philadelphia. His global lecturing, best-selling books and multiple audio and video programs have made him one of the world’s most recognized teachers of St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. His work has been featured in The New York Times, on ABC News, MSNBC, Fox News, and countless Catholic and Evangelical media outlets.

Andrew Comiskey

Andrew Comiskey.(M.Div.) has worked extensively with the healing of the sexually and relationally broken. He is the Founding Director of Desert Stream/Living Waters Ministries, a multifaceted outreach to the broken. Andrew’s ministry grows both out of his own commitment to overcome homosexuality and his experience as a husband to Annette, father of four children and grandfather to five grandkids. He is author of Pursuing Sexual Wholeness (Creation House), Strength in Weakness (InterVarsity Press), Naked Surrender: Coming Home to Our True Sexuality (InterVarsity Press) and the Living Waters healing program. Andrew seeks to equip the Church to be whole and holy, a bride ready to receive Jesus. Andrew serves at St. Thomas More Parish in Kansas City, Missouri. After over four decades in ministry, Andrew still loves receiving and extending mercy to sexual sinners like himself.

Abbey Foard

Abbey Foard (M.A., LPC) has worked in healing ministry for over a decade. Having discovered the power of Christ-in-Community to heal and bring orthodox formation in her own life, she is committed to offering the same for others. Abbey is currently the Executive Director of Desert Stream Ministries in Kansas City, MO, equipping the Church to offer healing to persons with sexual and relational brokenness. Also being licensed as a Professional Counselor (LPC), Abbey maintains a private practice in Kansas City. In all her efforts, she is passionate about seeing people made fully alive in areas of their sexuality and relationships—specifically through encountering the God who has woven His divine nature in all aspects related to gender, sex, love, and intimacy.

Marco Casanova

Marco Casanova (M.Div.) is an Associate Director of Desert Stream Ministries/Living Waters. He encountered the work of Living Waters as a seminarian seeking healing in his experience of sexual brokenness. After eight years, Marco left priestly formation and joined the Desert Stream team. His primary task is to oversee Living Waters USA and to equip lay faithful to run effective healing groups in their church communities. He and his wife, Ania, live in Kansas City, MO.

Katie Comiskey

Katie Comiskey (M.Ed.) is the Director at Large at Desert Stream Ministries. The work of Living Waters was transformational for her healing, and she desires to bring Christ's healing power to the entire church. The work of Living Waters makes ready the bride to meet her Bridegroom! Her role at DSM is to oversee and ensure the efficacy of the ministry's operations. She also coordinates Kansas City's flagship Living Waters at a local parish.

Registration cost:

$1395*

Register and pay by November 10, 2025 for early bird pricing ($100 off). Use code "EARLYBIRD" at checkout.

Please use an email address unique to EACH registrant.

Apply & Register Here

*We understand that some people would like to have their place of work or some other entity pay part or all of their registration fees. Included in the email with information about the course (see ** below), you will find a payment link and instructions that you can share with the person making the payment for you.

**If you do not receive the email with information about the course (different from the receipt) on the day you register, please reach out to Hannah Shafer at hannah@tobinstitute.org.

***Please register with an email address that is unique to you, and please make sure to use that email address for any future registrations with us. This will help us to maintain accuracy of your course completion information.

Travel Information

This information is provided to help you research your travel options to and from the course. Please do not book your flights until you have registered AND paid your registration fee to secure your spot in the course.

If you are flying and would like to utilize the optional shuttle, please book your flights according to these guidelines:

Please book your flights to arrive at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
Please book your incoming flight to arrive no later than 1:30 PM on Sunday, February 8th
Please book your outgoing flight to leave no earlier than 4:30 PM on Friday, February 13th

There is only one shuttle from the airport on Sunday, February 8th and one shuttle back to the airport on Friday, February 13th. If you are unable to secure flights according to the above parameters, you will be responsible for getting yourself to the retreat center (either via Uber, Lyft, renting a car, or by some other means).

More information is provided in the email which you will receive upon registering, but the above should be sufficient for the purposes of looking at flight options.

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