ACTS came to the Fort Worth Diocese in the Spring of 2004. A mission team from New Braunfels, the parish of St. Peter and St. Paul, graciously gifted Denton with their first retreat. Early on, the local pastors agreed to combine the two parishes of St. Mark and Immaculate Conception and make one Denton ACTS community.
In the spring of 2006 Denton gifted Sacred Heart in Muenster with their first retreat.
Denton and Muenster help start ACTS at St. Mary’s in Gainesville in the spring of 2007. San Antonio helped Gainesville with their first Spanish ACTS began in 2010.
In the summer of 2007 Denton held its first TEEN ACTS retreat. By 2009 St Mark and Immaculate Conception decided to each hold their own TEEN ACTS retreats to accommodate the growing number of teens wanting to participate.
In the spring of 2008 Denton, Muenster and Gainesville joined efforts to help start ACTS in the at St. Peter in Lindsay.
By February 2009 ACTS Missions saw the need to keep ACTS growing in North Texas and came here to establish the Fort Worth Chapter of ACTS Missions to help with the missions in our area.
The Chapter has been busy since our inception in early 2009.
Our Lady of Lourdes in Mineral Wells had their first set of retreats in the spring of 2010. Their CORE team was established in the fall of 2011
In the fall of 2010 Denton helped St. Phillip the Apostle in Lewisville with its first retreats. Their CORE team was set-up in the early summer of 2011.
Ft Worth Chapter was excited to help take ACTS to St. Bernard of Clairvaux in Tulsa, Okla. in January and February of 2011. Each of the mission teams was comprised of ACTS members from all over the North Texas area. Their CORE team was established in September of 2011.
St. Thomas Aquinas in Pilot Point held their first set of retreats in May and June of 2011.
By the Fall of 2011 there had been 4 Spanish retreats in Gainesville and 2 in Denton. The Spanish community has exploded with excitement and is growing rapidly.
We also have a type of ACTS retreats in the prison ministry at the State School in Gainesville by all the Cooke County men.
Using only an educated guess because we don’t have detailed records of all those who have attended, by the end of 2011 there were easily well over 4000 retreatants from the Fort Worth Diocese parishes who had shared the ACTS experience.
The fire has been lit and the excitement is continuing to grow. God is GOOD!!!!!