One question we are frequently asked is: “What are the official shirt colors for an ACTS Retreat?” We often hear variations of this—such as “Are ACTS colors red, white, and blue?” or “Do we wear red shirts on Sunday?”—so we’d like to provide a clear and helpful answer.
To begin, the ACTS Retreat Manual does not indicate any requirement for “ACTS Shirts” or shirt colors. Because of this, there is no official or mandated color scheme for ACTS Retreat teams.
That said, many teams choose to wear matching shirts during Thursday through Saturday of the retreat weekend. This is simply a helpful practice—not a rule—because it allows retreatants to easily identify team members from the other retreatants when guidance or support is needed. The choice of color is completely up to each individual team and can be selected based on what fits their group, parish, or retreat theme.
Regarding Sunday, the ACTS Retreat Manual offers one specific direction: retreatants and team members are asked to wear their “Sunday best.” As stated on page 121, this is because, “the retreatants are coming home as part of a greater community coming to the table of the Lord” (page 120). In other words, on Sunday the retreatants rejoin the parish not as a separate group, but as part of the larger Body of Christ—our parish family. Wearing our Sunday best along with the rest of the congregation helps reflect the reverence and joy of returning to the Eucharistic table together.
