Youth Retreat Team at the Emmaus Centre in Swords, Co Dublin. “In a time where people are very busy in a world where there is persistent noise and commentary from social media, I think it’s very important for people to have the space to get away, be centred and in touch with their own self.”
These words from Sr Peggy Collins of Glendalough Hermitage Centre not only stress the importance of taking retreats, but also describe life in contemporary Ireland.
“There is a movement in modern life that is expressed in the attendance of mindfulness and yoga classes,” according to Sr Collins, adding that there is “a hunger for silence” which is “growing”.
“People want to find themselves,” she said. “People value silence and a lack of any type of intrusion.
“The natural beauty of Glendalough and its Christian history is what brings people here. It is very much a place for tourists and mountain climbers, all of which is lovely, but our vision was to restore the tradition of hermit seekers and it has really lived up to that expectation.”
She added: “The evidence is there that hundreds of people have come here. We have 500 to 600 different people every year and their assessment and evaluation of the retreats is very positive.”
Self-reflection
Glendalough, a traditional place of pilgrimage, is one of several centres in the country which offer individuals the opportunity for quiet self-reflection and restful days of silence and prayer.
The Emmaus Centre is another and its’ director Julie Cosden concurred it has become vital for those who are constantly busy to “set time aside” for themselves.
“I think it’s important for people to set time aside,” she said. “Life can be so busy, to go away to have an experience away where you can really enter into silence, prayer and community either by yourself or with other people.”
The centre, according to its website, is especially attentive to the “faith development of young people”, but in challenging times it can be difficult to reach out to the youth of today.
Asked if retreats were important to young people in modern times, Ms Cosden replied: “Absolutely.”
She said: “I was just on a retreat myself recently and the priest giving it said the advice he had received was to try set aside one day a month for yourself and one week a year for a retreat or for a day of silence.
“I know that might sound like a lot for some people, but if you don’t schedule it or you don’t have a plan for it, life just keeps moving at such a fast speed.
“We have to be intentional about putting time aside to grow our relationship with God.”
The Swords venue located close to Dublin Airport is used for conferences, workshops and retreats with a spiritual focus.
Ms Cosden said the centre offers a wide variety of retreats for individuals who are short on time or have other commitments.
“We would offer a lot of one day retreats on Saturdays, which is probably the minimal amount of time that you would do a retreat for, but it allows people who are working to still take time away.
“The more traditional retreat model would be maybe a week-long retreat, but that may be very difficult for people who are working or who have children.
“We like to offer a lot of one-day programmes or weekend programmes so that it can appeal to people who are working or who can’t take the time of a full week.”
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Many of the retreats Emmaus offers are based on personal improvement, be it emotional, physical, mental or spiritual. But the focus of their retreats nowadays, according to Ms Cosden, is on aspects less spoken of.
“We are doing more retreats around happiness, life purpose and goals – things around joyfulness and positivity,” she said.
“It’s something that’s not really spoken of very often and something that’s not put as a priority in our spiritual life to focus on our desires, what makes us happy and things like that. It’s a different way of approaching God’s plan for our lives by looking at it from the realm of Christian joy.”
Ms Cosden believes Lent would be a “good time” to “set time aside to go on a retreat” be it formally or simply taking time for yourself alone.
“At the Emmaus Centre,” she explained, “we offer formal retreats where people can sign up, pay and go on a formal retreat, but we also allow people to come, book in and utilise the prayer room, the grounds and have a meal, so people can do their own day or weekend of reflection and silence.
“It doesn’t have to be something specific that you sign up for, but most retreat centres do offer people the opportunity to come on a self-guided retreat or just a day of silence.”
She added: “I would encourage people to sign up for a retreat or to try one for Easter.”
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Fr Steve Gibson, spiritual director at the Father Peyton Memorial Centre, said retreats from his experience have always been a significant part of people’s lives.
“I was director of a retreat house in Indiana [US] for 30 years before I came here and I always found that it was a very important time in people’s lives, especially if they were in need of some kind of healing from a personal event or something to celebrate.”
He added: “They would certainly find a time of retreat to be alone in their own space to find a direction that they needed.”
Fr Steve said that a retreat is similar to a journey which takes people back to their Baptism.
“A retreat is to go back to the beginning and so we go back to the beginning of our journey of Faith, what we are doing is going back to our Baptism.
“When groups come in here for a retreat, we start off by going back to their Baptism, talking about all of the things that happened then; all the promises that were made by their parents, by our godparents in our Baptism to be the best that we could be. That’s what a retreat would be for anybody.”
As regards to taking retreats and what role it plays in modern society, Fr Steve answered: “It’s essential I would say. It’s not just a good thing, it’s an essential thing to do.
“There are so many different ways to do it. We would consider this an opportunity for a spiritual journey back to the beginning. People go on vacation, why do they go on vacation? For retreat to re-energise and that is what we are trying to do here.”
The Mayo-based centre, which opened in 1998, is described as a “place for respite prayer and peace” according to its website.
As part of the centres’ aim to be as “socially inclusive as possible”, Fr Steve wants people to have greater recognition on the importance of being a part of God’s family.
“Here at Father Peyton, we don his personal experience in the phrase which he was so well-known for: ‘the family that prays together, stays together’, and so our emphasis would be on the family prayer and taking advantage of all the opportunities that we have as families to grow in our Faith, so often in our society that’s not what’s happening.
“I hope that people would recognise the importance of being a part of family. You see that in so many different aspects. I would hope that would be the emphasis. We would encourage people as they do retreat to recognise the importance of being part of a family.”
The Fr Peyton Centre recently took up new residence in Ballina, which can accommodate up to 12 people.
“It’s a very peaceful place,” Fr Steve said. “It’s a wonderful place for walks, there’s lakes and mountains.
“The first thing that anybody who comes through our doors says is that this is a beautiful, peaceful place.”
He added that modern retreats help to bring about an understanding of the changing times in the Church.
“It’s an opportunity for us to study scripture,” he said. “And to study what are some of the meanings for our personal life: do we really have an understanding of what that is supposed to mean for us today?
“Our Churches are changing; this is not a static Church and we should be changing because if we don’t change, that is not a good thing.”
He added: “We are looking at the different ways the Church is changing – our understanding of the role of laity, women and clergy – which is a diminishing role and the space needs to be taken up by the lay people.”
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Ennismore Retreat Centre advertising coordinator Johanne Ridgeway said retreats are about “wellness” and “time on your own to reflect”.
“We ask people to leave their phones in their rooms so that they can get away from technology,” she said.
“They can spend time on their own or join a group or they can be in silence away from the outside environment.”
Ms Ridgeway, who describes the Cork-based Christian organisation as a “centre of relaxation”, says retreats are designed in line with the Ennismore vision for “calmness, spirituality and spending time with yourself”.
“We have our own private garden and a beautiful walkway around Ennismore, which is roughly a mile long, and people can sit out in the garden and on a good day you may see a red squirrel running up and down the garden.
“Out in our back garden you have a flower garden and trees; there’s a beautiful place in the centre of the garden where you can sit and read a book.”
According to its website, Ennismore describes itself as “an oasis of beauty, peace, hospitality and calmness” for nurturing Christian spirituality.
The centre, Ms Ridgeway said, offers one to one discussion on an individual’s spirtuality when it comes to catering for their needs in a retreat.
“People would come to us on a Sunday and stay with us for six nights,” explained Ms Ridgeway. “The first evening they get information about what is going to happen for the week and the next day, they start into their program.
“They are offered tea and coffee, they can drop in and out of the centre as much as they like during the day, all meals are provided for and they can go to the garden if they wish to be private and have their own personal retreat.”
She concluded: “We have a huge variety of retreats throughout the year and they are not just for priests and nuns, they are for everybody.”