First “The Monastery” and then “The Convent” and BBC2 is responding to something going on in the spiritual undergrowth in making these programmes.

The responses to the census and various polls confirm what many of us feel to be true, that a lot of spiritual questioning and searching is going on outside the Parish Church. The Association for Promoting Retreats (founded in 1913) will tell us that its always been the case, and the listing of 250 retreat houses in the magazine Retreats, produced by the Retreat Association, is concrete evidence of the variety of programmes on offer. Whereas thirty years ago the preached retreat would have been a prominent part of many house programmes, much has changed. Ignatian Spirituality has been rediscovered. We have had courses all over the country on Myers-Briggs, the Enneagram and Celtic Spirituality and now there are retreats incorporating all sorts of experience: calligraphy, creative writing, dry stone walling, embroidery, painting, walking.

The most important things to do on a retreat however are sleeping and eating. I suppose I ought to say praying and worshipping but it’s difficult to do justice to them if you sleep badly and are being inadequately fed! Not that things need to be luxurious. Despite the pressures from the hotel market, our centres have to find a different way. Going on a retreat is a time to connect our own lives with the lives of people round the world and comparatively simple hospitality helps that along.

People use retreat houses for a break with a purpose. It might be a sabbatical, or a time to write or a time to read. As it gets more difficult to find good religious books, all sorts of church centres probably ought to examine their roles and see if bookselling can become a little bit more prominent.

The old adage about retreats is that you retreat to advance. From time to time people need to retreat to escape, but at the current time the spiritual search is what we see happening and that can sometimes be dressed up in a conventional programme. Sometimes there are courses that would make the subject of a headline grabbing question at Question Time. Escapism it is not.

The Retreat Association brings together six denominational organizations, publishing the magazine Retreats organizing a quadrennial conference from the office in Bermondsey. It is a good example of ecumenical working together, not to unite structures but to further common aims which are more to do with the future of the World than the future of our denominations.

Peter Middlemiss

Peter Middlemiss (Warden of Holland House) is Chair of the Retreat Association and President of the Ecumenical Association of Academies and Laity Centres in Europe.
He was a member of General Synod 1990-2005 and is a Lay Canon of Worcester Cathedral.

*Retreats is published by the Retreat Association, The Central Hall, 256 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3UJ.