From Arizona to Argyll, here is our selection of places to reset, reflect and spiritually refresh mind and soul. Many of our selected retreats are situated in or alongside monastic and religious houses, including those of the Jesuits, Passionists, Benedictines and Franciscans. It is also an opportunity for religious people to share their charisms with those in need of spiritual recharging.
In a world of ever-scrolling screens and emails, we sometimes need to retreat from it, like so many saints chose to, and Christ did for 40 days. While we may no longer retreat to a hermit’s cave to live off locusts, a stay in one of the retreat houses in our guide – often with delicious healthy food – can be a spiritually rewarding experience that allows one to switch off and re-engage with the world on a more spiritually focused level.
We feature the Benedictine strongholds of England – Ampleforth, Buckfast, Douai and Worth – no strangers to spiritual direction. For the Benedictines – at Buckfast or Belmont Abbey – the duty of hospitality is written into its founder’s very rule. We also feature relative newcomers on the UK’s retreat scene, such as Craig Lodge Family House of Prayer, Iona House of Prayer and the Society of the Sacred Heart’s retreat centre in Brecon.
We pay homage to the Carmelite and Redemptorist centres across the UK, where you can find out about their Advent and Holy Week retreats, as well as visiting the Jesuits who offer the full 30-day Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Loyola. We also explore England’s Nazareth, the Catholic National Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady at Walsingham, a medieval pilgrimage site destroyed during the Reformation that has found new life in the 20th century.
Across the Atlantic we feature retreats in the Passionist and Franciscan tradition, and find that a repurposed seminary has a new life as one of the largest retreat houses in New York. We visit the Malvern Retreat House, the oldest retreat centre in the US, and see Mother Angelica’s legacy living on at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Alabama. Below you will find inspiration, and through their websites find how to take a spiritual mini-break in 2024.
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