2010

From Friday evening until after Lunch on Sunday.

Cost for each weekend in 2010, unless specified differently:
Per person, single room £156 (£110); shared room £136 (£96) unless otherwise indicated.
[The figure in brackets is the concessionary rate - see HERE for details]

To book a place on any of these events, download a booking form from HERE.

(arranged principally by date)

Managing Conflict in our Relationships: The Benedictine Way
Fodhla McGrane Phd and a member of the Monastic Team
2010 March 19th – 21st

Spend quality time looking at the friction we often experience with others (at work, at home, in the community, and at church). We’ll discuss our typical reactions to conflict, and equip ourselves with effective alternatives for preventing conflict or for helping us and others to get through it. Our sessions will be based on the Bible and the Rule of St Benedict. The weekend course will also provide time and space for personal prayer and reflection.
Fodhla is an Oblate of St Benedict, has a PhD and works as a teacher and trainer in interpersonal communication skills.
If you cannot make this date, the weekend will also run at Douai Abbey, (2010 Feb Fri 19 – Sun 21), located in Berkshire. http://www.douaiabbey.org.uk/ppcal1.htm

Silent Retreat (Palm & Passion)
Fr Patrick Fludder OSB
2010 March 26th – 28th

A weekend retreat including Palm Sunday, to help prepare for Holy Week. It will be structured around the monastic liturgy with the majority of the time for silent personal reflection, reading and prayer. There will be some optional meditations on the passion of Christ. This is not suitable for those coming on retreat for the first time.

Finding Sanctuary - Responding to BBC's 'The Monastery' and 'The Convent'
The Monastic Team
2010 April 16th – 18th
2010 October 8th – 10th

These weekends will explore what we understand by ‘sanctuary’ and help participants to create sanctuary in their daily lives. There will be an emphasis on learning to pray and using personal time creatively. It will be structured around the pattern of monastic prayer. This is reserved for those who have not been on such a retreat before.

Individually Guided Prayer (IGR)
(3 days, Friday to Monday)
Fr Patrick Fludder and Team
2010 April 30th – May 3rd
2010 October 15th – 18th

A silent retreat over a long weekend involving prayer with scripture and opportunities to reflect each day, one to one, with an experienced prayer guide (trained lay Christians). The retreats are structured around the monastic prayer and liturgy.
Per person, single room £234 (£165)

Finding Happiness - responding to the book ‘Finding Happiness: Monastic Steps For A Fulfilling Life’
The Monastic Team
2010 May 14th – 16th

These weekends will be based on Abbot Christopher Jamison’s book ‘Finding Happiness: Monastic Steps For A Fulfilling Life’. The weekend will explore the search for happiness in our lives. What it actually is and how we might obtain it.
The retreat will be structured around the pattern of monastic prayer.

Rediscovering Catholicism
– a relaxed weekend for ‘resting’ Catholics!
Fr Roderick Jones OSB
2010 June 4th – 6th (N.B. changed dates from printed programme)

A weekend for Roman Catholics, wanting to re – make contact with the Catholic Church. This retreat will provide an opportunity to reflect on our relationship with God and to explore in a peaceful and beautiful environment the gift of our Roman Catholic faith. It will be set around the daily pattern of monastic prayer.

Time to listen, Space to Grow
Frances Henley Lock, Jo Eaton, Mary Watson
2010 July 2nd – 4th

A residential retreat for those wanting to explore their own spiritual journey in a contemplative environment, leading to a deeper awareness of God, self and others. It is based on the highly popular Personal and Spiritual Growth (PSG) evening course. We offer a weekend of praying and sharing in different ways. Topics to include: Listening, Praying/Dialogue and Human Being/Spiritual Being. This is not a ‘how to’ course. Using different experiences of ‘prayer’ (in its broadest sense), silence and a ‘creative listening’ method, each person is encouraged to ponder his/her spiritual journey in small, facilitated groups.
Please note: We would encourage anyone who has completed the PSG Course or a Time & Space Weekend (like this one) and would like to develop the themes, to come to the PSG Follow on weekend (see below, Sep. 10th -12th) or individual Follow-on Saturdays.

Solitude and Loneliness Retreat
Fodhla McGrane Phd
2010 July 9th–11th

Loneliness is part of our human experience. This retreat will explore this phenomenon and see how loneliness may fit in with God’s plan for us. What can we learn from Scripture and the Rule of St Benedict, about it? We will also be able to learn from each others experiences.
Fodhla is an Oblate of St Benedict, has a PhD and works as a teacher and trainer in interpersonal communication skills.
If you cannot make this date, the weekend will also run at Douai Abbey, (2010 June Fri 4 – Sun 6), located in Berkshire. http://www.douaiabbey.org.uk/ppcal1.htm

Plater and Benedict; Applied Catholic Social Teaching for 2010
(with Plater College Foundation)
Dr Hugh MacDonald
2010 July 23rd – 25th

This weekend will interest those wishing to explore social teaching and action in further and higher education, and the need to provide trained leadership to meet contemporary social challenges. It also anticipates the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the UK in 2010. The Pope’s recent Encyclical Caritas in Veritate expressed priorities for social action towards globalisation and development that resonate with Fr Plater’s ‘vision’ developed in Oxford, which many Platernians seek to nourish and revive. Worth Abbey is an apt setting for this study weekend because of its commitment to international education, and the encouragement given to the Plater ‘vision’ by Cardinal Basil Hume OSB.

PSG Follow on Weekend
Frances Henley Lock, Jo Eaton, Mary Watson
2010 September 10th – 12th

This weekend and the individual Saturdays are for those who have completed the PSG Course or the Time to Listen & Space to Grow Weekend (above) and are familiar with the process. We will be deepening some themes and introducing new ones using the same familiar format. Each Saturday will stand alone but could be used with or without this PSG Follow–on weekend as a series.
Please note: We would encourage anyone who is not familiar with the process used in the PSG Course or the Time & Space Weekend (see above, July 2-4) to come to the Time to Listen, Space to Grow Weekend or a Personal & Spiritual Growth Course Taster Evening.

Spirituality in the Workplace*
Prof. Peter Gilbert and the Monastic Team
2010 September 17th – 19th

This weekend will offer a vantage point from which to view the spiritual significance of work in our lives. It is an opportunity to reflect with others in the light of the Benedictine monastic experience. This is suitable for all in the workplace and particularly suitable for workplace managers. Peter Gilbert has several publications on ‘Leadership’, is Professor of Social Work and Spirituality, Staffordshire University and NIMHE national lead on Spirituality.
Per person, single room £205 (£145); shared room £185 (£131).

Justice and Peace Retreat (Cancelled)
2010 September 17th - 19th

St Benedict Today
The Monastic Team
2010 September 24th – 26th

St Benedict wrote his monastic Rule over 1500 years ago. It remains a major influence in the life of the Church today. This retreat will reflect on the wisdom of St Benedict and the monastic tradition. It is an opportunity to explore how aspects of monastic spirituality may help and guide us on our own journey of faith in today’s world.

Silent Advent Retreat
Fr Patrick Fludder OSB
2010 December 17th - 19th

A weekend retreat to prepare spiritually for the celebration of the Incarnation. It will be structured around the monastic liturgy with the majority of the time for personal reflection, reading and prayer. There will be some optional meditations on the birth of Christ. This is not suitable for those coming on retreat for the first time.

2011

The dates for our 2011 programme will be published here. Please indicate your interest to the Bookings Secretary (HERE) and we will make sure you are sent the details as they become available.