A BURSARY scheme to subsidise places on retreats has been
launched in the wake of the closure of two diocesan retreat houses
owing to financial pressures.
The retreat house for the diocese of Coventry, Offa House,
closed at the end of March; and the retreat centre for the diocese
of Gloucester, Glenfall House, has announced that it will close at
the end of July.
Both closures were attributed to their being large buildings
that required a significant amount of work, the costs of which
could not be met. The trustees of Offa House said in a statement:
"The fundamental issue is financial. Over the last two years the
sales revenue has decreased by some 24 per cent, and as a result
the company has been trading at a loss.
"Whilst the trustees have been taking action to address this,
there has also been the need for significant capital expenditure.
Old buildings can be very costly to maintain, and Offa House is no
exception. The net result is that in the last two years the
company's cash reserves have been depleted by the order of
£100,000.
"Matters have come to a head in the last few weeks, as it has
become clear that further major capital expenditure is urgently
required, and it is this situation that has finally led the
trustees to conclude that there are no longer the financial
resources available to allow Offa House to continue to operate.
This decision has been taken with a heavy heart."
Offa House had been a diocesan retreat centre since 1962; and
Glenfall since 1992.
The acting chair of the Association for Promoting Retreats (APR)
and director of The Well at Willen, near Milton Keynes, the Revd
Liz Baker, said: "Decisions to close retreat houses are never taken
lightly, and the loss of any centre is a matter of regret. The APR
is currently undertaking the first detailed survey of retreat-house
wardens to establish the main challenges and opportunities they
face, and the extent of any impact of the economic climate, to seek
to identify how this charity and the wider Church can better
support these precious places. . .
"Regular retreats are a core aspect of national guidance on
clergy training. Responsibility for sustaining a healthy network of
retreat houses therefore resides with the whole Church. In many
places, it is a case of use it or lose it."
The APR has launched a bursary fund of £10,000 to enable people
to try going on retreat by subsidising the cost of a place. The
scheme allows retreat houses to apply for up to half of the costs
of a retreat for an individual, and individuals can benefit from up
to one grant each year.
Alison MacTier, the director of the Retreat Association, which
publishes an annual retreats handbook, and matches people to
retreats, said that some centres, where they had found a "niche",
were doing very well.
St Beuno's, in north Wales, which was used for the television
programme The Big Silence in 2010, is popular, attracting
people of all faiths and none, and also people in their 20s and
30s, whereas other retreat centres traditionally have an older
clientele.
Ms MacTier said that retreats had to fight against common
misconceptions, such as "that retreats are for a certain kind of
person. The image of a retreat is not always positive. But, from
our experience, we know of many people who find themselves on a
retreat and are surprised at the value of it. Retreat centres
benefit from not having all the trappings of church - they can be
much more accessible."
She said that compiling the handbook had proved that, while some
of the bigger retreat centres had closed, because of the mounting
costs of looking after large buildings, smaller centres were
opening to replace them.
For a full list of retreat centres, visit www.retreats.org.uk.