Retreat Leader Says:
June 11th, 2010 at 1:33 pm

Off the top of my head, I would say we have a new paradigm forming. More people are seeking spiritual and consciousness-raising growth and there are conferences, seminars and workshops in abundance. And zillions of books, CDs, videos, Internet youtube, etc. It’s big business. And that’s a lot of competition for the traditional retreat center. Many of these big organizations not only put on programs at their own facilities, but also take their programs to other areas. That creates even more competition for retreat centers. And many of them have enormous conferences every year or two to huge crowds. This generates a huge audience and big funds for these organizations and it’s more competition for the retreat centers.

But within the retreat centers, I can think of a few other reasons–

–The number of priests and nuns has dwindled, so more of the staff are lay people from the outside. That has a huge impact not only on the expense costs but also from the marketing/promotion angle and planning/presenting retreats.

–For weekend retreats directed by a lay person, at a Catholic center, there must be a liturgy. Sometimes they can go to a nearby church. Sometimes they have to find an available priest to come into the center–difficult but doable. (I’ve been so lucky–the priests who said mass for the retreats I’ve done were great; their homily; when we did the Julian retreat at Shalom, liturgy was great; but it can also be a dud.)

–The support at the parish priest level may or may not be there. Everyone is short on time and personnel. Good example of connections that don’t happen.

–There has been a change in retreat directors and for some, that is an adjustment. There are not as many priests available for one thing, and for some retreatants, having a lay director has been a shift. That is probably fading. There are more and more non-priest directors (including the nuns/religious themselves) and that is good news.

–In contrast to previous times, it is very difficult for a retreat center to make itself known to the diocese or geographical area through personal visits to the neighboring parishes–they don’t have the time or personnel to do this kind of promoting on a large scale. They do have the Internet though, but that is part of the new paradigm and the retreat center must become fully engaged at that level. And that costs more time, money and effort.

–The economy certainly has played a role. As expenses have risen, the retreat fees have also.

–The traditional parish-sponsored weekend and repeat-annual-theme (such as the silent weekend) have huge competition from other types of retreats and programs offered now. For most folks, the cost, time and effort to go away for a weekend has limits.

–The relationship between the retreat center and the parishes or community groups must be very strong and in part depends on volunteer promoters. The head promoter or lay facilitator (not retreat presenter) has an opportunity to make a significant impact on the retreatants and enlist their help in future promotion and volunteering and other support. When it’s good, it’s very good. When it’s weak, the opportunity goes up in smoke.

–Some retreat houses have become facilities for outside groups, even lay groups or other types of institutions, like in-service training for nurses by a hospital. That’s probably very good for the community and is a boost for the retreat centers. It also occupies the retreat center with the work involved in housing a program which may be good, but may or may not strengthen the primary connection with the groups the center works hard to attract (such as parishes).

–Some retreat centers sponsor their own programs, while others are a facility for programs that come to them (contrast Dominican Retreat with The Well or Shalom House for example). The first group has to choose those programs that, they hope, will serve well and draw the most retreatants. The second group must attract the outside programs and presenters–really an unknown–will these groups appear or not? Challenging for both.

–Under Catholic diocesan regulations, outside speakers/presenters must be approved.

–Another factor I have personally seen and repeatedly heard about from other areas is the lack of support and publicity from diocese newsletters and communication media. It is as if Murphy’s Law must prevail in the publication arena. Contrary to what most people realize, these publications serve as announcements (for programs such as retreats) not publicity. An example would be the dates allowed for a notice to appear, usually not sooner than a couple of weeks before the event. A national headliner can be scheduled to direct a retreat and chances are slim to none for an article on this in the publication. Unbelievably poor support and I can’t count the number of times I have heard this type of complaint. Think of all the promotion effort every retreat program and center is faced with–and even if you use a canned set up, parish bulletins e-mailed en masse, etc., it’s very iffy. In the newsletters and bulletins, a notice may or may not appear. On the Internet, the notice appears, but it has to be found. Challenging. Not hopeless, but needs improvement.

There are probably a hundred reasons for the difficulties facing retreat centers. And I have a whole lot of thoughts about larger programs with great speakers (like Cynthia Bourgeault and others) but that is a whole different topic and my break is long over.