Catholic Residential Youth Work
Encyclopedia
History
There are thirteen youth retreat centres in the UK. The centres grew up in the era immediately following the Second Vatican CouncilSecond Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
, reflecting a renewed interest in both ministry within the Church and in work with young people following the Albermarle Report in the 1960s. Not all of them would use the term retreat centre, but it is a useful catch-all. The oldest one is Soli House in Stratford-Upon-Avon, but it was St Cassian's Centre, Kintbury
Kintbury
Kintbury is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England, between the towns of Newbury and Hungerford.-Amenities:In Kintbury there is the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary, Church of England primary school, post office, corner shop, and a butcher...
which pioneered the model of work in the field.
St Cassian's (known as Kintbury) was established by Damian Lundy
Damian Lundy
Damian Lundy was a religious brother of the De La Salle Order. He died in 1997 at the age of 53. He is widely respected as a leading innovator in many forms of Catholic ministry and education in the UK...
in 1975 and pioneered a system based largely on having a volunteer team of young Catholics near to the ages of the young people they were working with. The system closely followed an Australian system Lundy had observed, a system which, in turn, was heavily based on an approach common in the US. It relied on these young Catholics sharing their stories. Peer ministry was always important to Lundy and narrative theology
Narrative theology
Postliberal theology began as a late 20th-century development in Christian Theology. It proposes that the Church's use of the Bible should focus on a narrative presentation of the faith as regulative for the development of a coherent systematic theology...
- the practice of ministry through sharing personal experiences and accounts - has always been an important facet of the De La Salle Brothers, the order to which Lundy belonged. Many of the centres employ a programme based on the one brought by Lundy.
Eight of the centres are diocesan (i.e. run by diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
s) and five are run by religious order
Religious order
A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of initiates and, in some...
s. Religious centres are able to supplement their spiritual side by drawing on the traditions and spirituality of the order they represent. Diocesan centres, on the other hand often feel far more connected to the Church and therefore have a larger pool of resources and support to draw on and find recruitment to teams and finding clientele slightly easier.
Community living and a change of scene
UK centres
Current- Alton Castle (Archdiocese of Birmingham)
- Brettargh Holt (Salesian Sisters)
- The Briars http://www.thebriars.co.uk (Diocese of Nottingham)
- Castlerigg ManorCastlerigg ManorCastlerigg Manor is a Catholic Residential Youth Centre - also often referred to as Catholic Youth Retreat Centres - in Keswick, Cumbria, in the north of England's Lake District National Park...
(Diocese of Lancaster) - Myddelton Grangehttp://www.myddeltongrange.org.uk ([Diocese of Leeds])
- St Cassian's Centrehttp://www.kintbury.org (De La Salle order)
- St. Vincent's Centrehttp://www.scys.org.uk (Archdiocese of Southwark)
- Savio House http://www.saviohouse.org.uk (Salesians of Don Bosco - SDB)
- Soli House (Archdiocese of Birmingham)
- SPECSpec-Specification:* Specification , an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, product, or service** "Spec sheet" or datasheet used to describe something technical...
http://www.spec-centre.org.uk (Archdiocese of Westminster) - Walsingham House (Diocese of Brentwood)
- The Youth Village http://www.ymt.org (The Youth Ministry Team - Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle)
No longer running
- Dehon House (Run by the Sacred Heart Fathers for the Diocese of Shrewsbury - CLOSED IN 2003
- Southwell House (Jesuit Order) (Closed)
The conference
Each year at the start of January the volunteers and other staff at the various centres are invited to attend a conference. This is attended by between 8-10 of the centres and provides Catholic residential youth workers with an opportunity to meet each other and exchange ideas. The conference is held in a different centre each year. Past conferences are as follows:- 1996 - Savio House
- 1997 - St. Cassian's Centre, Kintbury
- 1998 - The Briars
- 1999 - SPEC Centre
- 2000 - Alton Castle
- 2001 - Soli House
- 2002 - Dehon House
- 2003 - SPEC Centre (co-organised with St. Cassian's Centre)
- 2004 - Savio House
- 2005 - Alton Castle
- 2006 - St. Cassian's Centre, Kintbury
- 2007 - Castlerigg ManorCastlerigg ManorCastlerigg Manor is a Catholic Residential Youth Centre - also often referred to as Catholic Youth Retreat Centres - in Keswick, Cumbria, in the north of England's Lake District National Park...
- 2008 - SPEC Centre
- 2009 - SPEC Centre
- 2010 - The Hayes Conference Centre
- 2011 - The Hayes Conference Centre