Retreat house offers vital ministry to women

You celebrated a Mass last Saturday formally dedicating the Archdiocese of New Orleans Retreat House in Metairie, which is the former Cenacle Retreat House. Was that a special moment for you?
Yes it was. I have great love and appreciation for the Cenacle Sisters. I met them shortly after I was ordained a priest in 1975, and I have made private retreats at the Cenacle and eventually began giving retreats there on the theme of making a weekend journey with the Lord. I’ve been there for many events. It’s a sacred place for me, and the Sisters who have walked with me on my spiritual journey will always mean a great deal to me.

Why was the archdiocese interested in buying the Cenacle?
We wanted to keep alive the Cenacle Sisters’ tradition of providing retreats and spirituality programs for women and their families. They had been doing this for 55 years, and I saw this as a wonderful opportunity to continue that ministry. I also suspected that if we didn’t buy it, someone else might come in and not keep the building and use the property for something else. This is a great addition to our ability to offer retreats for women. We already operate the Camp Abbey Retreat Center for young people, so we are blessed to have both.

Why did you decide to formally change the name?
Actually, the Sisters asked us to change the name from the Cenacle because they didn’t want the new ministry to be confused with their ministry. That’s why we decided to name it the Archdiocese of New Orleans Retreat House, but we have dedicated it to Our Lady of the Cenacle in honor of the Sisters’ many years of service there.

What kinds of programs will be offered?
Primarily, we will continue providing retreat and spirituality programs for women and their families. We hope to do some other programs as well when weekends are free. We’ve been discussing the possibility of retreats for women who have had abortions and are looking for healing. We’ve talked about offering programs for those who are addicted to alcohol, pornography or gambling. We hope to offer programs for mothers and daughters. We’re also very interested in offering directed retreats during the summer, and we want to continue programs for people with disabilities and a special ministry to those who are divorced and remarried. These are opportunities for us to embrace people and allow them to be drawn more closely to Christ and to the church. We’ve also invited the retreat captains and others to help us fill every weekend. If this center is going to be a viable ministry, we want to make it available to as many people as possible, and, quite frankly, we need the resources in order to keep it open.

You’ve also talked about doing more things for young adults.
That’s right. We want to reach out to young adults who are married and have small children and to young adults who are single and trying to find their place in the church. One of the things we discussed is hosting retreats for young adults who may not be able to come for the whole weekend because they have small children. These are the things Dr. Paul Ceasar, our new director, is looking at. Dr. Ceasar is eminently qualified for this role with his well-rounded background in terms of theology, ministry and marriage and family counseling. We’ve already moved the center for Catholic marriage and family counseling that was in another location in Metairie to the retreat house, so that’s exciting. We’re also going to do spiritual direction there. Dr. Ceasar has an excellent ministry team working with him, including a team of women who will be living at the retreat house as well as the affiliates, captains and others who are in service to the retreat center. We also have a very dedicated and qualified staff and numerous volunteers who make the retreat ministry viable.

Don’t you get a fair number of retreatants from the Baton Rouge area?
Yes. Someone told me the other day that 40 percent of the people who attend retreats are from Baton Rouge.

There is an eight-acre parcel on the east side of the site that may be sold to help defray the cost of purchasing the property and continuing the ministry. Where does that stand?
We’ve entered into a contractual agreement with individuals who are taking the lead in finding the resources to buy the parcel. We’ve agreed to postpone any decision that we would make in terms of selling the land for several months, which will give them an opportunity to purchase it and maintain it as green space. If that’s not possible, in order to be good stewards of the resources given to us, we would need to sell that portion of the property. Our original intent was to use any sales proceeds to help pay for the purchase of the retreat center as well as maintaining its ministry. Even if the property is sold and eventually becomes residential, it will not detract from the retreat center’s serenity. The other 11 acres of the Cenacle property would remain as they are, offering the retreatants a very serene place to walk and reflect on what they have heard during their retreats.

Is there something unique or distinctive about retreats for women?
One of the blessings of humanity is that women and men often have different approaches to spirituality, to prayer and to living out the spiritual life. Those giving retreats for women try their best to be attuned to those likenesses and differences and to design their retreats in such a way that it meets the life experience of the women who are there.

Questions for Archbishop Aymond may be sent to [email protected].