Women of Manresa retreats are true blessing

The Cenacle on the Lake in Metairie has launched an exciting series of “Women of Manresa” retreats that give women an opportunity to experience an Ignatian silent retreat, which thousands of men have enjoyed for more than a century at Manresa Retreat House 40 miles upriver in Convent. How excited are you by this new development?

I am extremely excited. In one sense, I’m amazed by how quickly the Women of Manresa retreats have been embraced by women across the archdiocese. So far this year, the Cenacle has already offered four Ignatian silent retreats, which have been directed by Jesuits, and there are another nine retreats scheduled through August 2024 that are almost totally booked. The Cenacle actually was started in 1958 because a group of women went to Archbishop Rummel in the 1950s and told him, “Our husbands have Manresa; we would like to have a place for women to go on retreat.” The archbishop told the women to raise the money and find nuns to staff the retreat house, and they did! The need for Ignatian retreats for women has been there for a long time, and in more recent years, the idea has come up again. I know the need for something like this is great. So, on one hand, I’m not surprised by the response, but I definitely am surprised that we have registered more than 600 people for these retreats since we opened them in January.

What has it been like working with the staff of Manresa Retreat House?

I’m very grateful to Manresa because their director, Jesuit Brother Larry Huck, has just embraced the idea. He told our Cenacle director Aline Harbison that Manresa would love to offer retreats there for women, but it can’t because the men’s retreats have Manresa filled year-round and it doesn’t have the room in its schedule. What Brother Huck has done for us is to send out fliers to the Manresa weekend team captains about the Women of Manresa retreats at the Cenacle, and the men have been promoting it. Manresa has also allowed us to copy their small retreat booklets so we can stay true to the format of the silent retreats, because that’s what the women want. Just like at Manresa, the retreats start on a Thursday night and end after Mass and lunch on Sunday.

Who else was involved in getting this initiative off the ground?

Father Tim Hedrick, the pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Metairie, is on the Cenacle board, and he’s been instrumental in reaching out to the Jesuits to lead the retreats. We are trying to make sure we are true to the integrity of the retreats, which take you through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

While the Women of Manresa retreats are an addition to the schedule, will the Cenacle keep its existing retreat offerings?

Absolutely. The Cenacle still has other silent women’s retreats, which have been going on since it opened. Some women have come back for the same weekend every year. Those retreats normally start on a Friday night and end on Sunday afternoon.

What is the capacity of the retreat house?

Right now the capacity is 56. We hope to expand that to about 65 in the future with the possibility of some additional rooms. The Cenacle also  hosts different groups – bishops, priests, seminarians, school faculties, parish youth groups. There’s clearly a need. We only have two weekends that are really open – Mother’s Day and Father’s Day – because people traditionally don’t want to schedule retreats on those days.

How important is it for the archdiocese to have a facility for women such as the Cenacle?

What we constantly hear is that as soon as a woman drives through the gates, she feels the rest of the world just kind of melting away. She gets to be truly at peace. On one level, having a place for retreats in the center of a metropolitan area that allows women to get away for a day or a weekend and not have to travel too far is very important. The Cenacle is still kind of hidden. Some people say they didn’t know it was here even though they are so close to it. But on another level, in terms of the ministry itself, I think people are so hungry for a connection to God. St. Augustine wrote about how our hearts are restless until they rest in him. People want to find God. They want to get away from the stress of life, and they want to connect with God.

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