Sisters of La Retraite
Founded in Brittany in 1675 to run Retreat Houses for Women
1939 – 2009
This article was written by Sister Pauline Mahony for an exhibition in Liverpool to mark the 70th Anniversary of the National Board of Catholic Women. It is planned to publish the material gathered in the exhibition in a booklet on the contribution women’s congregations have made to the Church over the past seventy years.
The years of the Second World War brought changes into the lives of the sisters. At Harborne Hall Retreat House in Birmingham, the community, with their lay staff and helpers, maintained the retreats, especially for young working girls and women, in spite of rationing and air raids, whilst sisters involved in education found themselves having to adapt to life as evacuees or welcoming evacuees into their schools.
The post-war years of austerity and social change, and the 1944 Education Act saw the sisters involved in education adapting further to new demands, especially in the voluntary-aided schools. At Harborne, the community answered the bishop’s call to send sisters to work as caterers and carers in Cotton College Seminary.
Throughout this period there were minor changes to community customs, to the religious habit, but more importantly there was a first foundation outside Europe, in Cameroon, which was to be followed in 1967 with a foundation in Chile.
In 1962, the Second Vatican Council called on religious to return to their roots. For La Retraite this led to a new application of the charism which had inspired Catherine de Francheville in the 17th century Brittany to found retreat houses for women. The spirit of that charism, a desire to help people know God’s personal love for them, especially through the Ignatian ‘Spiritual Exercises’, had never been lost but now it took on new importance with sisters undertaking training as retreat givers, prayer guides, spiritual directors. In Bristol Emmaus House, a Retreat and Conference Centre, was opened, offering prayer days and retreats as well as courses in new ways to personal development. Alongside this, there were more far-reaching changes in the lifestyle of sisters who took on new roles, working more closely with priests and lay people in parishes, schools, conference centres.
The 1970s and 1980s saw a decline in vocations; it was a time of closing schools or handing them over to diocesan or lay organisations. At the same time, new communities were being opened where small groups of sisters were involved in parish pastoral work; offered spiritual direction, acted as prayer guides. In recent times, La Retraite, with other Congregations, has had to adapt to the present reality of sister ageing and lack of new members. Today the younger generations, faithful to our charism, use their gifts and training in various ways: in the Emmaus House Centre; in Ireland leading a team for school retreats, working with a Jesuit retreat team. In parishes and dioceses they work alongside their contemporaries, with special concern for the poor, refugees, ecology, justice and peace.
The older sisters also share with their contemporaries, wherever they are. Their communities are welcoming and there are sisters of every age able to offer spiritual accompaniment, and act as prayer guides.
The General Chapter of 2006 saw that for the sisters, the living of loving relationships has to be at the heart of our mission as it is the heart of our charism:
‘We want to put this relational dimension at the heart of our choices, our commitments, our life together, recognising in this that we receive as much as we give’…
