Retreat

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Annual Provincial Retreat

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Annual Scottish Provincial Retreat

Our annual silent retreat provides an opportunity to be quiet and feel God’s presence. The photo above shows those who came to the 2024 retreat. It was a joy once again to be in the welcoming and comfortable setting of St. Mary’s Monastery, Kinnoull beside Perth between Tuesday 9th April to Thursday 11th April 2024. There are more details about that Retreat on the 2024 Retreat page.

Now we are looking forward to the 2025 Retreat, which will run from Tuesday 8th April to Thursday 10th April. This is the week before Holy Week because Easter is quite late in 2025. It is more than a week after the change to British Summer Time so the evenings will be lighter.

Our leader will be the Reverend Lara Dose, Rector of Holy Trinity Scottish Episcopal Church, Dunfermline in the Diocese of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane.

Prior to ordination, she trained at Westcott House, University of Cambridge and completed an MA in Interfaith Dialogue through Heythrop College, University of London. In 2000, she was appointed the first Director of the National Network for the Arts in Health (NNAH). NNAH was established to provide information and resources to the Arts in Health field, and to promote good practise within government and NGO’s at a local, national and international level.

A particular academic interest is ‘What psychological and physiological impact do the arts have on our human identity? How do the Arts strengthen our spirituality?’ This subject fuses professional experience and offers a perspective into how the church understands its mission and outreach.

Theme

Lara has chosen the theme 'Arts, Health and Spirituality: A Trinity for Physical and Mental Well-being'.

The overview of her theme is: What psychological and physiological impact do the arts have on our human identity? How do the Arts strengthen our spirituality? She will follow the usual pattern of four talks to expand the theme. The outline for them is:

Session One: Arts, Health, Spirituality

Session Two: Worship and the Arts

Session Three: Theology of Architecture and the Built Environment

Session Four: The Arts for Mission and Outreach

The retreat promises to offer an opportunity for a time of quietness and renewal in the peace and calm of God’s holy presence. Lara's leadership and the atmosphere of the house are certain to deliver on that promise.

The Retreat

The retreat is run mid-week from Tuesday afternoon to Thursday after lunch. The usual format of the retreat is to maintain silence in the building from around 8pm on Tuesday to around 12 noon on Thursday, though there are always areas reserved for those who want to talk during these times. There is a programme of services and talks, but it up to you to decide how much you wish to be involved. You are free to attend everything on offer, just some of it, or to be on your own if you wish.

Wednesday afternoon is free time to explore the area or use as you wish. There is usually an opportunity to talk to the leader on a one to one basis during this time.

St Mary’s completed a major refurbishment in 2017 so that most rooms are single rooms and all have en-suite facilities. There is a lift serving all floors.

The cost for 2025 will be £235 per person. We do not want cost to be a barrier, so we have a small fund to provide reduced cost places for those who need them.

Please click here for the online application form.

If you would like to be added to the email list to be sent details of future Retreats when they are available, please click here.

Previous Retreats

Please take a look at the pages for the previous Retreats to get an idea of what they are like and to look at the photo-galleries. We hope those who were there will enjoy the memories they bring back and we also hope they will encourage those who weren’t there to make a date to come to the 2025 Retreat.