Silence and Retreats Network

1.The Silence and Retreats Network has continued making quiet headway. It has been a year of good progress in some fields but slow in others.

2.The Core Group is responsible for oversight of the network and for publishing the newsletter “Windows”. The actual organisation of Retreats and Quiet Days is dealt with at Synod level and some Synods have made considerable progress in appointing contacts for each district and in ensuring that opportunities for Quiet Days are included in both CME and ministerial training programmes. Many more churches are also beginning to realise their value for elders and even congregational meetings during which questions can be faced at deeper levels than is possible in just an evening. In at least one Synod, training days have been organised for potential leaders of Quiet Days.

3.Membership has remained much the same. Financial constraints are the same for us as for every part of the church and this puts pressure on what we are able to do.

4.The network was represented at the service in St Paul’s Cathedral in London in September to mark the opening of the London Centre for Spirituality. This promises a focus for both training and exploration; their contact number is 020 7621 1391. Several members will have attended the Retreats Association conference at Swanwick in May under the title “Faith Let Loose”, an attempt to encourage us to venture out from a safe starting point towards a more courageous search for truth.

5.At the annual Synod link persons’ meeting and retreat in March 2004 held at the Windermere Centre the Revd Barry Hutchinson, currently Director of St Cuthbert’s Centre on Holy Island, became convener of the Network in succession to the Revd David Bunney.