Knock Shrine is preparing to expand its role as a centre for retreats and faith formation as religious-run retreat houses continue to close across Ireland, its rector has said.
Fr Richard Gibbons PP said the shrine is planning decades ahead as it considers how its facilities can respond to the changing needs of the Irish Church.
“An awful lot of retreat houses around the country are falling around closing because there are no longer religious running them,” he told The Irish Catholic. “And that probably will accelerate in the years ahead.”
For Knock, he said, that means looking beyond the immediate pilgrimage season and asking what the shrine will need to provide in the future.
“We want to kind of be able as well to have facilities here,” he said. “We are planning for that for the next 20, 30, 40 years, and to look at all our facilities here and what do we need now to meet the needs of young people. What is it that they need? How can we meet their need here, but within the context of faith?”
Fr Gibbons said that this focus is already taking shape on Knock’s Campus: “We’ve the Retreat Village bit, the Youth Village bit, brand new. And that’s for them. That’s for youth groups that will come and they have their own area.”
He said some older buildings will also need to be repurposed as the shrine considers how best to welcome people in the years ahead.
For Fr Gibbons, the central piece for all of Knock’s future development remains Catholic Identity. “It’s part of our DNA that we’re Catholic and that we should be able to express our faith and be comfortable to do so.”
He said Knock hopes to provide not only facilities, but a place where people can feel at home in their faith. “I think it can offer the Church both stability and hope,” he said, describing Knock as “a home”, “a retreat centre”, and a place of “tranquillity and peace and comfort and welcome”.
“We want the place to be a beacon of hope as well for people,” he added. “We want to have best practice here, even in terms of liturgy, music and retreat programmes.”
