PilgrimstaysThe Lord has selected and strengthened Renewal Retreat Centre (RRC), a Catholic Spiritual Organisation with compassionate love in abundance to glorify God’s name and to sanctify Bangalore and its people. Renewal Retreat Centre was founded with the exceptional protection from The Immaculate Mary and has become a haven of solace and hope for millions of people from all religions residing in the city. Renewal Retreat provides a path to experience God in their lives and to seek renewal and positive change in their relationship with God. Renewal Retreat Centre was founded by CST Fathers in 1994. Each and every person arriving at the RRC has experienced the watchful care of God in guiding the RRC, holding its hands and guiding it. Every single individual who attended retreats conducted in RRC gets the valuable opportunity to receive God’s healing grace and thereby attains a degree of spiritual renewal and to experience the streams of blessing from God to his people. Renewal Retreat Centre is a relief and a shelter for a large number of people who are seeking answers for their despairing, hopeless and unresolved crisis’ in their lives, and is a gift from the Lord for Bangalore. From the official website: St James teaches us, “Faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:26). It is by our very actions that we are called to express our faith and to live by Jesus’ command Love your neighbour as you love yourself (Romans 13:9). Through different social and charitable activities organised at the RRC, God gives us the opportunity to enhance our beliefs and to testify our faith through our lives. By the grace of God, all retreats at the centre are performed using Virunnu (Banquet) Fund, without charging any fees which makes Renewal Retreat Centre unique. The good lord who valued the minuscule contribution of a widow over the bigger contributions made by many rich but self-righteous men, who fed thousands of people with five loaves of bread and two fish, has been miraculously organising all services in this centre for more than fourteen years, with the amounts donated by many generous individuals, who contribute a small portion of their earnings towards the Virunnu (Banquet) Fund.
Renewal Retreat Centre was founded with the exceptional protection from The Immaculate Mary and has become a haven of solace and hope for millions of people from all religions residing in the city
Renewal Retreat Centre was founded by CST Fathers in 1994
Renewal Retreat provides a path to experience God in their lives and to seek renewal and positive change in their relationship with God
Each and every person arriving at the RRC has experienced the watchful care of God in guiding the RRC, holding its hands and guiding it
The signature offering of the Renewal Centre is exactly what its name says: renewal. Not conversion — most who come are already Catholic. Not education — they already know the faith. Renewal: the return to the living experience of what they believe, the warming of what has gone cold, the repair of what has been broken. The retreat creates the conditions for this renewal to occur.
The multiple-language retreat programmes — each one conducted entirely in a specific language with music, teaching, and prayer ministry in that language — are one of the Renewal Centre's distinctive features. A Tamil retreat feels different from a Kannada retreat; the cultural and musical context of the language shapes the experience.
The weekend retreat format — arriving Friday evening, departing Sunday afternoon — has been particularly successful for Bangalore's professional community. The 48-hour retreat is long enough for significant experience but short enough to be accessible to people with demanding work schedules and family responsibilities.
Bangalore's transformation from the garden city of colonial India into India's Silicon Valley has been one of the most dramatic urban transformations of the 21st century. The Catholic community has both benefited from and been challenged by this transformation. The Renewal Centre exists in the tension between Bangalore's ambition and the Gospel's priorities.
One of the practical benefits of the Renewal Centre's work is the community of people who have been through the retreat experience together — who know each other as people who have prayed together in depth. This community becomes a support network in the ordinary life of Bangalore.
Bangalore has more software engineers per square kilometre than almost anywhere on earth. Many of them are Catholic. They carry their laptops and their faith into the same small apartments and navigate the same 6 AM traffic jams on the way to offices where they will spend 10 hours. The Renewal Retreat Centre asks them to spend a weekend differently — to put the laptop down, to pray for more than five minutes, to be a person rather than a professional for 48 hours. Many who do so describe it as the most significant 48 hours of their recent life.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Read in full on Bible Gateway →The Lord has selected and strengthened the Renewal Retreat Centre (RRC), a Catholic spiritual organisation with compassionate love in abundance, to glorify God’s name and to sanctify Bangalore and its people. Renewal Retreat Centre was founded with the exceptional protection of the Immaculate Mary and has become a haven of solace and hope for millions of people from all religions residing in the city. It provides a path to experience God in their lives and to seek renewal and positive change in their relationship with God.
Renewal Retreat Centre was founded by CST Fathers in 1994. Each and every person arriving at the RRC has experienced the watchful care of God in guiding the RRC, holding its hands and guiding it. Every single individual who has attended retreats conducted at the RRC gets the valuable opportunity to receive God’s healing grace, and thereby attains a degree of spiritual renewal and experiences the streams of blessing from God to His people. The RRC is a relief and a shelter for a large number of people who are seeking answers to their despairing, hopeless and unresolved crises in their lives, and is a gift from the Lord for Bangalore.
From the official website: St James teaches us, “Faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:26). It is by our very actions that we are called to express our faith and to live by Jesus’ command, “Love your neighbour as you love yourself” (Romans 13:9). Through different social and charitable activities organised at the RRC, God gives us the opportunity to enhance our beliefs and to testify to our faith through our lives.
By the grace of God, all retreats at the centre are performed using the Virunnu (Banquet) Fund, without charging any fees, which makes the Renewal Retreat Centre unique. The good Lord, who valued the minuscule contribution of a widow over the bigger contributions made by many rich but self-righteous men, and who fed thousands of people with five loaves of bread and two fish, has been miraculously organising all services in this centre for more than fourteen years, with the amounts donated by many generous individuals who contribute a small portion of their earnings towards the Virunnu (Banquet) Fund.
