Creighton University has recognized the need for people with busy lives to have a retreat experience catering to their needs. This 34 week long retreat experience is flexible, available, and convenient for those who cannot take a weekend, week, or month out of their lives for a retreat. The main page of the retreat offers advice for how to approach this experience, answers to frequently asked questions, tips for individuals and groups choosing to make the retreat, and links to the 34 individual pages guiding each week of the retreat.
Each week begins with a title and a photo which will serve as the background for that week’s reflection. They encourage that you save the picture to your desktop or print a copy to put where you will see it. This helps to keep the retreat experience as a part of everything you do. The picture is a trigger to remind you of the reflection for that week.
The main page for the week offers a reflection that gives guidance on how to approach that week’s prayer experience. On the side are links with additional resources for the week. These resources offer practical advice, additional reflections, prayers, and readings that go along with the theme of that week’s experience. There is also a place to share your thoughts and experiences as well as to read others’ sharing.
Additional bonuses to this experience are the availability to people with different needs. The retreat is currently available in English as well as Spanish, Japanese, and Russian. The weekly reflections are available in MP3 format for those with hearing disabilities or those who simply desire to reflect orally rather than visually. They also make it easy to print and share these pages with those without access to a computer.
James Heft and his colleagues wrote extensively about the spirituality of today’s youth in his book Passing on the Faith: Transforming Traditions For the Next Generation of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, specifically sections 4 and 6. Brother John from the Taizé Community in France wrote about his community’s experiences with young pilgrims who have visited them throughout the past several decades. Some of his observations were that the youth need to feel they have a place in the Church in order to feel they belong there, young adults need to grasp the significance of a spiritual practice before they can make it their own, and that they are “looking for a faith that is one with their life”(158). He also notes that the bible should be shown to be relevant to their lives and that there is a need to know that God accepts them as they are despite their limitations and failures. Peter C. Phan wrote extensively on the creation of religious identity in a religiously diverse and pluralistic society. The influx of “spiritual but not religious” attitudes amongst the youth seems to have a lot to do with the array of religious identities they are exposed to despite not being grounded in one particular group. While Phan encourages the exploration of other religions to further one’s own faith experience, he argues that it cannot be done until one is grounded in their own faith.
In light of these readings, the Online Retreat from Creighton’s Online Ministries has a lot to offer the youth of today. Because it is online, and designed to be done in one’s own time, it is more accessible to the busy lifestyle of today’s young adults. It gives them a retreat experience that meets them where they are, thus giving them a place to go. With the rich amount of resources available for each week, this experience can significantly alter one’s spiritual practices and approach to prayer in the future. The retreat does not necessarily automatically transform this spiritual activity into a religious one, but does have the possibility of doing so, especially if done in a group or with the assistance of a spiritual director.
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