Santa Casa, Queenscliff
Important Notice
Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, retreats are now offered in a mixture of onsite and online via Zoom.
Please note that onsite retreats can be changed due to Covid-19 restrictions, but we will keep you up-to-date with changes as they occur.
We take the safety of our community, staff and clients very seriously and wish to assure you that Santa Casa meets the Covid-safe requirements.
Santa Casa provides a sacred place of refreshment and nurture for body, mind and spirit. Through its staff, retreats and programs it seeks to offer:
- A homely space where all feel welcome, especially the most vulnerable;
- A contemplative container for the deepening of spirit;
- A deep reverence for all creation;
- A place to hold tradition within evolving consciousness.
2022 Retreats
ON SITE – Friday, 18 – Sunday, 20 March 2022
“A Stillness Weekend Exploring our Spiritual Connection with the Ocean
Facilitator: Peter Saunders
“God is a bright ocean that distils and reveals hidden truths so that my soul has a better understanding of how to trust Love.” Catherine of Siena
This weekend will offer a time of rest and quiet in Nature. The retreatant is invited to listen to how God speaks to their heart through Nature. During the weekend, retreatants will have the opportunity to relax and contemplate the beauty of Nature and God’s presence in the Ocean calling them to new life.
Cost: $350 + GST
To book your place at this retreat, contact Lizzie Finnerty RSM at the email address below.
For further information santacasa@ismapng.org.au
ON SITE – Monday, 28 – Thursday, 31 March 2022
Is ‘life to the full’ possible in the shadow of Covid?
Facilitator: Nicole Rotaru RSM
Over the reflective days there will be opportunity to share your experience of how Covid has impacted you living and working; name the fear and hopes you are holding now that we have moved beyond lock downs; recognise what will be most life giving for you into the future.
Program commences at 10am Tuesday.
Cost: $400 + GST
To book your place at this retreat, contact Lizzie Finnerty RSM at the email address below.
For further information santacasa@ismapng.org.au
FULLY BOOKED: ON SITE – Friday, 22 – Friday, 29 April 2022
Living with Hope in the Heart of God
Facilitators: Carole Carmody RSM & Kevin O’Neill SSC
This silent retreat offers personal time and space within the beautiful surrounds of Santa Casa. It is supported by a morning reflection and night prayer, together with the opportunity for daily Eucharist and individual spiritual direction.
Cost: $720 + GST
To book your place at this retreat, contact Lizzie Finnerty RSM at the email address below.
For further information santacasa@ismapng.org.au
ON SITE – Sunday, 8 – Sunday, 15 May 2022
Exploring the Gospel of Luke: Compassion, Hospitality and Release
Facilitator: Elizabeth Dowling RSM
In this retreat we will explore stories from the Gospel of Luke, bringing some of the insights of Laudato Si’ to our reading of the biblical text. The retreat will begin at 4pm AEST on Sunday May 8th, then there will be two sessions of input with discussion each day at 10am AEST and 4pm AEST. The rest of the day is for your own reflection. The retreat will conclude after the 4pm session on Saturday.
Cost: $720 + GST
To book your place at this retreat, contact Lizzie Finnerty RSM at the email address below.
For further information santacasa@ismapng.org.au
ONLINE – Monday, 16 – Saturday, 21 May 2022
Exploring the Gospel of Luke: Compassion, Hospitality and Release
Facilitator: Elizabeth Dowling RSM
In this retreat we will explore stories from the Gospel of Luke, bringing some of the insights of Laudato Si’ to our reading of the biblical text. The retreat will begin at 10am AEST on Monday May 16th, then there will be two sessions of input with discussion each day at 10am AEST and 4pm AEST. The rest of the day is for your own reflection. The retreat will conclude after the 4pm session on Saturday.
Cost: $300 + GST
To book your place at this retreat, contact Lizzie Finnerty RSM at the email address below.
For further information santacasa@ismapng.org.au
FULLY BOOKED: ON SITE – Sunday, 29 May – Sunday, 5 June 2022
In Silent Communion Dancing
Facilitator: Kerrie Hide
“Henceforth, I travel towards Repose, where time rests in the eternity of time; I go forth in silence.” Gospel of Mary Magdalen
In this silent retreat, we will enter into the Repose of a communing silence, guided by Mary Magdalene, John the beloved disciple, Mechthild of Hackeborn, the Cloud of Unknowing, Thomas Merton, Beatrice Bruteau and other contemplatives. Our focus will be on how, entering into the depths of our vulnerability, enables us to touch the point where time rests in the eternity of time and opens into mystical communing with Christ, in serenity of the repose of Love.
Cost: $720 + GST
This retreat is fully booked. For more information contact Lizzie Finnerty RSM at the email address below.
For further information santacasa@ismapng.org.au
ONLINE – Sunday, 5 (evening) – Saturday, 11 (evening) June 2022
“One”
Facilitator: Madeline Duckett RSM
When once we experience Mystical Love drawing us from our centre, we catch a glimpse of what it might be like to be one as Jesus prayed for us to be. We want more. We yearn for more. This retreat is an invitation to sink more deeply into the experience of ONE – spoken of by mystics and poets through the ages, written about by modern spiritual writers, and experienced anew over the times of COVID lockdown. One-ness calls us into the great simplicity of knowing our connectedness. It expands our consciousness to behold the inner face of Love’s desire for us. It is to know that, beyond all that divides and separates, there is a unity of being in which we are all immersed, whole, and infinitely loved.
Cost: $300 + GST
The Zoom link will be provided to participants once they have registered. To book your place at this retreat, contact Lizzie Finnerty RSM at the email address below.
For further information santacasa@ismapng.org.au
ON SITE and ONLINE – Tuesday, 23 – Tuesday, 30 August 2022
“Immortal Diamond”
Facilitator: Madeline Duckett RSM
The last two words of Gerard Manly Hopkins’ familiar poem and inscribed on his tombstone are a metaphor for understanding our true essence. It is an essence that many of us spend a lifetime seeking. This retreat explores the search for that essence and the gift of new sight needed to recognise it as it unfolds, particularly in the final season(s) of our lives. This gift is the “heart-seeing” referred to by the Little Prince when he says: “it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye”. The retreat invites us to wonder at the Immortal Diamond we truly are in Christ, beyond all seeming diminishment!
Spiritual direction will be available.
This retreat is offered both on site and online.
Cost: $300 + GST (online) or $720 + GST (on site)
To book your place at this retreat, contact Lizzie Finnerty RSM at the email address below.
For further information santacasa@ismapng.org.au
ON SITE – Friday, 2 – Sunday, 4 September 2022
Being Present to Presence
Facilitator: Cath Connelly
What if each of us is so full of Presence that we are at all times shining out like stars, and all that we have to do is get out of our own way so that we can live within the Presence that we already are? This presence is a connectedness to all – the Christ in all. Join spiritual director, retreat leader and Celtic harper Cath Connelly to spend a weekend using music, poetry, silence, art and spirituality to explore both Presence and how to get out of our own way! A delightful weekend of creative spirituality – and Cath will definitely be bringing her harp!
Cost: $350 + GST
To book your place at this retreat, contact Lizzie Finnerty RSM at the email address below.
For further information santacasa@ismapng.org.au
ON SITE – Tuesday, 27 September – Tuesday, 4 October 2022
Journey to Jerusalem, “Journey of Life”.
Facilitator: Fr Peter Varengo SDB
Luke’s Gospel narrative is structured around Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, the place of revelation and fulfilment, and the paradigm of the faith journey of faith and discipleship. Through a variety of encounters along this road, the disciple is called to come to terms with personal identity and destiny.
Cost: $720 + GST
To book your place at this retreat, contact Lizzie Finnerty RSM at the email address below.
For further information santacasa@ismapng.org.au
ON SITE – Wednesday, 6 – Saturday, 15 October 2022
Hidden Treasure
Facilitator: Lisa Stewart
Unlocking the wisdom of the inner world is a wonderfully rich and exciting, though at times challenging experience. Self-awareness makes change possible, while at the same time opening the way for a more authentic relationship with God. This retreat in the Ignatian tradition is an intense immersion into an experiential exploration of the inner world, as we seek to unwrap the deepest and most revealing of all questions, “Who actually am I?” There will be group discussion, silence and the opportunity for spiritual direction.
Cost: $920 + GST
To book your place at this retreat, contact Lizzie Finnerty RSM at the email address below.
For further information santacasa@ismapng.org.au
ON SITE – Wednesday, 2 – Saturday, 5 November 2022
Accompanying Jesus in His Encounters
Facilitator: Cathy Solano RSM
The theology of Interculturality is a call for all who profess faith in God to be aware of the fears and biases we all hold when confronted with “different others”. This retreat will provide opportunities to deepen our spirituality of interculturality, and become more aware of the consequences and practical applications of interculturality for our daily living.
Cost: $350 + GST
To book your place at this retreat, contact Lizzie Finnerty RSM at the email address below.
For further information santacasa@ismapng.org.au
ON SITE – Thursday, 1 – Thursday, 8 December 2022
Seeds of Love and Wisdom in Advent
Facilitator: Carole Carmody RSM & Margaret Moore RSM
This silent retreat offers the space and time to gather life’s experiences together, to ponder and cherish the wisdom which they hold. This is a silent retreat with a morning reflection and evening prayer. There is also opportunity for individual direction if desired.
Cost: $720 + GST
To book your place at this retreat, contact Lizzie Finnerty RSM at the email address below.
For further information santacasa@ismapng.org.au
Other information about our Centre:
For bookings and further information contact:
Sr Lizzie Finnerty rsm
Santa Casa
33-35 Flinders Street
Queenscliff VIC 3225
Phone: (03) 5258 2661
Mobile: 0418 194 261
Website: http://institute.mercy.org.au/santa-casa
Email: santacasa@ismapng.org.au