Retreat on Creativity and Inspiration

How much I would love to go to this! Only $199 for three days including room and board. Please, someone go and tell me about it after! It is at St. Thomas More College in Merrimack, NH. For more information on this and their other summer programs, please visit: http://www.thomasmorecollege.edu/summerprogram

Way of Beauty Summer Retreat: Traditional Paths to Creativity and Inspiration
Dates: Students arrive the evening of Thursday, August 4th and depart after 1:00pm on Sunday, August 7th. Holy Mass and lunch are offered on Sunday.
Cost: $199, including tuition, room, and meals.

This retreat is based on a traditional education given to artists to develop their ability to apprehend beauty and open them up to inspiration. As such it is appropriate for artists, but would be of interest to anyone who wishes to be more creative in whatever they do.

The days follow the patterns of the liturgy, incarnating the values that are taught in the classes. There will be opportunities for daily Confession and Mass as well as the ancient tradition of the Liturgy of the Hours. You will learn simple traditional plainchant and how to pray with visual imagery. Through this simple and accessible rhythm of worship and prayer, which engages all the senses, we will move towards the ideal of praying constantly and with the whole person. This ‘implores the gift of the Holy Spirit on the whole world’ (CCC 1196)

With a focus on the artistic and architectural traditions of the Church, we will learn how these rhythms and patterns permeate the whole of Catholic culture and are reflected, for example, in traditional ideas of proportion and harmony. The course also draws heavily upon the writings of the Church Fathers and Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.


Previous training in art is not required for the Way of Beauty Summer Retreat.