The Centennial of the Laymen’s Week-End Retreat League of Philadelphia, 1912–2012

Those looking for vitality and creative energy within the Catholic Church have pointed to the emergence and growth of a diverse array of lay ecclesial movements that have arisen in recent decades to address the spiritual needs of both their members and their wider communities. Groups like Focolare and Communion and Liberation have received praise for their efforts cultivating lay leadership and encouraging men and women to participate more fully in the ministerial work of the church.

This year marks the centennial of the Laymen’s Week-End Retreat League of Philadelphia, an organization that can be seen as a precursor to these later movements. In many ways, the league pioneered the work of lay ecclesial ministry before the term was ever conceived. As we mark this anniversary, the history of the league offers an opportunity to reflect on the growth of lay ministry in the United States context and explore how movements coalesce, articulate their mission, and create a self-sustaining culture.

The initial impetus for the formation of the retreat league came from John J. Ferreck, an investment banker who had attended a retreat conducted by Father Terence J. Shealy, S.J., at Mount Manresa, the newly-established Jesuit retreat house on Staten Island. Eager to see the program replicated in Philadelphia, Ferreck approached the rector of the archdiocesan seminary in late 1912 about the possibility. The following August and September, with permission from the bishop, the first two laymen’s weekend retreats were held on the seminary grounds.

Advertisement from the Catholic Standard and Times, July, 26, 1913

Courtesy of Malvern Retreat House.

Few in attendance knew what to anticipate, for the concept of a spiritual retreat was largely unfamiliar among the laity at the time. Announcements for the initial retreat weekends that appeared in the diocesan newspaper encouraged individuals to request a circular “telling what a Retreat is, and why you should make it.” Such advertisements and informational literature, however, played only a minor role in drawing men to the retreat weekends. Most who attended the first year’s retreats had been recruited by Ferreck and his friends, establishing a pattern of personal solicitation that would become a defining feature of the movement and a major contributing factor to its growth.

The success of the early retreats and growing interest in the league prompted its officers to formalize its governing structures and secure a permanent home. In 1921, the Laymen’s Week-End Retreat League of Philadelphia was chartered as a private charitable corporation by the state of Pennsylvania for the purpose of conducting “week-end retreats as a purely public charity for the spiritual advancement of persons attending the retreats, without regard to their race, creed, or condition of life.” That same year, the league acquired an estate house and wooded property in Malvern, a rural town on the outskirts of Philadelphia that was easily accessible by direct rail transportation from the city. From this site, the league acquired its more familiar institutional name: Malvern Retreat House.

The league may not have been the first to establish a retreat house in the United States, but theirs was nevertheless a unique venture. While other retreat houses were established and operated by religious orders or a particular diocese, Malvern Retreat House has been owned and operated by members of the laity since its inception. It remained under the patronage of the local bishop, who was responsible for appointing the retreatmaster or naming a chaplain to serve as spiritual director, but the league retained direct control over its own temporal affairs. The organization therefore possessed a remarkable degree of institutional autonomy at a time when such arrangements were not only rare, but often suspect.

Original retreat house

Courtesy of Malvern Retreat House.

As the league’s directors understood full well, this managerial and financial independence offered both advantages and disadvantages. It allowed the league to tailor its work to the spiritual needs of their members and encouraged them to see...