I haven't been here since 2000, so I haven't seen all the remodeling they've done, but I really…read moreliked it when I was here. We came for a silent retreat. It was either for two or three days. The individual rooms are on the nicer side for an old retreat house like this. Don't expect luxury, but don't expect an old monastic cell either.
Whenever I'm going to spend more than a day at a retreat center, I like to walk the grounds as much as possible on the first day while it's still light out so that in case I take a walk after dark, I'll be able to get back without getting all turned around. The grounds aren't massive, but they're also large enough that it takes some effort to walk all the way around them. It's almost the perfect-sized place, especially for a silent retreat. There are different paths that meander as they go through the entire property, and there are statues, grottoes, stations of the cross, and other objects to ponder or just spend time near.
Manresa Chapel is really beautiful, especially for Mass. My absolute favorite, though, is Martyr's Chapel. Over those two or three days, I spent a great deal of time in Martyr's Chapel, mostly by myself, but I was also there with one of my fellow retreatants, who is also a friend. It was a silent retreat, so we weren't supposed to talk, and we didn't, but it was really neat just to run into her randomly that first time and then again later.
When I made that retreat, I was in a very dark place personally, and while the retreat itself didn't resolve that--that wasn't the purpose of the retreat, and I wouldn't expect that to happen anyway--it did give me a great deal of clarity about some things I needed to do in my life to get to know myself better. I don't really remember a great deal about my spiritual director at the retreat, but that's not because he was forgettable. I actually remember some of the things he told me and the questions he asked, and I can picture where I was sitting in my room when I read something in America Magazine that made me start to cry.
Speaking of reading, the little library they have is nice. I brought a lot of books and magazines with me, but I always grow impatient with reading, so I borrowed two of the library's books. I got through most of one of them. I got halfway through the second one and checked it out from the Cleveland Public Library later that month and finished reading it.
I would definitely recommend making a retreat here. I'm highly biased in favor of the Jesuits (ten years of Jesuit education plus a year in JVC and three years as a JVC support person will do that to you), but I've been to many kinds of retreat centers. This one does quite a lot with what it has to work with.
