Manresan Clubs of White House Retreat

A Long History in the Saint Louis area

The Manresan Clubs of the Saint Louis area have a long and illustrious history that began when laymen wanted to experience the benefits of Ignatian Spirituality on a more frequent basis than at their annual Jesuit-led retreat. This movement continues today and gives men and women the opportunity to share their faith experience on a monthly basis with others. The mission of the Manresan Clubs is to provide a monthly venue that serves the spiritual needs of men and women who are White House Retreatants, all under the spiritual mentoring of the Jesuits.

The Earliest Beginnings

White House Retreat and the Manresans share common origins from over 80 years ago. Both reflect and reinforce the faith vision and ideals shared by Ignatius Loyola. During the First World War a group of laymen who had been making annual retreats at the Saint Stanislaus Novitiate in Florissant began meeting on a monthly basis to share their faith dialog on a regular basis. These men engaged the support of the Jesuit teachers at Saint Louis University and Saint Louis University High School as spiritual directors who encouraged and guided these activities. This first group of 12 men, called Loyola was formed in 1916, the first Manresan club in the United States. In 1921 a second group of 12 men formed a Manresan club called Francis Xavier and the Manresan movement was begun.

White House Retreat and the Manresan Movement Grew Together

In 1921, the Missouri Provincial assigned Father James Monaghan as full time director of retreats and as part of his charge located a site on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River twenty miles south of Saint Louis. Manresan members were at the core of the group who supported the new retreat center called White House. As the numbers of men participating in the Spiritual Exercises grew over the years, the Manresan movement grew with it and helped make White House the “model” retreat center that is enjoyed by many today.

During the Second World War, new groups were added and the name Manresan was adopted to honor the place near the city of Manresa, near Barcelona in Spain, where Saint Ignatius of Loyola went for spiritual reflection and where he began development of the Spiritual Exercises which are at the core of Jesuit tradition even today. During the period of White House leadership under Father Chiuminatto, S.J., Jesuit priests directed up to 23 Manresan Conferences, as they were called then.

Manresan Clubs Today

At present, over a dozen Manresan Clubs are located in different part of the St. Louis area. Jesuits presently serve as spiritual directors for each group. Each club has from about six to about a dozen members, and a Jesuit Spiritual Director, and meets monthly at a member’s home, except for an annual Mass and meeting of all the Clubs, traditionally held in November at St. Louis U High.

Meetings vary in format from club to club. Generally, meetings use scripture as a base, many include a Mass, and may additionally include some discussion and/or a short spiritual paper or article by one or two members. Most clubs’ meetings last about two hours, and end with light refreshment; some clubs have begun with a dinner at a restaurant, and meet on their spiritual agenda later. Financial costs of Manresan membership are small. There are no dues, as such, and each club sets its own method of meeting minimal expenses.

The Constitution of the Manresan Clubs of St. Louis is relatively simple, and requires that members make a retreat at least every other year and that they be practicing Catholics.

Manresan Clubs are an Opportunity for “Between-Retreat” Ignatian Spiritual Exercises.

Fr. David Fleming, S.J., writing in the “Jesuit Bulletin,” described Ignatian spirituality as ‘spirituality for busy people’. The Manresan clubs offer the opportunity for each person to experience and share the contemporary application of this thoroughly relevant and distinctly Jesuit spirituality. By anticipating and discerning Christ present in the events and people of their day, and by sharing this experience and relating it to that of others, Manresans can enjoy small, monthly renewals and practical reinforcements of the principles of Ignatian Spiritual Exercises that they have learned over the years at White House retreats.

All Are Invited to Participate

Under the leadership of Fr. James Burshek, S.J., White House Retreat’s current Director, a campaign to extend and expand the tradition that has mutually benefited White House and the Manresans is well underway.

We Invite All Men And Women Who May Be Interested To Join The Manresans.

Working together with you, we will assist in assigning you to a club in your area or will assist you in forming a new Manresan club. Clubs are now forming for White House Retreatant groups of women only, and of couples only, as well as for men only.

In this Manresan Web area of the whetreat.org site, you will soon find a list of the current membership of Manresans in the Saint Louis area.

We invite all who are interested to leave your contact information at http://www.manresan.org or e-mail Skip Dulle at info@manresa.org or Gay Noonan at gfcn@sbcglobal.net.