A Spiritual Retreat for the Heart in Queensland

For many years the Abbey Community has dreamt of creating a centre where individuals and focused groups could retreat from the world for a short while taking time to explore their inner spiritual journey, and nurture their body and soul. As a centre the Abbey Community is dedicated to the wellbeing and spiritual enrichment of all peoples, establishing a spiritual retreat centre here in Queensland will provide another avenue for the Community to fulfill its vision and mission.

Initially the constructing of a purpose–built venue to host our spiritual retreats was considered, unfortunately this was beyond the Community’s financial capacity. But where there is a will, God will find a way and so it was in early 2025 that the first steps to transform the current Abbey House into the retreat centre commenced. At that stage the Abbey house had been lived in for more than 50 years and was in great need of some judicious TLC. With any renovations, as you can imagine, the first step is sorting through the many years of accumulated bits and pieces and assessing whether to keep or throw away. This experience provided a wonderful but challenging lesson in “letting go”, a task nobly taken on by Sr Veronica, Fr George and Sr Maria.

With the sorting and decluttering complete, the first steps to renovate the bedrooms commenced. Nine rooms were repainted, new flooring laid and furniture and furnishings purchased. The Abbey House is based on an ancient Roman villa design, rectangular in shape with a central courtyard. An interior verandah overlooking the centre garden was repainted, and the original wooden floor was sanded, polished and sealed back to its original state.

The Abbey Retreat centre here in Caboolture features a common dining room (called the Refectory) with seating for 16 guests. There is a modern kitchen, shower and toilet facilities, a reading room and library, as well as a lounge and a chapel. It also has a delightful outdoor verandah area for dining, meetings or discussion groups. 

Bit by bit the house has been renovated, revitalised in preparation for this new chapter in our Abbey Community’s story.  But the transformation of the Community house into a spiritual retreat centre is not yet completed. The central courtyard, which has gone through several modifications over its history, is also in desperate need of a facelift. Plans have been developed and with the help of volunteers, the central courtyard area has been cleared in preparation for the installation of a gazebo over a raised meditation/meeting deck.  This new section of the Abbey retreat centre here in Caboolture will feature a walkway from the verandah to the deck area for ease of access and there will also be steps into the surrounding garden space.  The garden will have places to sit, reflect, discuss and explore spiritual concepts, health and wellbeing. Acknowledging the four elements -earth, fire, air and water, the garden will have a water feature, a fire pit, an area where windchimes will be hung and a rock garden. This garden space in being designed to be a place of peace, inspiration and contemplation.

In September 2025, the Community hosted its first retreat, with attendees participating in a Rayid Spring Equinox program with participants coming from across the country and the facilitators from the USA.  When starting a new venture there is always a concern about how things would work, and the impact such events would have on the lives of our Community members. But we are very pleased to share that the Rayid Retreat was a success on all levels, and we look forward to hosting the Rayid group again this coming September.

The transformation of the centre garden courtyard , as the final phase of the Abbey Retreat Centre project is due to be completed by the end of August. With this the Community Retreat centre can be open for business. We look forward to running retreats and workshop and hosting groups who wish to use our venue to further the work of increasing love and light in the world, assisting individuals on their personal journey of wellbeing and spiritual awakening.

The Retreat Centre also features a small self-contained unit available for people seeking a personal time of quiet and inner reflection.  Visit our Retreat page for more information for booking your “Peaceful Place to Pause” retreat.

If you are interested in knowing more about the Abbey Retreat Centre here in Caboolture and looking to host a spiritual or wellbeing retreat, please contact us.