Craighead Spirituality Centre

This collection contains administrative records of the Centre, correspondence, and photographs.

The full catalogue can be accessed here: https://archive.catholic-heritage.net/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=ABSI%2fWS%2f1

Some closures; The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to archive material in the Jesuits in Britain Archives.

Craighead Spirituality Centre was located in Bothwell, near Glasgow, for over 80 years. In 1999 the Centre moved to Glasgow and acquired its new name, the Ignatian Spirituality Centre.

The Society, in the person of Fr Reginald Middleton, took up residence at Craighead 11 November 1916, and he was joined a year later by Fr Charles Townsend. Initially the centre held retreats for men, but under Superior Fr Charles Pridgeon religious women began to be included in Craighead's work and, following development in the ministry of Spiritual Exercises in the late 1960s, the style of retreats were updated. The updating, notably the introduction of individually guided retreats and weeks of guided prayer in parishes, was continued under the next superior, Fr Tom McGuiness. In 1987 the Faithful Companions of Jesus arrived and collaborative ministry was securely in place. Imaginative changes were continued by Fr Michael Kyne, notably the introduction of training courses and establishing link with St Andrews College.

By the 1990s, with heavy industry in decline, the parishes had changed and populations had moved. Residential retreat work dropped, the number of Religious in Scotland decreased, and so did the number using Craighead for the annual retreats. With the building also in need of major refurbishment, it was decided that the Centre would move. The new Centre was to be non-residential and conveniently located in Glasgow.