Facelift for International Spirituality Centre

En-suite accommodation at the ISC in Lusaka

The approach to Nano Nagle House

Our centre in Lusaka, Zambia, started as a Regional base, combining the Christian Brothers’ Regional offices and Novitiate. In time this Novitiate started to serve other parts of Africa, and in the late nineties the Region moved its base to a suburban house to allow the property to become the International Spirituality Centre, commonly known as the ISC. Not only did the Novitiate start serving all four parts of the Christian Brothers operation in Africa, but the ISC started to develop a number of programmes for the spiritual formation of Religious and Lay People. A second major building – Nano Nagle House - was put up to house a new intake of first-year novices, but the subsequent decision not to continue with two large concurrent groups of novices at the same centre soon freed up the second building for the ISC’s other programmes.

The first of these was a substantial live-in period of reflective preparation for Final Profession, offered to members of both male and female religious congregations. This still runs annually, for two months early in the southern winter. In addition to local religious, it has attracted CBs and Presentation Brothers from all around Africa and even from as far as Papua New Guinea.

A second enduring programme is the Zambian Immersion Retreat run for several years around Holy Week, and sometimes again later in the year. This has attracted participants from many parts of the global Edmund Rice network – Ireland, England, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, South Africa, Argentina, and Uruguay.

Other programmes have include a number of recollection days and retreats, varying from a weekend to six days - some directed, others guided. The six-day theme retreats have become popular with those looking for something out of the ordinary.

A typical bedroom

A feature of the ISC has been the long-standing and fruitful collaboration with the Presentation Sisters, who have not only generously provided one of their Sisters to be part of the ISC Team but have also supported the ISC in countless other ways. The pioneer Pres Sister on the team was Anne McDermott, who was followed by Sue McGregor from New Zealand, still going strong. And the newly formed African Province Renewal Team, housed in separate quarters on the ISC property, includes another Presentation Sister, Brigit Matthew. Tom Kearney takes up the story…

In the last two years plans were developed to upgrade the facilities of Nano Nagle House to make a more suitable environment for these spiritual initiatives. The plans included installing en-suite toilet and shower facilities for each of the rooms, extending and upgrading the kitchen and dining-room facilities, and the recreation and seminar rooms.

New en-suite facilities

The struggle has been to find the finances to enable these improvements to take place. Eventually it was decided to use what resources had accumulated, to begin this plan. The decision taken was to revise the plans and begin with building the en-suite toilet and shower facilities within each bedroom. The repainting of walls and the replacing of curtains has contributed to a whole new appearance. This part of the exercise has been completed. It has made shared accommodation a little tighter for two people in a room over a weekend, but for the longer programmes, like the Immersion Retreats and the Final Profession Preparation, the single room accommodation is much more comfortable and congenial.

Hopefully those of you who have been here before will notice the improvement on your next visit to ISC.

Tom Kearney cfc

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published February 2010

Photographs supplied by Mick Podbury cfc