St. Cassian’s Centre, Kintbury, West Berkshire, lies within the North Wessex Downs – an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is a Lasallian Retreat Centre for Young People under the patronage of the De La Salle Brothers, whose Founder was French priest St. John Baptist de La Salle who dedicated much of his life to the education of poor children, pioneering many lasting educational practices. He is the Patron Saint of Teachers.
The vision of St. La Salle is lived out every year at St. Cassian’s – also known as The Kintbury Experience – as a residential community, including young volunteers, continuing to share the Brothers’ vision for a new apostolate; a place of Welcome, Awareness, Reconciliation and Good News.
St. Cassian’s is a safe and welcoming place for young people, where they can take time to reflect on their lives, with Christ as their Guide and St. John Baptist de La Salle as their inspiration. Our daily challenge is to be ambassadors and ministers of Jesus, to motivate and lead young people on their life journey. We are constantly reminded that our retreat work here is to touch the hearts of those entrusted to our care.
Our young volunteers are engaged in an invaluable peer ministry that has an influence on the lives and development of young retreatants. We seek to be creative and authentic in our inspiration, nurturing and support of all young people in their faith development, so as to integrate their particular faith with every aspect of their lives. Fundamentally, our work is a ministry of Evangelisation. We do this by creating a space of warm hospitality in which God may speak to our young people.
Our retreat programme, devised to meet the needs of people from different backgrounds, has a full scope and sequence that builds upon itself; designed to be developmentally appropriate for each year group in school as they cultivate their spirit of faith along with their skills of reasoning, highlighting the relevance of Lasallian Charism and of our faith to life and contemporary culture.
Our Senior Team, as instructed by the Director, are involved in the planning, development, delivery and evaluation of programmes in accordance with the foundational inspiration of the De La Salle Brothers and the Lasallian Identity Framework, which incorporates a vision of the Christian and Lasallian character.
We also offer Adult, Parish and Confirmation Retreats, with availability of Conference facilities.
