Despite high demand, Opus Dei conference centre having a bumpy launch

For mother of four Petra Minka, a silent retreat was just what the doctor ordered during a global pandemic that has thrown many lives into a state of anxiety and uncertainty.

“One of the fruits of the retreat is you see your life in the big picture, from a bird’s view perspective. You are not stuck in the moment of this anxiety or this fear everyone has around,” said Minka.

She stole away for a weekend at the new Copper Ridge Conference Centre, just north of Britannia Beach and south of Squamish. “When you are dealing with your life and how you can come closer to God and help other people, it’s a minor thing suddenly. COVID doesn’t become the theme of everything because you are thinking about something deeper,” she said.

“I could digest what happened in the past and with God’s grace to look towards the future and see more light and clarity.”

But opening a retreat centre during a pandemic wasn’t exactly what its creators had in mind.

Copper Ridge Conference Centre, situated on a wooded mountainside facing Howe Sound, was completed last spring after much dreaming, planning, and three years of construction. It held its first retreat March 2, but only two weeks after swinging the doors wide open, the centre was forced to close due to a rise of COVID-19 cases in B.C.

“We had a full calendar of events, retreats, and workshops,” said Barbara Stuart, one of the centre’s directors. “We had all the grand openings scheduled. We would have had several.”

After putting pandemic precautions in place, the centre re-opened in the summer to about half the number of guests Copper Ridge was built for. In November, due to increased government restrictions, it had to close again.

“The facility itself is huge, but we used to have six people sitting at a dining room table,” said Stuart. “Now we can only have two because of the distancing we have to keep,” said Stuart.

The pandemic has had a “sizable financial impact” on the $12-million centre, she said.

Fundraising for the project began in 2006, and by 2017 a sufficient amount had been collected to begin construction. But operating at half capacity, facing closures, and being unable to host large fundraising events has made covering operating costs and paying off debt a challenge.

Copper Ridge is owned by a charitable organization, the Institute for Research, Communication, and Development, with Opus Dei running all its spiritual activities: silent retreats and workshops.

Stuart said the aim of Opus Dei, inspired by its founder St. Josemaria Escriva, is to serve the Church by forming and inspiring its members, without putting a financial burden on it.

While the centre was running at half capacity in the summer, all its scheduled retreats and workshops were fully booked, many with waiting lists. For Minka and others who have attended retreats at Copper Ridge during the pandemic, the experience has been particularly timely.

“It’s nice to be away so you don’t have to think about all the other responsibilities and things you have to do for two days, just focus on your relationship with God,” said civil engineering student Beverly Ng.

Mary-Jo Yun, a student studying biology at the University of British Columbia, has attended several retreats run by Opus Dei in the past, but most of them took place at summer camps or private homes, which aren’t suited to silent retreats.

“We would have to set up the area to have an oratory, and move the couches and chairs, and share rooms with other people,” Yun said. Copper Ridge, with its individual rooms and large spaces, offered an entirely different experience.

“It was definitely the best experience of all the silent retreats I’ve been to,” said Yun, who found it refreshing after spending months working, studying, and completing lab reports at home.

“Being stuck at home, everything is so hectic,” she said. “It’s hard to find silence when we’re at home. But because we’re there for the purpose of being silent, it helped me to calm down and have everything out of my head, and just have this time for prayer.”

Although Opus Dei offers retreats at centres in Quebec and Ontario, Copper Ridge is the first in Western Canada and was designed to reflect the region, with West-coast-inspired art, design features, and views.

Besides being on the board of directors, Stuart has also been involved in the interior design, operations committee, and the newsletter.

“I would say it’s my dream, it’s a legacy project,” she said. “I hope from heaven one day to see my great-great-grandchildren receiving formation and help with their ordinary lives, and a force to make society a better place.”

Although the centre is not owned or funded by the Archdiocese of Vancouver, it has the support of Archbishop J. Michael Miller.

The archdiocese’s only retreat centre, Rosemary Heights, closed in 2015. At the time, Archbishop Miller said one of the “most critical” factors that led to its closure was a significant decline in users, “leaving the centre in a financially untenable situation.”

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