Caister (Retreat Conference)

The Caister Retreat Conference was a residential Christian revival event held in East Anglia, England, shortly after Easter, on an almost annual basis from 1996 to 2008.

Participation was restricted to those who qualified as an ordained bishop, priest, or deacon; or to those who were in training for ordination; or to members of religious communities (monks and nuns).

The daily timetable was always constructed around the same key events: early morning group Bible study,[2] a mid-morning keynote address from a different guest speaker each day, a 'holy hour' at midday (of corporate silence in the presence of the blessed sacrament, concluding with benediction),[2][3] a series of afternoon optional seminars (with four or five different seminars offered each afternoon), an evening sung mass with a sermon from one of the bishops in attendance, and a late evening special service, whose format varied from day to day throughout the event, but including services of reflection, of reconciliation, of healing, and of praise.

The Caister event benefited each year from the generous sponsorship of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament (CBS), many of whose members were also participants.

David Houlding, the long-serving Master of the Society, has described the Caister Conferences as "a real turning point" in the restoration of the Catholic movement in the Church of England following the divisive period surrounding the debates concerning women's ordination, in the early 1990s.

Having been the principal organiser, the future of the annual conference was first stated to be unclear; it was subsequently announced that there would be no Caister event in 2009.

Although no formal announcement was ever made that the series of events had ended, no further conferences were organised, and the Caister Taster Days also ceased in 2010.