Kochi: The cash crunch following demonetisation has come as a blessing in disguise for the devout. Those who want to spend a week, month or year getting closer to god can now choose a church retreat of their choice, and a preacher they prefer, through a dedicated website devoted to the purpose.
Goretreat.com, an initiative of Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI)’s Kochi province, will be launched on Tuesday by Cardinal George Alencherry, major archbishop of the Syro Malabar Church.
“The website will allow retreat centres to list their services online and prospective attendees can search, find and book from the convenience of their homes. It will also provide better visibility for retreat centres as they will come together under one umbrella,” said Father Jaison Paul Mulerikal, the brain behind the project.
Initially, the website will have about 10 retreat centres listed including Muringoor Divine retreat centre, Thrissur Jerusalem retreat centre, Ernakulam Chitoor retreat centre, Manjummal Carmel retreat centre, Aluva Jevass retreat centre and so on. The website will be run by a non-profit charitable trust and the main aim, said Father Mulerikal, is to ensure cashless payments.
According to the beta version of the website, pricing has been customized. The website is expected to have transactions ranging from Rs 100 to 1,000. Services can be utilized for fixed duration varying from one month to one year, the website reveals.
Father Mulerikal said that goretreat.com will offer various types of retreats. “There will be all kinds of retreats available online, including family retreats, charismatic retreats, Ignatius retreats, silent retreats, Carmelite retreats etc.
The listing will ease the process of booking, especially for NRI believers as they will be able to book and pay from abroad and attend the retreat once they are back home,” the Father said.
The website has been designed with the help of crowd funding. About Rs 4 lakh was collected using Kickstarter, an online global crowd funding platform. The website was incubated at Rajagiri College of engineering, The Times of India reported.
“Booking a website through phone calls and finding vacancies at the right time is tough. A website like this will be blessing if it can simplify the booking procedure. Besides it is better to know the speaker and the type of retreat before booking the same,” said Jaimon P Devassya, administrator of Truthful Words, a Whatspp group of regular churchgoers.