ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how the common distinction between religion and new spirituality becomes blurred. Religious orders, congregations, parishes, and Protestant conference centers that have offered meetings, workshops, and courses on spirituality for years, are recently targeting contemporary spiritual seekers. On their programs, the Gospel of Marc stands next to Mindfulness; Chakras accompany the preparation for Christmas. Visitors of these centers explore their inner self in these centers as much as they deepen their faith. Most of them, however, are committed to a parish or congregation and report particularly positive effects on their religious and spiritual life; others are not committed, or feel that their community offers too little, and rather report effects on their personal life. Since the largest cohort for whom the centers are attractive is dying out, two scenarios are possible. One is to attract a non-Christian audience. Another is to specialize in Christian spirituality. In both scenarios these centers have to operate in a setting where religious teachings are no longer exclusively embedded in religious institutions, but made available to a wider audience. Even an orthodox Catholic center can’t escape the “heretical imperative” (Peter Berger) to represent a particular strand within the tradition. All centers are forced to operate as spin-offs from the institutional church.
