Saint Agnes Church at golden hour — the retreat grounds
People come to Thailand looking for something. The limestone cliffs, the warm water, the long-tail boats at dawn — all of it has a quality that slows you down, opens you up. Many people find their way to retreat here: silence, stillness, the interior life. If that's you, and you're wondering what Ao Nang Sanctuary is, this post is a direct answer.
What We Offer
Ao Nang Sanctuary is a Catholic retreat center at St. Agnes Church in Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand. We offer silence, daily Mass, one-on-one spiritual direction with Father Peter Waranyu, and teaching on the Examen prayer practice — a simple fifteen-minute daily prayer drawn from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
We are not a wellness resort. We don't offer yoga classes or spa treatments. What we offer is a specific thing: a structured encounter with the interior life, guided by a priest who has been doing this for 28 years, in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
"Moments of stillness — of genuine quiet, of something that feels larger than ordinary life — are not accidents. The Ignatian tradition has a name for them, a language for them, and a practice that teaches you to receive them rather than simply stumble through them."
— Kip Hartley, The Examen of SurrenderThe Ignatian Tradition
The Examen of Surrender is grounded in the Ignatian spiritual tradition — one of the richest contemplative traditions in the Christian world. St. Ignatius of Loyola developed the Spiritual Exercises in the sixteenth century as a systematic way of attending to the interior life: to noticing where God is moving, where you are resisting, what is being asked of you in this specific moment of your specific life.
The Examen practice we teach is fifteen minutes in the morning and fifteen minutes in the evening. It is not complicated. It asks you to review the day and notice two things: where you felt connected to something larger than yourself, and where you felt closed off or absent. That's it. But practiced consistently, in silence, with good guidance, those thirty minutes have a way of opening things that years of effort cannot.
The Place
St. Agnes Church sits in Ao Nang, Krabi — ten minutes from the beach, surrounded by limestone karsts and warm southern-Thailand light. There is something about this particular place that seems to help people slow down. The sea is close. The pace of life is different. The silence here has a quality to it.
You are welcome to walk to the beach during the free hours of the day, to practice whatever morning movement helps you, to explore Krabi at your own pace. The retreat is structured but not rigid. The point is not the schedule — it's what the schedule creates space for.
Who This Is For
This retreat is for Catholics. It is also for people who are not Catholic at all — spiritual seekers of any background who sense that the interior life is asking for more attention than they've been giving it. People who feel drawn to silence, to prayer, to a week in a beautiful place in Thailand, doing something that might actually change them.
Come for a week. Let Father Peter sit with you. Learn the Examen. Take it home. And see what happens when you give your interior life real attention — not as a project, but as a relationship.
Come. Spend a week.
Suggested donation ฿800–1200/day. Includes room, meals, daily Mass, teaching, and one-on-one spiritual direction with Father Peter Waranyu.
Email: hello@aonangsanctuary.com
WhatsApp: +1-503-997-7370
Location: St. Agnes Church, Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand