Spiritual Formation

While retreat centers are “lights for the world,” they often struggle to keep the lights on. The Retreat Center Collaboration (RCC), funded by the Fetzer Institute, is a three-year project to understand and connect retreat centers and their allies across North America, all in an effort to support their evolving roles in a changing world. Below we share RCC member Oren Slozberg’s thoughts on the state of retreat centers today.

At the GilChrist Retreat Center, we encourage our guests, who cannot be present on our land, to “retreat in place.” In doing so, they find centeredness and peace in their surroundings. We dialogue with an already strong network of retreat centers in North America, giving and receiving support. We watch the land take a Sabbath of its own.

In June we invited people to answer, What practice have you found particularly helpful during these past months? We received so many thoughtful and helpful replies and have been appreciating the peace that simply reading them brings. Together, the selections below represent many traditions, practices, and voices that will be helpful to our planning a coming year of monthly practices. Thank you!

Each year, on the summer solstice, we share a reflection on the season by Parker Palmer. In 1995 Parker wrote a welcome for the Fetzer Institute's newly built retreat center, Seasons, which included a reflection on each of the four seasons. Here we excerpt his musings on summer in the Upper Midwest where he lives and where the Fetzer Institute is located.

What is the present state and future development of spiritual care? Since December 11 to 13, 2019, the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab is grateful to partner with the Fetzer Institute on a convening and dialogue focused on just that. We welcome spiritual care providers from various professional contexts and educational backgrounds, including healthcare, higher education, social movements, state and federal agencies, and more.