Programs & Retreats

Program Schedule

All upcoming Programs & Retreats

Below is our full upcoming program schedule of both online and on the mountain retreats.

Looking for specific retreats & programs hosted online or locally? Select below to visit their individual pages:

White Antiracist Practice Group

With Nichola Torbett

April 3, 2024
Zoom
Six weekly sessions on Wednesdays, noon-1:30pm ET, with the next session running March 20-April 24. White people who want a supportive community of accountability around unlearning whiteness and dismantling white supremacy, you are in the right place! We are starting a white practice group to do just that. (You can read more about how this idea arose here: https://kirkridge.org/why-havent-we-acted-sooner/ .) The initial commitment will be for just six weeks, and then you’ll have the option to commit for six more, and so on. We’ll have different folks leading six-seek segments so that you can benefit from different approaches, which will include somatics,…
A wintry scene with text overlaid. Text reads

Wild Church – April

April 3, 2024
The Farmhouse
Wild Church gatherings offer opportunities for contemplation, grief and praise, movement and song, solo wandering and wondering, advocacy, ecological restoration, and activism on behalf of and in collaboration with the beloved others in our watersheds. 5:30pm every first Wednesday of the month Followed by a potluck at 6:30 No registration necessary--just come!
A rounded, tan fungus grows on a wooden log.

Integration and Disintegration: Shaping Change in Alignment with Nature

With en sawyer and Marcia Lee

April 5 - 7, 2024
Nelson Lodge
Energy doesn’t disappear, it just changes forms. We often think of these concepts as opposites, but integration cannot exist without disintegration and vice versa.  This is the natural rhythm of life.  When decomposition happens, mycelium grows.  How do we shape change without trying to control change?  Sometimes, when we try to force change, we lose parts of ourselves along the way.  Join us for a retreat to explore the edges and interactions of disintegration and integration in your own life through embodied movement, mushroom cultivation, and space to pause and reflect.  You will take home with you the beginnings of…

White Antiracist Practice Group

With Nichola Torbett

April 10, 2024
Zoom
Six weekly sessions on Wednesdays, noon-1:30pm ET, with the next session running March 20-April 24. White people who want a supportive community of accountability around unlearning whiteness and dismantling white supremacy, you are in the right place! We are starting a white practice group to do just that. (You can read more about how this idea arose here: https://kirkridge.org/why-havent-we-acted-sooner/ .) The initial commitment will be for just six weeks, and then you’ll have the option to commit for six more, and so on. We’ll have different folks leading six-seek segments so that you can benefit from different approaches, which will include somatics,…
A person stands on top of a mountain with their arms outstretched.

Allies in Recovery- A Weekend Workshop for Sexual Abuse Survivors and their Partners

With Mike Lew and Thom Harrigan

April 12 - 14, 2024
Turning Point
It is required that all participants be fully vaccinated. The long-term and often painful process of recovery from sexual abuse has profound effects on relationships. Partners and survivors experience a parallel process of understanding the nature of abuse, its effects on the survivor and the couple, and the requirements of healing. Lack of information and understanding on both sides cause great strain on the couple. This weekend workshop is designed for couples where one or both of the partners is a non-offending survivor of sexual child abuse, rape, physical violence, emotional abuse and/or neglect. It is open to heterosexual, gay,…
A drawing of many hands reaching toward two books at the center.

Kirkridge / Columcille Spirit of the Earth Book Group – April

April 15, 2024
Turning Point Meeting Room
April 2024 Spirit of the Earth Book Group Meeting Join us in person or online for our book group! This will be a great opportunity for heartfelt, stimulating conversation and for building community. This month, April 15th, 2024 @ 6:30 pm ET we will gather in a hybrid format: in-person at Kirkridge's Turning Point Meeting Room (2495 Fox Gap Rd, Bangor, PA) and online over Zoom. The book we will discuss is Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones. To attend online by zoom, please register in advance here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqfuutqzsrGtYuU5bOqRspIV75P7E5-sdm. Once you have registered once, the link you receive will enable you to…

White Antiracist Practice Group

With Nichola Torbett

April 17, 2024
Zoom
Six weekly sessions on Wednesdays, noon-1:30pm ET, with the next session running March 20-April 24. White people who want a supportive community of accountability around unlearning whiteness and dismantling white supremacy, you are in the right place! We are starting a white practice group to do just that. (You can read more about how this idea arose here: https://kirkridge.org/why-havent-we-acted-sooner/ .) The initial commitment will be for just six weeks, and then you’ll have the option to commit for six more, and so on. We’ll have different folks leading six-seek segments so that you can benefit from different approaches, which will include somatics,…
Yellow daffodils in front of a grassy field.

The Gift of Time: An Unstructured Personal Retreat (May)

Flexible Dates
Kirkridge Retreat Center
For this retreat, we offer you a private room and three meals a day. Other than that, the time is yours. Use the space however you need. Come for one night or two or three. We are living in heavy times. Take some time to be with yourself. Be nourished by this beautiful land. Write. Make art. Rest. Sleep. Read a novel. Nurture your soul.
A red and yellow sunset over a purple skyline.

The Gift of Time: An Unstructured Personal Retreat (April)

Flexible Dates
The Farmhouse
For this retreat, we offer you a private room and three meals a day. Other than that, the time is yours. Use the space however you need. Come for one night or two. We are living in heavy times. Take some time to be with yourself. Be nourished by this beautiful land. Write. Make art. Rest. Sleep. Read a novel. Nurture your soul.
Grey standing stones on green grass in front of a blue sky.

Humility & Dignity: White People Unlearning White Supremacy

With Nichola Torbett

April 19 - 21, 2024
Nelson Lodge
Are shame, fear, and anxiety limiting your participation in efforts to dismantle white supremacy as a white person? Do you feel insecure  in your relationships with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and unsure how to show up well in BIPOC-led movements? Do you sometimes find yourself stumbling over your words or remaining quiet when you feel called to speak up about racism? You are not alone! Join other like-minded white people who long for an end to white supremacy as we practice showing up with both humility and dignity. We’ll explore embodied practices, ancestral lineage healing, and spiritual tools…
A wide, leaf-strewn path runs through a forest.

Foraging, Permaculture, and Macrobiotic Food Ways

With Stephen Hoog

April 20, 2024
Turning Point
This workshop will examine the human relationship with the rhythms of the natural world. We will begin with a lesson on macrobiotics, break for lunch and some downtime, and then forage together.

White Antiracist Practice Group

With Nichola Torbett

April 24, 2024
Zoom
Six weekly sessions on Wednesdays, noon-1:30pm ET, with the next session running March 20-April 24. White people who want a supportive community of accountability around unlearning whiteness and dismantling white supremacy, you are in the right place! We are starting a white practice group to do just that. (You can read more about how this idea arose here: https://kirkridge.org/why-havent-we-acted-sooner/ .) The initial commitment will be for just six weeks, and then you’ll have the option to commit for six more, and so on. We’ll have different folks leading six-seek segments so that you can benefit from different approaches, which will include somatics,…
A Black person holding their hands cupped like a prayer or offering.

Do Black Lives Matter to God? A Theological Exploration of Evil, Suffering, Resistance, and Divine Accountability

With Naomi Washington-Leapheart

April 26 - 28, 2024
Nelson Lodge & Turning Point
This retreat asks the question: If God is benevolent, just, and powerful, how can (does) evil persist in the lives of Black people living in the United States? In this retreat that will include both you and students from Rev. Naomi’s Villanova religious studies class by the same name, we will explore the theological implications of Black suffering and connect those implications to the call for justice and liberation most recently articulated by the Black Lives Matter movement. As the centerpiece of the retreat, Villanova students will bring God to trial in the case of God vs. Black Lives. You…
A wintry scene with text overlaid. Text reads

Wild Church – May

May 1, 2024
The Farmhouse
Wild Church gatherings offer opportunities for contemplation, grief and praise, movement and song, solo wandering and wondering, advocacy, ecological restoration, and activism on behalf of and in collaboration with the beloved others in our watersheds. 5:30pm every first Wednesday of the month Followed by a potluck at 6:30 No registration necessary--just come!
Two hands, one white and one Black, are making peace signs.

The Gospel of Peace: Reading Matthew, Mark & Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence

With John Dear

May 3 - 5, 2024
Turning Point
Longtime activist, author, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Rev. John Dear, will walk us through the Synoptic Gospels pointing out Jesus’ practice and teachings of nonviolence and invite us to become practitioners of creative nonviolence, based on his new commentary, “The Gospel of Peace.” We will reflect on Matthew, with the Sermon on the Mount as its centerpiece and the basis for everything that follows; then Mark as an action thriller of nonviolence, where Jesus engages in non-stop nonviolent resistance to systemic injustice and empire; and then Luke, where we hear a call to service, compassion and solidarity with the…
A pair of cupped hands holds rich soil.

POSTPONED Re-Connecting Soil and Soul: Exploring Your Inner Self and the Outer World. A Circle of Trust® Retreat

With Dianne Baker and Megan LeBoutillier

May 10 - 12, 2024
The Farmhouse
This retreat has been postponed; we will update this space with new dates as they become available. In the meantime, if you wish to express interest in attending, please sign up for the waitlist. Thank you! We are between stories now. We are evolving from the world dominated by technology and entering the age of biology when there will be a resurgence of interest in learning how to work with the forces of nature rather than against them. It will be a time for following what feels most natural, organic and heartfelt. And it is a time for understanding that…
A drawing of many hands reaching toward two books at the center.

Kirkridge / Columcille Spirit of the Earth Book Group – May

May 20, 2024
Casa Colum
May 2024 Spirit of the Earth Book Group Meeting Join us in person or online for our book group! This will be a great opportunity for heartfelt, stimulating conversation and for building community. This month, May 20th, 2024 @ 6:30 pm ET we will gather in a hybrid format: in-person at Casa Colum (2155 Fox Gap Rd, Bangor, PA) and online over Zoom. The book we will discuss is TBA. To attend online by zoom, please register in advance here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqfuutqzsrGtYuU5bOqRspIV75P7E5-sdm. Once you have registered once, the link you receive will enable you to attend any month in 2024. Here's…
A medley of whole vegetables - green cabbage, turnips, parsnips, carrots, and broccoli.

The Just Kitchen: Connecting to God, Neighbor, and Self Through Food

With Derrick Weston

May 22 - 24, 2024
The Farmhouse
Food is at the heart of human society. The ways we grow, source, buy, prepare, serve, and eat all have the potential to build community or break it down. Food connects us to our own personal histories and can be a source of healing and comfort or pain and trauma. This retreat will explore the ways that food invites us to consider our relationships with God, creation, our neighbors and families, and with ourselves.
Five colorful birds perch on a stone.

Singing Creation: Exploring your Full Voice through Song

With Barbara McAfee

May 24 - 27, 2024
Turning Point
Why Not Sing? A Weekend Immersion in Community Singing When you get up in the morning, why not sing? When you’re sitting down for dinner, why not sing? When your heart is full of grief, you could find some relief If you sing, why not sing?                                                             - Barbara McAfee Singing is an ancient and powerful way for a group of “me’s” to become a “we.” Oral tradition singing – taught call and response with no music to read – allows everyone to find the joy of harmony without having to know a thing about music theory. You’ll also have…
A small leafy tree sprouts from a glass cup full of coins.

Putting Money in Its Place

With Andy Loving and Susan Taylor and Mike Little

May 31 - June 2, 2024
Turning Point
Most North Americans grow up in a culture that worships money, embedded in an economic system that holds money up as the only true measure of value. But money is a failed god, as we see in the fear that threatens our personal well-being and our relationships, in the overwork and overwhelm that guts community life, in the resigned acceptance of both extreme wealth and extreme poverty and in the drive for ever-more that is destroying our planet. Such massive issues need to be addressed from all levels of government and all facets of the economy. So what can we…
Two light-skinned hands hold a clay vessel out of which blue smoke rises.

Return to the Earth: A Contemplative Clay Experience

With Marjory Zoet Bankson

June 4 - 6, 2024
The Farmhouse
Have you ever thought about transporting the ashes of a loved one to a favorite beach and wished the container would just dissolve? Or thought about making your own burial urn? This mid-week workshop will offer you a contemplative experience of making an unfired burial urn or simply using clay as a meditative practice. No special tools or prior experience are needed. We will begin by exploring the nature of clay and death as a return to the earth. As the earth’s layer of memory, an impression made in wet clay will last forever unless water “melts” it back into…
A wintry scene with text overlaid. Text reads

Wild Church – June

June 5, 2024
The Farmhouse
Wild Church gatherings offer opportunities for contemplation, grief and praise, movement and song, solo wandering and wondering, advocacy, ecological restoration, and activism on behalf of and in collaboration with the beloved others in our watersheds. 5:30pm every first Wednesday of the month Followed by a potluck at 6:30 No registration necessary--just come!
The sun shines at the horizon over a rocky landscape.

Gay Magic: Writing Down Our Queer and Trans Lives

With Jacks McNamara

June 7 - 9, 2024
Turning Point
In this workshop we will read and write all the brilliance and beauty of what we have survived and what we are building. Using prompts, free-writes, the magnificent muck of our lives, and the full wing-span of our imaginations, we will create new writing across genres. Be prepared to dig deep. In our writing, we will make space for the fierce, radiant, sexy, disastrous, sacred and profane facets of our truths as queer and gender-fabulous folks navigating a mad mad world. Let this retreat be your permission to play, work, and risk. This weekend retreat will focus on helping writers…
A table full of colorful photographs and postcards.

Discover your Wisdom and Change your Life: A SoulCollage® Retreat

With Kathy Garrett

June 14 - 16, 2024
The Farmhouse
This retreat is for anyone on life’s journey who would like to know more of your own intuition and wisdom.  You will be guided in the special SoulCollage® method of collaging magazine images in a way that creates surprisingly insightful collages. With journaling and easy personal voice dialogue, you will discover inner parts, inner archetypes and inner energies that offer you direct wisdom for more understanding and clarity at this time. This retreat is at the right level for everyone. SoulCollage® meets you wherever you are. You do not have to have any experience or artistic experience to attend.  You…
A drawing of many hands reaching toward two books at the center.

Kirkridge / Columcille Spirit of the Earth Book Group – June

June 17, 2024
Turning Point Meeting Room
June 2024 Spirit of the Earth Book Group Meeting Join us in person or online for our book group! This will be a great opportunity for heartfelt, stimulating conversation and for building community. This month, June 17th, 2024 @ 6:30 pm ET we will gather in a hybrid format: in-person at Kirkridge's Turning Point Meeting Room (2495 Fox Gap Rd, Bangor, PA) and online over Zoom. The book we will discuss is TBA. To attend online by zoom, please register in advance here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqfuutqzsrGtYuU5bOqRspIV75P7E5-sdm. Once you have registered once, the link you receive will enable you to attend any month…
A wintry scene with text overlaid. Text reads

Wild Church – July

July 3, 2024
The Farmhouse
Wild Church gatherings offer opportunities for contemplation, grief and praise, movement and song, solo wandering and wondering, advocacy, ecological restoration, and activism on behalf of and in collaboration with the beloved others in our watersheds. 5:30pm every first Wednesday of the month Followed by a potluck at 6:30 No registration necessary--just come!
A drawing of many hands reaching toward two books at the center.

Kirkridge / Columcille Spirit of the Earth Book Group – July

July 15, 2024
Casa Colum
July 2024 Spirit of the Earth Book Group Meeting Join us in person or online for our book group! This will be a great opportunity for heartfelt, stimulating conversation and for building community. This month, July 15th, 2024 @ 6:30 pm ET we will gather in a hybrid format: in-person at Casa Colum (2155 Fox Gap Rd, Bangor, PA) and online over Zoom. The book we will discuss is TBA. To attend online by zoom, please register in advance here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqfuutqzsrGtYuU5bOqRspIV75P7E5-sdm. Once you have registered once, the link you receive will enable you to attend any month in 2024. Here's…
A wintry scene with text overlaid. Text reads

Wild Church – August

August 7, 2024
The Farmhouse
Wild Church gatherings offer opportunities for contemplation, grief and praise, movement and song, solo wandering and wondering, advocacy, ecological restoration, and activism on behalf of and in collaboration with the beloved others in our watersheds. 5:30pm every first Wednesday of the month Followed by a potluck at 6:30 No registration necessary--just come!
A close up of pinkish-tan mushroom gills.

Wild Art-Making

With Rain Black

August 10, 2024
The Farmhouse
As artists, we can learn so much from the brilliant colors, textures, and patterns of the forest. Often though we don't work directly with what the wild offers us. Follow forager and artist, Rain Black (fae/he) for a retreat on wild art-making to deepen your connection to the land and your creativity. During this retreat, we will work through two different art-making techniques using plants and mushrooms from the surrounding woods and trails. Foraging is often food-based, but nature is also an excellent source for art making. You'll learn practical skills and approaches you can take with you. Mixing historical…
A person is shown from far away, standing on top of a rocky hill, with their arms raised triumphantly.

Leaping Upon the Mountain

With Mike Lew and Thom Harrigan

August 16 - 18, 2024
Turning Point
The leaders are asking that all participants be fully vaccinated. Double and limited single rooms are available. This weekend workshop is for non-offending adult male survivors of sexual child abuse, rape, physical violence, emotional abuse and/or neglect. Our goal is to offer a safe, encouraging environment of healing. The weekend will provide a variety of healing activities, including the sharing of stories, writing exercises, anger work and other emotional expressions, small group discussion, relaxation and yes, even fun. This event is for men who are actively engaged in recovery work; it is not a substitute for therapy. A letter of…
A drawing of many hands reaching toward two books at the center.

Kirkridge / Columcille Spirit of the Earth Book Group – August

August 19, 2024
Turning Point Meeting Room
August 2024 Spirit of the Earth Book Group Meeting Join us in person or online for our book group! This will be a great opportunity for heartfelt, stimulating conversation and for building community. This month, August 19th, 2024 @ 6:30 pm ET we will gather in a hybrid format: in-person at Kirkridge's Turning Point Meeting Room (2495 Fox Gap Rd, Bangor, PA) and online over Zoom. The book we will discuss is TBA. To attend online by zoom, please register in advance here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqfuutqzsrGtYuU5bOqRspIV75P7E5-sdm. Once you have registered once, the link you receive will enable you to attend any month…
A wintry scene with text overlaid. Text reads

Wild Church – September

September 4, 2024
The Farmhouse
Wild Church gatherings offer opportunities for contemplation, grief and praise, movement and song, solo wandering and wondering, advocacy, ecological restoration, and activism on behalf of and in collaboration with the beloved others in our watersheds. 5:30pm every first Wednesday of the month Followed by a potluck at 6:30 No registration necessary--just come!
A round logo with a pink background. Purple text reads

The P-Pastor’s BIPOC Pleasure Retreat

With Rev. Lorren Z. Buck

September 6 - 8, 2024
Nelson Lodge
The “good girl” image cons women into banishing their sexual power through the coercive judgement of shame. Shame causes us to compartmentalize our identities, dividing our humanity into two separate categories, never the two shall meet.  Our bodies can be a divine source of pleasure when we devote our energy, mind and spirit toward an inner place of ecstasy.  Begin your journey towards self-acceptance, sexual exploration, and spiritual discovery. This pilgrimage will endarken your power of the erotic and enlighten your quest for healing. This retreat is rooted in a womanist sexual ethic with somatic practices from Authentic Tantra©.  Join us…

We are Deaf, Queer, and Here!

With Mervin Primeaux-OBryant and Spencer Grugan

September 6 - 8, 2024
Turning Point
A weekend retreat program for individuals who are 18+ years of age, identify as LGBTQ+, and Deaf/deaf/DeafBlind/Deaf+/hard-of-hearing. This retreat gathering is presented as an opportunity to bring together individuals who are Deaf and queer. Through group facilitations, community-building, and activities, the two co-facilitators will foster a space of healing, connection, and celebration of the intersectionality of Deaf queer people. With our shared identities and experiences with which we’ll have the opportunity to express ourselves in many different modes of communication, art, and expression, we will have the space to acknowledge our best authentic selves. One does not need to know…
A sharp-edged stone is precariously balanced on a larger, rocky boulder.

Friendship, Community, and Resilience in a Time of Turbulent Earth Change: A Circle of Trust® Retreat

With Rev. Cathy Bristow and Cat Greenstreet

September 6 - 8, 2024
The Farmhouse
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman Do you long to feel alive and to sustain that feeling in your life and work? How are we creating friendships and community in a time of fragmentation and increasing isolation? What is breaking our hearts? What brings hope and inspiration? How does turning our senses toward Mother Earth affect how we perceive what surrounds us and what lives within? How do we then listen to each other and to…
A still pond shows the reflection of surrounding green trees and bright blue sky.

Silent Wilderness Retreat

With Laurel Dykstra and Lynice Pinkard

September 9 - 12, 2024
The Farmhouse
Limit 5 participants. The focus of this retreat is listening in nature. Your primary “spiritual directors” will be the creatures, beings, and elements of the more than human world on Kittatinny Ridge in the Appalachian Mountains, and you are encouraged to spend significant time out of doors. Each day will include a morning and evening circle and individual listening times with Laurel/a director. The retreat is open to everyone whether you are new to or experienced with silence, but LGBTQI2S+ folk might find that space held by a queer and gender queer practitioner particularly valuable. Kirkridge is a Christian retreat…
A mix of colorful and patterned fabrics hang over a tree branch in a wooded area.

Wild Gender Retreat

With Laurel Dykstra and Celina Medrano-Miller

September 12 - 15, 2024
The Farmhouse
What do creatures, plants, landforms and waterways have to teach us about stealth and fabulousness? How does the more than human world invite us to authentic gender expression? Often people with non-cis gender identities are pushed into urban spaces and find rural and wilderness settings dangerous, or we are told who we are or what we do is unnatural. This is an opportunity to reconnect with and reclaim wilderness as a queer space, to explore what the species, landforms, and elements of territory have to teach and share with us and revel in the goodness of our bodies. Retreat content…
A light blue foreground with a forest background. Text reads

Chant as Meditation, Sound as Spiritual Practice

With Jim Reale

September 13 - 15, 2024
Turning Point
“Chant deepens the very nature of prayer. It becomes the beat of the heart, the hope of the seeker. It is the etching of the Presence of God on the mind. It is the daily memory and promise of God’s presence that clasps two souls to one another: I in God, God in me.” ~ From The Monastic Heart by Sr Joan Chittister. This retreat is designed for those who wish to explore sound as prayer and meditation in their spiritual life. It is also intended for leaders to introduce chant into their churches and spiritual communities, uniting all in the experience…
A drawing of many hands reaching toward two books at the center.

Kirkridge / Columcille Spirit of the Earth Book Group – September

September 16, 2024
Casa Colum
September 2024 Spirit of the Earth Book Group Meeting Join us in person or online for our book group! This will be a great opportunity for heartfelt, stimulating conversation and for building community. This month, September 16th, 2024 @ 6:30 pm ET we will gather in a hybrid format: in-person at Casa Colum (2155 Fox Gap Rd, Bangor, PA) and online over Zoom. The book we will discuss is TBA. To attend online by zoom, please register in advance here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqfuutqzsrGtYuU5bOqRspIV75P7E5-sdm. Once you have registered once, the link you receive will enable you to attend any month in 2024. Here's…
A mostly-full moon peeks out from behind dark, smoky clouds.

Wonder, Wisdom, and Witness: The Legacy of the Beguines for Our Time

With Joyce Hollyday

September 17 - 19, 2024
Nelson Lodge
In an age of intolerance, they practiced compassion. In an era of religious arrogance, they embraced the Divine Feminine and celebrated gifts of the Spirit. Under suffocating patriarchy, they rejected cultural dictates limiting women to the roles of wives owned and subjugated by husbands or nuns cloistered and controlled by the church. They boldly lived together in empowering communities, providing safe haven and education for girls, supporting one another by making lace and candles, baking bread and brewing beer. Come to the mountain as the autumn breezes begin to stir and dive into the mystery of the stunning medieval mystics…
A colorful, rainbow painting.

Sisterly: Intergenerational Queer Joy

September 20 - 22, 2024
Nelson Lodge
In an age of intolerance, they practiced compassion. In an era of religious arrogance, they embraced the Divine Feminine and celebrated gifts of the Spirit. Under suffocating patriarchy, they rejected cultural dictates limiting women to the roles of wives owned and subjugated by husbands or nuns cloistered and controlled by the church. They boldly lived together in empowering communities, providing safe haven and education for girls, supporting one another by making lace and candles, baking bread and brewing beer. Come to the mountain as the autumn breezes begin to stir and dive into the mystery of the stunning medieval mystics…
A large moon rises over a reflective lake. Text reads

Embodied Decoloniality: Partnering with Land and Ancestral Kin in Transformative Work

With Amber McZeal

September 27 - 29, 2024
Nelson Lodge
As we move deeper into the 21st century, it has become strikingly clear that what could once be ignored and dismissed requires a new disposition and demands we assume a different posture. There are many questions that arise as we, the human family, turn toward great troubles–ecological crises, cultural and political polarizations, economic frustrations and disparities. How do we resource ourselves to contribute to generative change that is life-affirming? What does the pathway of transformation look and feel like, in the face of massive systems change? What are the decolonial gestures that may support efforts to reconfigure our relationships with…
A wintry scene with text overlaid. Text reads

Wild Church – October

October 2, 2024
The Farmhouse
Wild Church gatherings offer opportunities for contemplation, grief and praise, movement and song, solo wandering and wondering, advocacy, ecological restoration, and activism on behalf of and in collaboration with the beloved others in our watersheds. 5:30pm every first Wednesday of the month Followed by a potluck at 6:30 No registration necessary--just come!
A child in a purple sweatshirt plays in long grass by a pond.

This Sweet Earth: Walking with Our Children in the Age of Climate Collapse

With Lydia Wylie-Kellerman

October 4 - 6, 2024
Nelson Lodge
The effects of climate change are all around us. We feel it in little ways as we harvest from our gardens a little earlier each year. And in big ways as we watch fires blaze through entire towns and our streets fill with rain. Climate anxiety touches nearly everything we do, but perhaps nothing so tenderly as our parenting. What does it mean to bring children into such an uncertain future? What do we do with the fear, grief, and anger we feel? Join us for a weekend retreat to put our bodies on this sacred land allowing the stones…
A book with blank pages lies open on a mossy stone overlooking trees and a wide blue sky.

Writing Table Retreat

With Eileen Campbell-Reed

October 10 - 13, 2024
Turning Point
Join us at the Writing Table in person. Enjoy the beauty of Kirkridge in the autumn and ample structured and unstructured time to inspire a rhythm of writing and rest. We invite you to bring a writing project with you or dream up a new one at this retreat. The retreat includes short teaching sessions about writing craft and habits, daily time for writing, and evening sessions for sharing brief excerpts of your work. Individual coaching spots will be available on a limited basis. After registration you will receive an email to schedule individual time with retreat facilitator and coach,…
An empty wooden bench sits under a tree with bright red leaves, overlooking an autumnal landscape.

Tending Our Fear, Building Our Resilience: White People for Collective Liberation

With Lucy A. Wachter Webb

October 11 - 13, 2024
Nelson Lodge
Fear keeps us white people from accessing so much of our power. We fear “doing it wrong” or not doing enough. We fear losing relationships because of our commitment to racial justice, which is a fear related to our belonging. We fear violence and the repercussions of taking bold action in the context of empire governed by racial capitalism. These fears are legitimate and are taking care of our basic human needs. And, when we don’t tend our fear well, they get in the way of bringing ourselves into alignment with our values. Like: moving powerfully toward collective liberation. Like: leveraging…
A dark tree is backlit by a sunset of reds, oranges, blues, and purples.

Cultivating Faith, Embracing Love & Discovering Hope

With Michael Adee

October 18 - 20, 2024
Turning Point
A retreat for gay, bisexual and trans men of faith and spirituality, this annual Kirkridge Men’s Retreat offers time together in community worship, conversations and small groups plus time for reflection, relaxation and casual hikes along the Appalachian trail that runs across the mountain that is Kirkridge. This peaceful setting offers inspiration for body, mind and spirit — a wonderful, peaceful place to celebrate faith and find hope.
A drawing of many hands reaching toward two books at the center.

Kirkridge / Columcille Spirit of the Earth Book Group – October

October 21, 2024
Turning Point Meeting Room
October 2024 Spirit of the Earth Book Group Meeting Join us in person or online for our book group! This will be a great opportunity for heartfelt, stimulating conversation and for building community. This month, October 21st, 2024 @ 6:30 pm ET we will gather in a hybrid format: in-person at Kirkridge's Turning Point Meeting Room (2495 Fox Gap Rd, Bangor, PA) and online over Zoom. The book we will discuss is TBA. To attend online by zoom, please register in advance here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqfuutqzsrGtYuU5bOqRspIV75P7E5-sdm. Once you have registered once, the link you receive will enable you to attend any month…
A black and white image of a hand holding a lump of clay.

Playing and Praying with Clay

With Denise Griebler

October 22 - 24, 2024
The Farmhouse
Potter, sculptor, philosopher MC Richards said, “It’s not pots we are making, it’s ourselves.”  Come to the mountain at the height of Autumn colors.  Take some clay in your hands and listen to your life.  Listen to the wind and leaves.  Walk the stony paths.  We’ll listen and wonder and create as we reflect on our lives and our place in family of things.  Along the way we may encounter wonder, grief, gratitude, and a sense of coming home to ourselves. No need to worry about being an artist or having any previous experience with clay!  We’ll share poems and…
A stone megalith at dusk is light up by two torches.

Walking Awake into the Celtic New Year

With Denise Crawn and Nick Prance

November 1 - 3, 2024
The Farmhouse
If you feel a deep connection to Nature, have an interest in Celtic Spirituality, and a longing to be amongst the stunning autumn foliage at Kirkridge, this annual weekend retreat may indeed call you ‘home’ to the mountain. Throughout our weekend together we will explore some of the many surrounding lessons and gifts available to us as we ‘walk awake’ together into the Celtic New Year. In Nature it is the time of year when the woodlands transform: Leaves begin to turn into vibrant colors and float to the forest floor as the trees prepare for dormancy. Animals are busy…
A wintry scene with text overlaid. Text reads

Wild Church – November

November 6, 2024
The Farmhouse
Wild Church gatherings offer opportunities for contemplation, grief and praise, movement and song, solo wandering and wondering, advocacy, ecological restoration, and activism on behalf of and in collaboration with the beloved others in our watersheds. 5:30pm every first Wednesday of the month Followed by a potluck at 6:30 No registration necessary--just come!
A drawing of many hands reaching toward two books at the center.

Kirkridge / Columcille Spirit of the Earth Book Group – November

November 18, 2024
Casa Colum
November 2024 Spirit of the Earth Book Group Meeting Join us in person or online for our book group! This will be a great opportunity for heartfelt, stimulating conversation and for building community. This month, November 18th, 2024 @ 6:30 pm ET we will gather in a hybrid format: in-person at Casa Colum (2155 Fox Gap Rd, Bangor, PA) and online over Zoom. The book we will discuss is TBA. To attend online by zoom, please register in advance here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqfuutqzsrGtYuU5bOqRspIV75P7E5-sdm. Once you have registered once, the link you receive will enable you to attend any month in 2024. Here's…
A wintry scene with text overlaid. Text reads

Wild Church – December

December 4, 2024
The Farmhouse
Wild Church gatherings offer opportunities for contemplation, grief and praise, movement and song, solo wandering and wondering, advocacy, ecological restoration, and activism on behalf of and in collaboration with the beloved others in our watersheds. 5:30pm every first Wednesday of the month Followed by a potluck at 6:30 No registration necessary--just come!
Two hands cup a tongue of fire while breaking chains that bind them. The rainbow flag overlays the image.

Queering Spirituality

With Maki Ashe Van Steenwyk

December 6 - 8, 2024
The Farmhouse
The world is filled with chains and cages. Though sometimes literal, the most insidious constraints are the ideas and stories that bind our imaginations. Wherever the Spirit is, the spirit subverts—she breaks the chains. Unfortunately, so much of what we call “spirituality” or “religion” serves to press those chains ever deeper into our minds. In this retreat, Ashe Van Steenwyk will guide participants through a process of “queering” spirituality. To “queer” something is to re-examine, deconstruct, or subvert it though a queer lens. It means to pay attention to our deepest longings and listen to the wisdom of our bodies…
A drawing of many hands reaching toward two books at the center.

Kirkridge / Columcille Spirit of the Earth Book Group – December

December 16, 2024
Turning Point Meeting Room
December 2024 Spirit of the Earth Book Group Meeting Join us in person or online for our book group! This will be a great opportunity for heartfelt, stimulating conversation and for building community. This month, December 16th, 2024 @ 6:30 pm ET we will gather in a hybrid format: in-person at Kirkridge's Turning Point Meeting Room (2495 Fox Gap Rd, Bangor, PA) and online over Zoom. The book we will discuss is TBA. To attend online by zoom, please register in advance here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqfuutqzsrGtYuU5bOqRspIV75P7E5-sdm. Once you have registered once, the link you receive will enable you to attend any month…