Retreat Programs
Retreat Schedule
All upcoming Retreats
Below is our full upcoming program schedule for retreats.
Berrigan’s Folly Organizer and Activist Respite Program
Flexible Dates
“The times are urgent; we must slow down.” –Bayo Akomolafe Are you an organizer or activist in need of rest and rejuvenation? Kirkridge Retreat Center is launching Berrigan’s Folly Organizer and Activist Respite program. We are offering no-cost week-long private retreats for movement organizers and activists in Daniel Berrigan’s Folly Cottage at Kirkridge Retreat Center. Located along the beautiful, forested Kittatinny Ridge, the one room cottage is fully furnished and has a kitchenette where residents can prepare their own meals. Deer, black bear, groundhogs, and other woodland creatures forage just outside the large windows, and on rainy evenings, the space is…
Damned Whiteness: How White Christian Allies Failed the Black Freedom Movement and How We Can Do Better
With David Evans
February 27 - March 1, 2026
Turning Point
The phrase “damned whiteness” comes from a 1961 poem by white Christian missionary Ralph Templin, who recognized his own whiteness as a “frightening disease” that kept him from showing up in true solidarity with Black freedom fighters. In a new book that takes Templin’s phrase as its title, historian David F. Evans explores how white Christian allies failed the Black Freedom Movement. Evans focuses his study on Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement; Clarence Jordan, founder of Koinonia Farm; and Ralph Templin, co-founder of the Harlem Ashram and director of the nonviolent School for Living, identifying some common…
Silent Retreat
March 6 - 8, 2026
The Farmhouse
Join us in the mountains for a weekend of silence. Kirkridge staff will offer some brief communal ritual spaces, but most of the time will be yours for whatever you need. There will be time for prayer, wondering and wandering, reading and writing, rest and sleep, silent connection and nourishing food. Let the land hold you in these hard days. Let silence wash over you.
Agape Unbound: Unapologetically Queer
With Harvey Cottrell
March 20 - 22, 2026
The Farmhouse
A family inclusive weekend retreat to playfully dance, explore, and play with our ever-changing identities surrounded by friends and family. * Email laceyh@kirkridge.org if you want to add on Thursday night + additional meals What does it mean to be queer a quarter of the way into the 21st century? What is it to identify as belonging somewhere on the queer spectrums? How do our ever-changing identities intersect and shape the way we move through our lives? How do we build community that affirms and lifts our identity and supports our needs now as we move through the middle of…
Work Weekend
March 27 - 29, 2026
Nelson Lodge
Join us for a work weekend at Kirkridge. We have projects of all kinds and for all skills. Support Kirkridge with the work of your hands while also enjoying good community, nice meals, and time for being with the land at no cost to you! (You are welcome to choose to pay for your lodging and food, but it is not required. We are grateful for your labor!)
Bonhoeffer’s Conundrum and Ours: A Discernment Retreat
With Reggie Williams and Bill Wylie-Kellermann
April 10 - 12, 2026
Turning Point
We live in times that are as complicated as they are alarming. Many who identify as Christian interpret the moment in rigid binaries: to oppose the strong leader and his national vision is, in their view, to be anti-Christian—effectively anti-American—and morally suspect. In such a climate, truths and facts offer less help than we would like, as the problem is not with reality, but with imagination. Nor, in such a moment, can we avoid certain pressing questions: What is the gospel, really? What does it mean to call someone a Christian? And is wanting one’s country to be a “Christian…
Shaping Clay, Shaping Life: A Collective Expression of Trauma and Hope
With Denise Griebler
April 24 - 26, 2026
The Farmhouse
“It’s not pots we are making, it’s ourselves.” –MC Richards Come to the mountain as life insists and springs from earth and branch. Take some clay in your hands and sit quietly with the grief, loss or trauma in your life. Sit with the stubborn, tenacious hope as well. The meditative process of working with clay can help us to heal or more gently hold the broken places in our lives and also encounter the light within that shines in spite of and, so often, even because of our brokenness. This retreat is based on the work of Corinne D Peterson,…
Allies in Recovery: A Weekend Workshop for Sexual Abuse Survivors and their Partners
With Mike Lew and Thom Harrigan
April 24 - 26, 2026
Nelson Lodge
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,…
Practicing New Worlds
With Andrea Ritchie and Nichola Torbett
May 8 - 10, 2026
The Farmhouse
What are you practicing? This retreat is for anyone who knows in their bones that another world is possible beyond militarized borders, policing, and prisons, even if we can’t quite perceive the details from here, and who wants to be practicing toward that world. We’ll be exploring ways we can be doing that even right now, especially right now, in the midst of all THIS. To ground our conversation, we’ll be sitting with Andrea Ritchie’s latest book, Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies, which is full-to-bursting with interviews and stories from organizers all over Turtle Island, folks who are…
Festival of Radical Discipleship
May 22 - 25, 2026
Kirkridge Retreat & Study Center
For our second year, Kirkridge is hosting the Festival of Radical Discipleship- a gathering of kindred spirits rooted in the radical Christian tradition. It will be a time to remember past gospel experiments, discuss current calls to witness and work; and conspire about future collaborations! Come and join the feast. As spring turns to summer on the mountain, we will gather to lift up experiments in community, study biblical texts, sing and worship, create art, gather around campfires, walk amidst the beauty, and delight in the dreams and company of one another. We will prepare ourselves to move forward beyond…
Undoing Conquest: Inviting a Season of Origins
With Kate Common
June 4 - 6, 2026
Turning Point
Join us for Undoing Conquest: Inviting a Season of Origins, a retreat grounded in the work of healing from centuries of Christian violence, resisting the rise of Christian nationalism, and reclaiming a liberating, justice-centered faith. Together, we’ll explore the themes in Kate Common’s book, Undoing Conquest, reflecting on how the church has used stories of conquest to justify violence and genocide, how these violent legacies continue to shape our churches, and what true repair and healing requires of us today. We’ll then explore the Season of Origins, a new justice-centered liturgical season introduced in Undoing Conquest, that provides a practical…
Trans Sanctuary
With Kerr Mesner
June 5 - 7, 2026
Given our current national climate, this retreat is one of a three part series being offered at Kirkridge this year, with additional retreats March 13-15 and Nov. 13-15. You are welcome to sign up for one, two, or all three of these workshops. This weekend is an opportunity for trans, nonbinary, and gender expansive people* to gather in community together. In these challenging times, we invite you into a space of sanctuary, refuge, and an honoring of our glorious gender diversity. We will explore themes of: Sanctuary: What kind of sanctuary do we need in this time? How we can…
New Suns Cohort
With Naomi Washington-Leapheart
June 12, 2026 - June 13, 2027
“There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns." -- Octavia Estelle Butler In this in-depth, year-long program based on Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, we will apprentice ourselves to Butler’s main character, the brilliant visionary organizer Lauren Olamina. Together, we will plumb these prophetic novels for all they can teach us about how to understand this chaotic and precarious historic moment, how to envision a thriving future nonetheless, and how to help one another–help our people–survive to shape it. We will gather in a variety of ways throughout the year:…
Searching for New Suns: Engaging the Prophetic Wisdom and Imagination of Octavia E. Butler
With Naomi Washington-Leapheart
June 12 - 14, 2026
Nelson Lodge
Award-winning science fiction and speculative fiction writer Octavia Estelle Butler said, "There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns." Butler's stories, grounded in human vulnerability and human agency, anticipated the current chaos of our time. During this retreat, we will explore what Butler's words can teach us about identity, survival, community, and transformation. NOTE: This stand-alone retreat is open to the public. If you're interested in continuing a long-term study of Butler's Parable novels, consider joining the New Suns Cohort, which will meet virtually from 7-8:30pm ET on 3rd Mondays between July 2026 and May 2027 and…
Grief Practices
With Annie Wilson and Krista Nelson
June 19 - 21, 2026
The Farmhouse
Indigenous wisdom may be our best hope for an improved state of being, for ourselves, each other, and the planet. In this retreat, participants will be introduced to two grieving traditions: that of the Lenape way, and that of Celtic traditions in Ireland and highlands of Scotland. How can we pour our grief as nourishment into the land? We will engage the five natural elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space as we follow a healing path from grief to love, building a relationship between our grief and the larger ecologies that we inhabit.
Kirkridge Homecoming
June 26 - 28, 2026
The Farmhouse
It’s time to come home to the mountain! Whether you have been here once or many times, or even if you’ve never been here but always wanted to come, join us for a time of community, celebration, and support for Kirkridge. Kirkridge has been a place of rest, imagination, and justice on this mountain for 84 years. Join us in honoring the importance this place holds in history and in this current moment. This will be our major summer fundraiser. Come enjoy a weekend of fun and support Kirkridge in the process! We will have a full weekend of Kirkridge…
Weaving our Iona Connections: A Walking Awake Pilgrimage
With Denise Crawn
August 7 - 15, 2026
A Walking Awake pilgrimage to the Isle of Iona, Scotland with Columcille Megalith Park and Kirkridge Retreat Center (registration is open to all). After experiencing a wonderfully memorable shared pilgrimage to Iona in 2024, Columcille Megalith Park, Kirkridge Retreat Center and Walking Awake are excited to announce that we've decided to offer another in August, 2026! If you are curious about the connections that link these three places together, have a love of Celtic Spirituality and Nature, always dreamed of traveling to Iona (or to return), this pilgrimage is for you! Our journey will begin on Friday, August 7th, 2026 with a group pick-up…
Leaping on the Mountain
With Mike Lew and Thom Harrigan
August 14 - 16, 2026
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…
Foraging
With Rain Black
September 4 - 6, 2026
The Farmhouse
This retreat will cover the basics of foraging, how to utilize collected materials, and provide recipes. The intention is to help you integrate foraging into your every day life and build a relationship with the plants, fungi, and land around you.
Sisterly Conversations: Sharing Our Stories Across Generations
With Riot Mueller
September 11 - 13, 2026
Nelson Lodge
What was it like to come out in the 1970s and 80s? What is it like to come out now? What stories would you like to tell about coming into your full gender expression, whether as trans, butch, femme, androgynous, nonbinary, agender, or something equally glorious? What other stories are important to your lesbian or queer development? Stories are how we connect, how we learn about one another, how we come to love one another. As elders, middle-aged people, and young queer and trans people in a world too often hostile, we need each other. Let’s build friendships across the…
The Clearing: A Healing Music Retreat for Black Queer & Trans People
With Lynice Pinkard
September 18 - 20, 2026
Turning Point
The Clearing Healing Music Retreat is a three-day gathering on Friday, September 18 - Sunday, September 20th, 2026 for Black queer and trans people who carry the deep wound of a world that denies our belovedness. Here, we return to the river that has always healed us—our music, our breath, our way of seeing against the grain and walking against the current. We will draw on the power of Spirituals, Blues, Jazz, Gospel, and Hip Hop—our lament, our gutbucket truth, our improvisation, our embodied hope, our healing rage—to reclaim our stories and free what domination tried to drown. Through song,…
Living, Dying, Music, and Mystery: A Retreat Exploring the Threshold
With Barbara McAfee
September 24 - 27, 2026
Turning Point
“Everyone knows everything sings and dies. But could it be, too, everything dies and sings….” — Galway Kinnell We live in a culture that often turns its face away from the one certainty we all share. Yet, when we lean into the mystery of the "Great Mystery," we often find that our lives become more vivid, purposeful, and harmonious. Join singer, songwriter, and master facilitator Barbara McAfee for a soulful investigation into the thin places where life and death meet. This is not a clinical seminar, but a communal ritual—a space to metabolize our grief and celebrate our vitality through…
Being, Longing, and Belonging: A Circle of Trust® Retreat
With Cat Greenstreet and Chandra Joseph-Lacet
September 25 - 27, 2026
Nelson Lodge
“As common as the fear of not belonging is, the reality is we can’t help but belong to each other. in our interdependent world, there is nothing outside of belonging. A redwood tree never questions its sense of belonging. It wouldn’t even think to ask such a question — its body knows there’s no such thing as not belonging. By virtue of existing at all, we are made up of and connected to everything around us, now, in the past, and in the future.” - Kazu Haga from Fierce Vulnerability: Healing from Trauma, Emerging through Collapse What are you longing for in the growing…
With the land: remember, relationship, repair
With Susan Raffo
October 9 - 11, 2026
The land where we rest, grieve, and celebrate is the only thing we have in common with those around us. Our bodies are created of and are part of the land. When we die, we fold back into the land’s cycle of life. Our breath, the sea water that is beneath our skin, and the minerals of our bones and eyelashes are all shared with the oak and marmot and seal. And for most of us living on Turtle Island, the land we are on is occupied. Most of us are living as uninvited guests, as settlers of people who…
GBTQ Men’s Retreat: Seeking Restoration through Community
With Dave Howser
October 22 - 25, 2026
Turning Point
For decades, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Questioning men have been gathering at Kirkridge to build community, sing, laugh, tell stories, remember the departed, share our strength and wisdom, and soak in the beauty of the mountain. This annual retreat is for GBTQ men across the generations who are on a spiritual path. We welcome seekers, ministers, single, partnered, new to the community or have been coming for years- come as you are! The program contains structured presentations and time for reflection, discussion, singing, and small groups. There will also be ample unstructured time for solitude, walking the land, socializing, and…
Walking Awake Into the Celtic New Year
With Denise Crawn
October 30 - November 1, 2026
The Farmhouse
*Please note: if you are attending the "Going Deeper" series with Denise prior to this retreat, you can reserve your room for those two nights by "adding additional nights" in the Price section of your registration. 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…
Ripping and Repair
With Ashon Crawley
November 6 - 8, 2026
Nelson Lodge
Japanese kintsugi involves taking something that has been broken, specifically pottery, and practicing repair in ways that highlight or accentuate the site of brokenness, by highlighting and accentuating the seams where the pottery was damaged. My art practice and writing pushes kintsugi processes further, taking older artworks I have created, hymns, and scriptures to create new works by ripping them apart and putting them together in collage. In writing, I excavate untold histories and retell well-worn ones to rip them apart, to discover what's there that remains to be conveyed to us. Ripping and Repair is a workshop in which…
Trans Sanctuary
With Kerr Mesner
November 13 - 15, 2026
Given our current national climate, this retreat is one of a three part series being offered at Kirkridge this year, with additional retreats March 13-15 and June 5-7. You are welcome to sign up for one, two, or all three of these workshops. This weekend is an opportunity for trans, nonbinary, and gender expansive people* to gather in community together. In these challenging times, we invite you into a space of sanctuary, refuge, and an honoring of our glorious gender diversity. We will explore themes of: Sanctuary: What kind of sanctuary do we need in this time? How we can…
Winter Craft Retreat
December 4 - 6, 2026
The Farmhouse
On these cold December nights, we will have a fire burning and hot chocolate on the stove. Bring your knitting needles, quilting squares, paint brushes, wrapping paper, or whittling knife and gather in the warmth and stillness of the season. This retreat will have no facilitator or agenda. There will be delicious food, good company, and lots of time to craft and share stories. On Sunday afternoon following the retreat, there will be a Craft Fair at Kirkridge with local artists. Retreat participants are welcome to have a table if you have crafts you would like to sell. Or stop…