Retreat

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 […]

A round centerpiece made of ice and frozen branches and berries glows from a candle inside.

Winter Craft Retreat

December 5 - 7, 2025
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, […]

One year of bird omens: a winter writing retreat

With Lydia Wylie-Kellermann and Lacey Hunter

January 16 - 18, 2026
The Farmhouse

Join us for a cozy weekend in the mountains to focus on your writing life. Trust that there will be roaring fires, snowy trails, hot chocolate, candlelight, good food, and lots of quiet. We will offer some brief prompts and rituals throughout the days to nudge the imagination and then offer spacious hours for your […]

A Weekend Celebrating The Many Blessings of Brigid and Imbolc

With Denise Crawn

January 30 - February 1, 2026
The Farmhouse

On the Celtic Wheel of the Year, Imbolc marks the midway point between winter solstice and spring equinox. With its arrival we find ourselves at a threshold in Nature. Here in the northern hemisphere, as we continue our annual cyclical spiral away from the cold, dark months of winter towards the returning light and warmth […]

A dark tree in the foreground before the sky and ridge below.

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 […]

A red and yellow sunset over a purple skyline.

Trans Sanctuary

With Kerr Mesner

March 13 - 15, 2026

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 […]

The Clearing: Black Queer and Trans Healing Retreat

With Lynice Pinkard

April 17 - 19, 2026

Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender people face the triple threat of white supremacy, misogynoir, and homophobia. Even the Church–long a refuge for Black people in the United States–is too often a site of trauma for us. That is why we now invite Black queer and trans people to The Clearing. Named for a […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

A red and yellow sunset over a purple skyline.

Trans Sanctuary

With Kerr Mesner

June 5 - 7, 2026

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 […]

A single bare tree in the foreground before an early winter landscape.

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

A person is shown from far away, standing on top of a rocky hill, with their arms raised triumphantly.

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 […]

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.

Vertical rainbow stripes with paint drips.

Sisterly

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 […]

A wide, leaf-strewn path through a green forest.

Festival of Community Survival 2

October 2 - 4, 2026

Join us October 2-4, 2026 at a beautiful and secure rural retreat center that is committed to participant safety for a cross-training festival for abolitionist grassroots organizations and formations engaged in mapping community ecosystems of collective care and community defense! Please register here by July 31 to let us know you are coming. Thanks!

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 […]

A stone megalith at dusk is light up by two torches.

Walking Awake Into the Celtic New Year

With Denise Crawn

October 30 - November 1, 2026
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 […]

A red and yellow sunset over a purple skyline.

Trans Sanctuary

With Kerr Mesner

November 13 - 15, 2026

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 […]

A round centerpiece made of ice and frozen branches and berries glows from a candle inside.

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, […]