"This immersion allowed me to realize my own forms of self-care and patience. It truly gave me insight into how to create presence among silence. I have a deep gratitude for all the sisters and their abundant wisdom. I would tell anyone considering this immersion that it is a profound and illuminating experience" -Maddie House-Tuck
Monday, March 23rd - Saturday, March 28th, 2020
Cost: $250
Retreat Application, due January 29th
Spend a week in the majestic redwoods with other Santa Clara students thinking about and discussing what matters to you and why! SCU students across religious and spiritual identities have found the Redwoods Retreat experience to be life-changing. Students will be welcomed into the community of women monastics at Redwoods Monastery in Whitethorn, California. The Monastery was founded in 1962 and is situated among the majestic redwoods and douglas fir of the Lost Coast of Northern California.
As religious sisters, the inclusive group of women monastics is committed to searching for God through the concrete experiences of everyday life. The sisters build a community of love that extends far beyond the confines of the monastery and provide space for inner and outer transformation.
Retreatants will participate in the community’s monastic schedule of prayer, spiritual reading, and manual labor. The experience will provide the group with an opportunity to create intentional community, explore various forms of prayer, and experience nature through hiking and organic gardening. The SCU group will stay in the guest house at the monastery, share communal meals and have time to explore spirituality and creative reflection.
This retreat is a wonderful follow-up opportunity for students that have participated in Ignatian Center immersions or similar experiences and/or are interested in exploring questions about vocation, meaning-making, mindfulness, and social justice. This retreat will be lead by Carly Lynch and student leader Olivia Glaser.
Hello, I'm Carly Lynch and I am the Campus Minister for Religious Diversity here at SCU. My job here is grounded in countless experiences, and two degrees in Theological Studies. I hope to never stop learning. I've spent most of my life living in (and hiking around) Arizona and California, and have fallen in love with too many places & people & used book stores & mountain roads around this country to count. I'm deeply passionate about practising and discovering new ways of being an ethical, loving, creative, and spiritually grounded person in this world, and am always looking to learn from others.
Hey everyone, my name is Olivia Glaser and I'm a senior from Portland OR, where I first developed my love for everything outdoors. I attended the Redwoods Retreat my freshman year at SCU and this was one of the most important, formative weeks of my college career because it offered me discovery, healing, and forgiveness. The monastery is humbly situated amongst a towering forest of Redwoods in a clearing that simultaneously invokes serenity and awe, and the nuns who live and work there enact each moment with a quiet, deliberate and patient reflection, which is so in opposition to the loud and urgent energy of Silicon Valley. My Redwoods retreat experience left me more reflective, more forgiving, and more grateful. I am more than excited to be returning to the monastery to lead the Redwoods Retreat this winter alongside Carly, and I hope to see you there!
Redwoods Monastery: http://www.redwoodsabbey.org/
Redwoods Monastery Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQWfpOcji6k
Questions - Contact Valerie Sarma - vsarma@scu.edu