Calendar of Retreats

Women’s Retreat

Childless and Catholic

with Pati Kiley
August 8 – 10, 2025

“Are you prepared to accept children lovingly from God and to bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?”
– The Order of Celebrating Matrimony

Expectations of having children is an integral part of marriage. If we are not to have children, then what are we supposed to do as a Catholic married couple? What is God’s will for our lives?

Trying to come to terms with infertility as a Catholic creates a burden on one’s heart that is hard to lift. What are the tools we can use to resolve feelings of self-doubt, regret, and shame?

You may have a hole in your heart or a stone. We invite you to join us on this retreat in offering up our suffering, presenting our burdens in sacrifice to our Lord as we strive to understand God’s will in our lives, coming to trust in him.

Childless and Catholic is a retreat for women who are:

• of childbearing age and long for a child, or
• pre and postmenopausal women who continue to grieve the loss of unmet hopes of having children of their own

This retreat is an invitation to come away for awhile and set one’s heart on God alone, immersing oneself in the rhythm of the monks of Mount Angel Abbey – joining them for Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, the reading of psalms and scripture.

The retreat is comprised of five sessions based upon the mysteries of the Rosary, with opportunities for confession, prayer, contemplative silence, and being in camaraderie with other Childless and Catholic women.

Cost: $350 Single occupancy
Email retreat@mtangel.edu to register

Pati Kiley is a former youth minister who now works full-time for a general contractor and aspires to become a Catholic life coach. From high school throughout college, she participated in Teens Encounter Christ (TEC) weekend retreats in various leadership roles aiding confirmed Catholic youth in exploring their relationship with God and their faith by sharing her own. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Graphic Arts Management with a minor in writing.

Throughout her life, Pati has utilized her communication and organizational skills in each industry she has worked in, be it print production, educational materials, and now general contracting. She strives to connect with people whether clients, subcontractors, neighbors, or complete strangers at the grocery store (much to her husband’s chagrin).

The sixth of seven children, with both parents from large families, her husband of 24 years and she are childless. It has been on her heart to share her journey of understanding God’s will in her life as a married Catholic without children with other women who have or are currently struggling with this same question.

Pati strives to deepen her relationship with God through the Mass, prayer, scripture, conversation, and writing. Friends and family are accustomed to receiving texts or calls from her out of the blue to share revelations or questions encountered in everyday life. Pati and her husband live in Keizer, Oregon.

Marian Retreat:
The Spiritual Experience of Mary of Nazareth

with Fr. Ephrem Martinez, OSB
August 15 – 17, 2025

Mount Angel Abbey Invites You to a Spiritual Retreat.

Come and join us in a time of reflection and renewal, guided by the witness of Mary of Nazareth, a model of faith and trust in God.

In an atmosphere of prayer and silence, participants will be invited to explore their personal spiritual journey through discernment rooted in Scripture, learning from Mary the path to spiritual perfection.

This retreat is open to all who seek Christ and desire to deepen their relationship with him through the example of his Mother.

Please note: the schedule is subject to change. A final schedule will be emailed to registrants closer to the retreat.

Faith and Writing 2025

A Quick Trip Through the Afterlife
Praying and Writing with Dante

with Chris Anderson
August 18 – 20, 2025

In this retreat, author Chris Anderson leads retreatants on a three-day pilgrimage through the afterlife, taking in the most famous sites in Dante’s Divine Comedy while keeping a travel journal along the way. This is a pilgrimage about love and freedom, about joy, and about a new way of praying and writing.

Please bring a notebook, a journal, or a laptop.

Chris Anderson is an emeritus professor of English at Oregon State University, a Catholic deacon, a poet, and the author of a number of books, most recently, Love Calls Us Here, a book of poems.

Cost: $350 single occupancy; $550 double occupancy

Email retreat@mtangel.edu to register.

2 Become 1: A Retreat to Explore the Beauty and Truth of Catholic Marriage

with Fr. Matt Libra, Patricia Mackie LPC, and Br. Louis de Montfort Nguyen, OSB
September 26 – 28, 2025

The retreat includes marriage inventory, talks on sexual intimacy, spirituality, theology of the body, Mass, beer with the monks, and much more!

Cost: $575 per couple, all inclusive.
Information about financial assistance and scholarship available upon request.

Email retreat@mtangel.edu to register.

Please note: the schedule is subject to change. A final schedule will be emailed to registrants closer to the retreat.

Women’s Retreat

Changing Worry Into Hope

with Christin McIntyre, MD, PhD
November 14 – 16, 2025

As women – daughters, sisters, wives and mothers – we are uniquely designed to observe the needs of others and intercede on their behalf.  Yet, too often our loving concern only drives us to worry, while we feel powerless to help the ones we love.  Learn to model our Blessed Mother, Mary, drawing strength from the presence of Jesus within.  Experience “God with us” in Immanuel Moment meditation, allowing His grace to heal our hearts and restore our trust in our loving Father.  Learn to collect treasure from all that God permits to happen, as Mary did, making use of all things in hopeful prayer for the good of those we love.

Dr. Christin McIntyre is a married mother of five who converted to Catholicism in 1997.  She earned a combined MD/PhD degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Kansas Medical Center, and returned to Oregon to complete a residency in Psychiatry at OHSU.  She has been in outpatient practice as a psychiatrist in the Portland area since 2003, and she continues to see patients in Oregon and Washington by telehealth since relocating to Idaho in 2021.  Psychotherapy continues to be a main focus of her practice, and to better serve a growing number of Catholic patients in recent years, she has pursued training in Thomistic psychology as well as with the John Paul II Healing Center. 

Cost: $400
Email retreat@mtangel.edu to register.
(Schedule below subject to change)

Advent Silent Retreat:
Advent with the Angels

with Fr. Michael Shrum, OSB
December 5 – 7, 2025

We invite you to a silent retreat this Advent season.

Angels are present throughout the Scriptures, guiding God’s people and bringing them messages. From Genesis to Revelation, angels play key roles in the lives of God’s people. Ultimately, God entrusted his greatest message to the Archangel Gabriel who brought to the Blessed Virgin Mary the news of the Incarnation.

On this retreat, we will prayerfully explore the role of angels in Scripture and Tradition and in our own lives.

Please note: the schedule is subject to change. A final schedule will be emailed to registrants closer to the retreat.

Life in God’s Holy Family:
Parents of Saints Bring Hope to Our Families

with Br. Cyril Drnjevic, OSB
December 12 – 14, 2025

During this retreat, we will encounter hope in our daily Christian Family Life. We will achieve this by learning from several married couples, who raised children that became saints. Their stories will help us to live Advent and our daily lives more deeply. This will help each of us to bring hope to families we encounter. Every family needs hope, which benefits from family healing.

This retreat is part of a series of Family Healing Retreats at Mount Angel Abbey.

For this retreat, we will emphasize a few themes. First, because this is an Advent season retreat, the family of Jesus will be emphasized. Then, we will explore the lives of several other couples who had children who became saints.

The families we will encounter during this retreat include:

For the Advent portion of this retreat:

• The parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary = Saints Joachim and Ann
• The parents of Our Savior Jesus Christ = Saints Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary

For the family healing portion of this retreat:

• The parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux = Saints Louis Martin and Zélie (Guérin) Martin
• The parents of Mother Teresa of Calcutta = Nikola and Dranafile Bojaxhiu
• The parents of Pope Saint John Paul the Second = Karol and Emilia Wojtyla
• The parents of soon-to-be-Saint Carlo Acutis = Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano

Cost: $350 single occupancy; $550 double occupancy

Email retreat@mtangel.edu to register.

Please note: the schedule is subject to change. A final schedule will be emailed to registrants closer to the retreat.