Calendar of Retreats

Advent Retreat

with Abbot Jeremy Driscoll, O.S.B.
December 2 – 4, 2022

Please email for more information

Please note: This retreat and the wait list are full for 2022.

Shakespeare’s Henry V: A Study in Leadership

A retreat with Fr. Stephen Rowan, Ph.D.
December 9-11, 2022

Henry V has been called Shakespeare’s play about “England’s ideal king.” As king, Henry unified his country and won the affection of his people. As the hero of the Battle of Agincourt against improbable odds, Henry achieved an approval rating seldom equaled by an English monarch. But while showing how effective and how welcome good leadership can be, Shakespeare’s keen and ironic analysis also reveals the anxieties and the manipulative ploys of the man behind a mask. Shakespeare is our contemporary and our guide in the way he lifts the veil from the “ceremonies” of kingship and leadership to reveal the mixed motives and the unintended consequences of kingly – or presidential – action.

The purpose of this retreat is to explore and to learn from Shakespeare’s analysis of the kingly role so that “we the people,” citizens of a democratic republic, can become a more quizzical and informed electorate.

Those attending the retreat should bring a copy of the text with them and will benefit from having read the play in advance.

Father Stephen Rowan, S.T.B. and Ph.D., a priest of the Archdiocese of Seattle, has served since 1970 as a teacher of English and a college administrator and as Vicar for Education and Superintendent for Catholic Schools (2001-04 and 2012-14). Fr. Rowan received his doctorate in English from the University of British Columbia, has authored several books and articles, and presented at conferences, retreats, and convocations. He is presently living in Silverton, Oregon, and teaching at Mount Angel Seminary.

Recommended reading:
Any version of Shakespeare’s Henry V play

Cost: $350 Single; $135 Commuter

Email retreat@mtangel.edu for availability and double occupancy rate.

* Mass and the Divine Office are celebrated in the Abbey church

Preaching Matthew

with Fr. Stephen Rowan
Wednesday-Thursday, December 14-15

– A Retreat For Priests Only –

This two-day workshop presents a series of reflections on Matthew’s Gospel, intended to give priests an overview of the Gospel’s themes for Year A of the liturgical year in the context of fellowship, prayer, and relaxation on the grounds of Mount Angel Abbey. Fr. Stephen Rowan, our presenter, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Seattle and a faculty member at Mount Angel Seminary.

To make reservations, please contact the guesthouse at 503.845.3025 or email retreat@mtangel.edu.

Cost: Free Will Offering
Note: This workshop is limited to 35 participants.

Encountering God Through Forgiveness

A silent retreat
with Br. Louis de Montfort Nguyen, O.S.B.

February 24–26, 2023

In a world filled with noises and discords, heartaches and anxiety, there is a greater hunger for peace and meaning. Soaring above this sea of turbulence is Mount Angel Abbey, which sits above a sacred hill. Surrounded by natural beauty and graced by prayer and silence, it speaks to every heart that yearns to seek that which is above. As part of a monastic silent retreat on encountering God, we invite all to share in the Benedictine life of prayer, meditation and silence. This particular retreat focuses on encountering God through the gift and power of forgiveness. The basis of the retreat reflection will be Christ’s life and the Gospels, in addition to anecdotal stories shared in Allen Hunt’s book, Everybody Needs to Forgive Somebody. Through the amazing grace of forgiveness, we can experience and delve into the unfathomable depth of God’s love and mercy. Be renewed, healed and transformed.

Recommended Readings:

• Everybody Needs to Forgive Somebody, by Allen Hunt
• Be Healed: A Guide to Encountering the Powerful love of Jesus in Your Life, by Bob Schuchts
• Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, by Immaculee Ilibagiza
• Be Transformed: The Healing Power of the Sacraments, by Bob Schuchts

Cost: $350 Single
Email retreat@mtangel.edu for availability and double occupancy rate.

Faith Over Fifty: The Grace of Growing Older

A silent retreat with Deacon Chris Anderson
March 17-19, 2023

How God calls us deeper and deeper into relationship through the freedom and challenges of aging.

Deacon Chris Anderson is a professor emeritus of English at Oregon State University, a poet and essayist, and author of fourteen books, both poetry and prose (www.deaconchrisanderson.com).

Cost: $330 Single occupancy; $480 double occupancy

Email retreat@mtangel.edu for availability.

Mary’s Fiat as the Model
for Mental Healing & Spiritual Warfare

A retreat with Dr. Christin McIntyre, MD, Ph.D.
March 24-26, 2023

A psychiatrist in clinical practice and devout believer in the power of God’s grace, Dr. McIntyre shares powerful insights into spiritual healing by conforming one’s will to that of the God who loves and cares for his people.

Dr. Christin McIntyre is a Portland native who converted to Catholicism in 1997. She and her husband Jim have five children, and attend St Stanislaus Parish in Rathdrum, Idaho. 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 continues to see patients in Oregon and Washington by telehealth since relocating to Idaho in 2021.

Cost: $350 Single
Email retreat@mtangel.edu for availability and double occupancy rate.

The Glory of the Paschal Triduum

A Holy Week Silent Retreat with
Abbot Jeremy Driscoll O.S.B.
Abbot Peter Eberle O.S.B.
Br. Louis de Montfort O.S.B.

April 5-9, 2023

Come and experience the glory, beauty and mystery of the Paschal Triduum and the glory of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Become immersed in the Paschal Mystery through an immersion in the Sacred Liturgy and Scripture while being guided by different Benedictine monks each day of Holy Week, the holiest week of the entire liturgical year. The daily conferences will focus and meditate on the themes of Holy Thursday of the Lord’s Supper, Friday of the Passion of the Lord, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord.

Recommended reading:

• Awesome Glory: Resurrection in Scripture, Liturgy and Theology, by Jeremy Driscoll, O.S.B.
• Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secretes of the Last Supper, by Brant Pitre
• Christ in His Mysteries, by Blessed Columba Marmion
• The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth, by Scott Hahn

Cost: $650 Single
Email retreat@mtangel.edu for availability and double occupancy rate.

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

for Married and Engaged Couples, Co-Sponsored by Mount Angel Abbey and the Archdiocese of Portland

Features Fr. Matt Libra, Patricia Mackie, LPC, Br. Louis de Montfort, O.S.B., and your marriage!

May 26-28, 2023

A retreat from the hustle and bustle of life to focus on your one true vocation, the vocation of marriage. For engaged and married couples, this weekend will offer you opportunities to pray together, learn together, play together, and grow together. God has created this sacred sacrament and called you to it. On this weekend you will be invited to discern your current state of life, and listen and respond to God’s call and invitation to allow him into this Holy calling. This weekend is focused on learning how to respond to God’s call to marital holiness, you will review a personalized inventory of your relationship, and have quiet moments for prayer, reflection, and discussion.

This weekend qualifies for Marriage Preparation for the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon. Check with your individual parish for specific requirements.

Cost: $550 – Couple (includes room and board for 2 nights, meals, and speaker fees)

For registration, please email retreat@mtangel.edu for more information.

2 Become 1

A couple rushes out the door hurrying to finish dishes and shuttle children to sports, the husband rushes one way, while the wife dashes the other. They return home tired, collapse on the couch, turn on the TV, scroll through social media, or return to their phone to complete one more to do item. They cannot recall the last time they actually shared an intimate evening, bared their soul to one another, and felt completely seen.

Another couple is in the thick of wedding planning. They are choosing menu items and completing guest lists. The dress is waiting; the tux is waiting, and they have been fighting about everything.

If any of these statements seem true to you, check out this 2 Become 1 Marriage and Marriage Prep retreat at Mount Angel Abbey.

This retreat is a response to prayer. I asked God what he wanted, what was the message. The response I heard was to share the Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of his Church. The message was to remind couples they are not alone in their walk of holy matrimony, that a sacrament has God at the center and he wants to be invited.

The first question for me was Lord, how do I show them your beauty, where do I begin. God has given us beauty, nature, art, music, prayer, and Mount Angel Abbey is a place where you can experience them all. Then there is truth. We have to share the truth with one another. We have learned what makes marriages last and thrive, and the addition of attachment theory over the past 15 years helps us to understand why. This retreat will offer the truth about human relationships and the sacredness of marriage. Finally, we have goodness, found in the hidden life of families, and monks. The monks spend hours in prayer for our souls, for the conversion of hearts, and asking for the mercy of God the Father. Families spend hours in prayer, training and raising up souls, and offering one another mercy and forgiveness. Come and encounter truth, goodness, and beauty at Mount Angel Abbey.

The retreat includes two tracks, one for engaged couples, and one for married couples. The retreat fee includes meals, and lodging in the new guesthouse. You will listen to talks by Fr. Matt Libra, Br. Louis Nguyen, OSB, theologian Lynda Olsen, and counselor Patricia Mackie. The weekend will offer you ample time to sit in silence with one another and pray. Come and experience Benedictine hospitality.

– Patricia Mackie

Visit Every Day Counseling website for more information.

Monastic Spirituality:
Overcoming the 8 Evil Thoughts

A silent retreat directed by Fr. John Paul Le, O.S.B.
June 16-18, 2023

Sin and vice begin with the thoughts. This retreat will explore the 8 Evil Thoughts and how to overcome them according to St. John Cassian. The thoughts are gluttony, lust, avarice, anger, acedia, sadness, vainglory, and pride.

Fr. John Paul Le, O.S.B., has been a monk of Mount Angel Abbey for 13 years. Along with his various assignments, he teaches Monastic Sources at Mount Angel Seminary and to the novices (new monks) in the monastery.

Cost:
$350 Single

Registration: Please email for information and double occupancy rate.

True Devotion to Mary:

“Walking with Mary”

with Br. Louis de Montfort, O.S.B.
August 11–13, 2023

A spiritual and contemplative retreat centered on growing in devotion and love for our Blessed Mother, the ever-virgin Mary, who leads us faithfully to her Son and Lord, Jesus Christ. Mary, according to the teachings of St. Louis de Montfort Grignon, is the shortest, safest and most secure path to Jesus Christ. With a deep and contemplative gaze of the life of Mary in the Gospel, we will walk with Mary from Nazareth to the foot of the Cross on Calvary, encountering the fullness of her humanity, her struggles, trials, hopes, joys, sorrows, profound faith and love. This journey will illuminate the scriptural truth about Mary, the first and most faithful disciples. In entering the Mystery of Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mother will help us enter the deeper Mystery of her Son Jesus Christ. When one is able to trust, surrender to and love Mary as own Mother, we are fulfilling God’s Will: “Son behold your Mother.” True devotion to Mary is the beginning and realization of God’s kingdom, the new creation, the new Israel, God’s family.

Br. Louis de Montfort Nguyen, O.S.B., is monk of Mount Angel Abbey since 2011. He serves as the Director of Spiritual Ministries at the Guesthouse and organizes and leads retreats, offer spiritual direction, and other ministries. He serves in other capacities including the monastery infirmarian, science adjunct professor specializing in the field of “science and faith,” and a trained physician. One of his deepest devotions is to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which began after he discovered the book “True Devotion to Mary” by St. Louis de Montfort. More recently in the last several years, he has also been graced with a devotion to and love for St. Joseph.

Recommended Readings:

• Walking with Mary, by Edward Sri
• True Devotion to Mary, by St. Louis de Montfort
• Mary in the Mystery of the Covenant, by Ignace de la Potterie
• Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary, by Brant Pitre

Cost: $350 Single
Email retreat@mtangel.edu for availability and double occupancy rate.

Faith and Writing Retreat

A silent retreat with Deacon Chris Anderson
August 14-16th 2023

How writing can help you deepen your intimacy with God. Bring your journal or laptop or whatever you write with. For anyone who journals or wants to start journaling. For creative writers. For anyone, even if you’ve never written a word in your life.

Deacon Chris is a professor emeritus of English at Oregon State University, a poet and essayist, and author of fourteen books, both poetry and prose (www.deaconchrisanderson.com).

Cost: $325 Single occupancy
Email retreat@mtangel.edu for availability and double occupancy rate.

Ignatian Silent Retreat

with Bill Zuelke and a team of Spiritual Directors
August 21–25, 2023

“I cannot understand my own behavior, I fail to carry out the things I want to do, and I find myself doing the very things I hate. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Romans 7:15,24).

During this three-day silent Ignatian retreat we will do a deep dive into the section of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius (called the first week) that draws us deeply into an awareness of the web of sin that surrounds us, our own personal sin and the response of Jesus to this reality. We will focus on special meditations written by St. Ignatius to guide us in this prayer.

Day One: The Web of Sin
Day Two: Our Sin
Day Three: The Call of the King

We will start each day with a reflection on the theme of the day. You will be invited to spend three one-hour periods in focused prayer on the material and you will have a chance to meet with a private retreat director. Each evening will be an opportunity to share the graces of the day and receive points to guide your next day’s prayer. The retreat will be in silence, with reading during meals. You will have the opportunity for daily mass and prayer with the monks should you choose that.

Retreat Master: Bill Zuelke is a spiritual director, life coach, and an associate staff member of Soul Formation. He provides spiritual direction, adult education, retreats, workshops, supervision, and consultations. He is trained in Jesuit spirituality and discernment of spirits and has been providing individual spiritual direction, private and group retreats, and assistance with personal and corporate discernment for over 35 years. He will work alongside a team of spiritual directors who will be available for one-on-one spiritual directions.

Cost: $800 Single
Email retreat@mtangel.edu for availability.

End of retreat and check-out after the morning conference.

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

for Married and Engaged Couples, Co-Sponsored by Mount Angel Abbey and the Archdiocese of Portland

Features Fr. Matt Libra, Patricia Mackie, LPC, Br. Louis de Montfort, O.S.B., and your marriage!

September 1-3, 2023

A retreat from the hustle and bustle of life to focus on your one true vocation, the vocation of marriage. For engaged and married couples, this weekend will offer you opportunities to pray together, learn together, play together, and grow together. God has created this sacred sacrament and called you to it. On this weekend you will be invited to discern your current state of life, and listen and respond to God’s call and invitation to allow him into this Holy calling. This weekend is focused on learning how to respond to God’s call to marital holiness, you will review a personalized inventory of your relationship, and have quiet moments for prayer, reflection, and discussion.

This weekend qualifies for Marriage Preparation for the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon. Check with your individual parish for specific requirements.

Cost: $550 – Couple (includes room and board for 2 nights, meals, and speaker fees)

For registration, email retreat@mtangel.edu.

2 Become 1

A couple rushes out the door hurrying to finish dishes and shuttle children to sports, the husband rushes one way, while the wife dashes the other. They return home tired, collapse on the couch, turn on the TV, scroll through social media, or return to their phone to complete one more to do item. They cannot recall the last time they actually shared an intimate evening, bared their soul to one another, and felt completely seen.

Another couple is in the thick of wedding planning. They are choosing menu items and completing guest lists. The dress is waiting; the tux is waiting, and they have been fighting about everything.

If any of these statements seem true to you, check out this 2 Become 1 Marriage and Marriage Prep retreat at Mount Angel Abbey.

This retreat is a response to prayer. I asked God what he wanted, what was the message. The response I heard was to share the Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of his Church. The message was to remind couples they are not alone in their walk of holy matrimony, that a sacrament has God at the center and he wants to be invited.

The first question for me was Lord, how do I show them your beauty, where do I begin. God has given us beauty, nature, art, music, prayer, and Mount Angel Abbey is a place where you can experience them all. Then there is truth. We have to share the truth with one another. We have learned what makes marriages last and thrive, and the addition of attachment theory over the past 15 years helps us to understand why. This retreat will offer the truth about human relationships and the sacredness of marriage. Finally, we have goodness, found in the hidden life of families, and monks. The monks spend hours in prayer for our souls, for the conversion of hearts, and asking for the mercy of God the Father. Families spend hours in prayer, training and raising up souls, and offering one another mercy and forgiveness. Come and encounter truth, goodness, and beauty at Mount Angel Abbey.

The retreat includes two tracks, one for engaged couples, and one for married couples. The retreat fee includes meals, and lodging in the new guesthouse. You will listen to talks by Fr. Matt Libra, Br. Louis Nguyen, OSB, theologian Lynda Olsen, and counselor Patricia Mackie. The weekend will offer you ample time to sit in silence with one another and pray. Come and experience Benedictine hospitality.

– Patricia Mackie

Visit Every Day Counseling website for more information.

Women’s Retreat-Mary as the Model of Perfect Christian Womanhood

with Christin McIntyre, MD, Ph.D.
October 27–29

Cost: $350 Single
Email retreat@mtangel.edu for availability and double occupancy rate.

The Prodigal Son: A Story of the Father’s Love

with Br. Louis de Montfort Nguyen, O.S.B.
November 17–19, 2023

A spiritual and contemplative retreat centered on growing deeper in devotion and love for our Heavenly Father. God’s profound love for each one of his beloved children is revealed through the all of the Bible, but most powerfully in the Gospel, especially the parable of the prodigal son. This humble and fully human story can be considered, in a sense, as the heart of Scripture. It paints with vivid brush strokes a portrait of the God’s heart. In encountering the enduring love of a human father, a child encounters God’s unfailing, enduring and unchanging love. A love that heals our brokenness, redeems our human dignity, and transforms us into the Father’s image and likeness.

Br. Louis de Montfort Nguyen is monk of Mount Angel Abbey since 2011. He serves as the Director of Spiritual Ministries at the Guesthouse and organizes and leads retreats, offer spiritual direction, and other ministries. Among his devotions are the Liturgy, Divine Mercy, and devotions to Mary and St. Joseph.

Recommended Readings:

1. The Gospel of Luke Ch. 15
2. “The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming” by Henri Nouwen

Cost: $350 Single
Email retreat@mtangel.edu for availability and double occupancy rate.

Abbey Advent Retreat

Silent retreat with Abbot Peter Eberle, O.S.B.

December 1–3, 2023

Cost: $350 Single
Email retreat@mtangel.edu for availability and double occupancy rate.