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Wayfinding Retreat at Holy Wisdom Monastery
October 15, 2025
10am-2pm
4200 County Road M
Middleton, WI 53562
RGH Garden Room including lunch at 12 noon
Dear Wayfinding friends,
I look forward to being with you for our Wayfinding: The Soul Tasks if Aging, Toward a Theology of Elder Years Retreat, on Wednesday October 15 from 10am-2pm in such a beautiful space of Holy Wisdom Monastery, which sits on 170 acres of native prairie and oak savanna. Our time together will include a morning and afternoon session of prayer, meditation, teaching, scripture and small group discussions. We will have a break at noon for delicious lunch in a dining room with gorgeous views. Depending on your ability and interest, you can stay a little longer to sit on one of their benches with a view or walk the paths around their land. The retreat and dining spaces are handicap accessible.
To pay for the cost of lunch and room rental, we are asking people to pay $25 to register by October 8th for this retreat. To register, please email our office manager George Decker [email protected] or call and let him know you are coming, along with any dietary restrictions you may have. You may bring a check to the office, or pay online via our Vanco site (click on the “Wayfinding Retreat” tile at the bottom of site), https://secure.myvanco.com/L-ZHH1/home. If the cost is a barrier for your participation, we have scholarships available so all can participate and attend- no questions asked.
We will continue our monthly gatherings at ORUCC for Wayfinding on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 9:45am-11:15am, with song, prayer, teachings, meditation and small group discussions, intended to build community and hold space for us to speak and listen from the heart about the spiritual tasks of aging. The dates are November 19th, December 17th, January 21st, February 18th, March 18th, & April 15th. On the Thursday following each Wayfinding gatherings we will have a 4pm virtual ZOOM option.
If you have never participated in Wayfinding before, you are welcome to join! There is no technical age cut-off for participation, so all are welcome, as all of us are indeed aging. If you have joined in the past, we would love your presence once again. If you have friends who are interested from outside ORUCC, they are welcome to join. Monthly attendance for the entirety of the program is encouraged, but not mandatory, because we all know life happens, and there is grace.
I hope when we gather on October 15th for a half-day retreat we will feel the gift of peace and healing on the land as we settle into a new season together of Wayfinding. The Benedictine sisters of Holy Wisdom have a mission of welcoming all people and caring for the Earth as a sacred place. In a recent article where Holy Wisdom was featured in the New York Times, I learned that there are 150 types of native grasses sedges and wildflowers, and last year 132 species of birds were sighted on the land! Hired staff ecologist, Dr. Amy Alstad who has a doctorate in prairie grassland ecology says, “It is a place of connection, awe and reverence. You feel both big and little when you’re out in that restored prairie. This healed land is now the healer.” May it be so for us too.
Blessings,
Julia
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