From Nichola Torbett, associate director of Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center

Kirkridge Retreat & Study Center in the Pocono Mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania is offering the following retreats in 2026. Designed to help participants meet this moment, the retreats offer spiritual nourishment, decolonial commitments, and an opportunity for rest and reflection. We hope you will join us sometime this year.

Damned Whiteness: How White Christian Allies Failed the Black Freedom Movement and How We Can Do Better

David F. Evans

February 27-Mar 1

This retreat for Christians in solidarity with the Black liberation struggle is based on the material from David F. Evans’s book by the same name. We will learn how some of our forebearers failed the Black Freedom Movement and how we can course correct.

Shaping Clay, Shaping Life: A Collective Expression of Trauma and Hope

Denise Griebler

April 24-26

Take some clay in your hands and sit quietly with the grief, loss or trauma in your life.  Sit with the stubborn, tenacious hope as well. Based on the work of Corinne D. Peterson, this clay retreat will contribute to growing Kittatinny Cairn & Cloud installation in the woods of the Kittatinny Ridge.

Agape Unbound: Unapologetically Queer

Harvey Cottrell

March 20-22

This retreat renews the tradition of all-gender Christian-ish spiritual retreats for people identifying anywhere on the queer landscape. Expect discussion, dance, reflection, a talent show, and giggles. Families and children welcome!

Work Weekend

March 27-29

Enjoy a no-cost weekend at Kirkridge in exchange for contributing your hands and hearts to some work projects. All skills and abilities are welcome!

Bonhoeffer’s Conundrum and Ours: A Discernment Retreat

Reggie Williams and Bill Wylie-Kellermann

April 10-12

Dietrich Bonhoeffer has left behind a witness of a complicated and imperfect Christian response to fascism that can help us discern our own responses. Join us for a weekend of rich history-telling, mountain-walking, spirit-listening, song-lifting, and community-building.

Allies in Recovery: A Weekend Workshop for Sexual Abuse Survivors and Their Partners

Mike Lew and Thom Harrigan

April 24-26

Recovery from sexual abuse has profound effects on relationships for both survivors and their partners. This workshop will offer time for couples to work together and individually toward healing in a safe and supportive environment.

Practicing New Worlds

Andrea Ritchie and Nichola Torbett

May 8-10

This retreat is for anyone who knows in their bones that another world is possible beyond militarized borders, policing, and prisons. We’ll be discussing Andrea Ritchie’s book by this name and engaging imagination practices toward liberatory futures.

Festival of Radical Discipleship

May 22-25

Join us for a gathering of kindred spirits rooted in the radical Christian tradition. It will be a time to remember past gospel experiments, discuss current calls to witness and work; and conspire about future collaborations. Come and join the feast!

Undoing Conquest: Inviting a Season of Origins

Kate Common

June 4-6

Focusing on healing from centuries of Christian violence, resisting the rise of Christian nationalism, and reclaiming a liberating, justice-centered faith, this retreat will explore the themes of Kate Common’s book Undoing Conquest and introduce the possibility of a liturgical Season of Origins, a practical way to grapple with the historic harms of our faith tradition.

Trans Sanctuary

Kerr Mesner

Twice: June 5-7 and November 13-15

In these challenging times, we invite trans, nonbinary, and gender expansive people into a space of sanctuary, refuge, and an honoring of our glorious gender diversity. Themes will include sanctuary, grounding, and trans joy.

Searching for New Suns: Engaging the Prophetic Wisdom and Imagination of Octavia E. Butler

Naomi Washington-Leapheart

June 12-14

Award-winning 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 agency, anticipated the chaos of our time. During this retreat, we will explore what Butler’s words can teach us about identity, survival, community, and transformation.

Grief Practices

June 19-21

Annie Wilson and Krista Nelson

Indigenous wisdom may be our best hope for ourselves, each other, and the planet. In this retreat, participants will be introduced to grief practices in Lenape and Celtic traditions as we build relationship between our grief and the larger ecologies we inhabit.

Kirkridge Homecoming

June 26-28

Join us for our major summer fundraiser. Evenings will be spent in the barn with dancing and concerts. Days will be filled activities including gatherings around the fire pit, a silent auction, local vendors, gardening, nature walks, grazing from food trucks, and more!

Leaping on the Mountain

Mike Lew and Thom Harrigan

August 14-16

This retreat is for non-offending adult male survivors of child sexual abuse, rape, physical violence, emotional abuse, and/or neglect. Join us for a safe, encouraging environment for healing.

Foraging

Rain Black

September 4-6

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.

Sisterly Conversations: Lesbians Sharing Our Stories Across Generations

Riot Mueller

September 11-13

At this retreat for lesbian, trans, and queer women and nonbinary people, we will share our stories of coming out and coming into our full gender expression. Stories are how we connect, how we learn about one another, how we come to love one another. Come build friendships across the generations.

The Clearing: A Healing Retreat for Black Queer & Trans People

Lynice Pinkard

September 18-20

Named for a scene in Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, this retreat offers song, ritual, ceremony, art, dance, and the deepest love, care, empathy, and celebration of one another. Come for the healing; leave with pockets full of acorns, pine needles, love notes, and phone numbers.

Living, Dying, Music, and Mystery: A Retreat Exploring the Threshold

Barbara McAfee

September 24-27

Join singer/songwriter Barbara McAfee in a soulful investigation of living and dying, song and silence, beauty and mystery. Expect laughter, tears, deep play, and delicious surprises. Come away with songs to sing to friends and family facing illness and dying.  The sliding scale for this three-night retreat is $560, $660, or $460 for a shared room; a private room supplement is available.

Being, Longing, and Belonging: A Circle of Trust® Retreat

Cat Greenstreet and Chandra Joseph-Lacet

September 25-27

What are you longing for in the growing intensity of our times? Where do you experience belonging? How do Mother Earth and her beings support the way we listen to our inner teachers and to one another, creating a space where all are welcome? If any of these questions resonate with you, please join us where the forest welcomes us, transmuting our longing into belonging.

with the land: remember, relationship repair

Susan Raffo

October 9-11

Our bodies are created of and are part of the land. And for most of us living on Turtle Island, the land we are on is occupied. During our time together, we will work with the physical sensed truth of relationship with the land, the memories of our people’s generational relationship to it, and the clarity of repair and accountability that seeks to change what is possible for all of our descendants. 

GBTQ Men’s Retreat: Seeking Restoration Through Community

Dave Howser

October 22-25

Whether you have been coming for years or are brand new, join gay, bisexual, trans, and questioning men of spirit and faith for this annual retreat. Expect to build community, sing, laugh, tell stories, remember the departed, share our strength and wisdom, and soak in the beauty of the mountain. The sliding scale for this three-night retreat is $560, $660, or $460 for a shared room; a private room supplement is available.

Walking Awake into the Celtic New Year

Denise Crawn

October 30-November 1

On the Celtic Wheel of the Year, we will be entering the time of Samhain, the last of the three Celtic harvest festivals and the return of the dark half of the year from which, the ancient Celts believed, everything began. Teachings on Celtic spirituality, nature walks, ritual, song, poetry, and more will help us “walk awake” into this potent time of year.

Ripping and Repair

Ashon Crawley

November 6-8

Inspired by Japanese kintsugi, this workshop invites participants to engage in deep meditative, self-reflexive and reflective processes by making things from things they will, with me, rip up, and repair. Participants are encouraged to bring scriptures or other sacred texts they find meaningful, pictures or images of comfort and care, and other ephemera.

Winter Craft Retreat

December 4-6

Gather around the fire with a cup of hot chocolate and your craft projects. No facilitator. No agenda, Just delicious meals, good company, and lots of time to craft and tell stories. The retreat will conclude with a public craft fair where you can have a table to sell your creations, if you lik