Theresa F. Latini When I was called to serve as Executive Director at Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center, I thought a lot about the connection of “retreat” to “rest” and “rest” to “Sabbath.” Over my years of teaching pastoral care, I had become increasingly aware of the necessity of Sabbath rest and the propensityContinue reading “Sabbath Rest, Freedom, and Joy”
Category Archives: Retreat
Self-Empathy as Self-Care
Theresa F. Latini Like so many families, we just finished week three of online school. I say “we” because completing five hours of online assignments and video calls daily is not something that first graders manage on their own. Overall, it’s going well. My daughter has established a solid connection with her empathetic teacher, andContinue reading “Self-Empathy as Self-Care”
The Meaningfulness of Coming Home
Theresa F. Latini Last night at Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center, Katie Dahl played an outdoor evening concert for sixty of us. Dahl is a Door County folk musician (a singer songwriter to be more precise) who inspires, comforts, amuses, and challenges her audiences to live and love with humility and gratitude. Her lyrics,Continue reading “The Meaningfulness of Coming Home”
How’s Your Surge Capacity?
Theresa F. Latini Earlier this week, someone was telling me how unmotivated he feels about his job, a dimension of life previously filled with purpose and marked by meaningful structure. Work once ordered his days. Now his job has changed dramatically due to the pandemic. It is disorienting to create new routines. It is tiringContinue reading “How’s Your Surge Capacity?”
The Gift and Necessity of Silence
Theresa F. Latini One of the most significant, enduring practices of retreats across different religious traditions is silence. I remember my first retreat at a monastery—I think it was Benedictine—many years ago. Silence was expected for all guests at all meal times and in certain buildings at particular times of the day. I found itContinue reading “The Gift and Necessity of Silence”
Preachers of Justice
Theresa F. Latini I was eleven-years-old when I came home from school and declared to my mother, “I am going to be a preacher someday.” I don’t remember the details, but I do remember the visceral sense of a “calling” that I carried with me from that young age. I credit my belief in thatContinue reading “Preachers of Justice”
A Guide to Retreat Where You Are
People go on retreats for many reasons—to rest, to heal, to learn, to grow—individually and communally. We all need the kinds of spiritual renewal, emotional regulation, and quiet intellectual stimulation cultivated by gifted retreat leaders. In the midst of our current pandemic, it is difficult (if not impossible) to participate in facilitated or guided retreatsContinue reading “A Guide to Retreat Where You Are”
The Gift of Mindfulness
Theresa F. Latini Three weeks ago, I felt my first spike of anxiety about the coronavirus. The retreat center was taking inquiries about cancellations. Pastor friends were deciding whether or not to close their churches. Family members, a number of whom fall into that high-risk category, were postponing previously scheduled, non-essential medical care. And thenContinue reading “The Gift of Mindfulness”
Mount Olivet Conference and Retreat Center 