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About Our Lay Community
The Way of Holiness Retreat Center & Lay Community was founded by Sr. Mary-Jo Cassidy, in 1981. Her desire was to form a community that would live and pray together.
Most current community members are volunteers who volunteer their expertise in exchange for room and board. It gives them a chance to discern, live in community and enjoy the natural surroundings while growing in their faith and prayer life.
Potential Community members are welcome to stay for a week to see if it is a match for them and if it is the right community setting. We as a current community take time to also see how the potential community member will integrate with current community members.
If both sides feel it is a good match then the potential community member is invited to remain for a longer period of time. Some community members commit to a few months and others commit to a year.
The running of the retreat centre, care of the grounds, and upkeep of the facility are accomplished through the cooperation of community members.
We currently have a full time director on site who helps maintain the community and all other aspects of the facility.
As a community we meet daily at 3 pm for prayer. We also have a community prayer meeting at 7 pm on Mondays. Our door is always open for the general public to join us in prayer.
Each community member also participates in daily personal prayer. The time for personal prayer depends on the work being completed by that community member.
Winter time is filled with removal of snow, warming fires in the great room with fireside chats, and interior work during the time when outdoor work is a lot less.
Summer time is filled with hikes on our forest trials, gardening, and outdoor activities.
During retreats and facility rentals community members are assigned roles based on their skills and the retreat needs. We work together as a team.
Daily activities look different for each community member depending on what their role is and why they have decided to become a part of the community.
We often share our skills and talents with the community which brings variety and connection with our fellow community members.
If you are looking for a place to discern your next step in life, share in community and deepen in prayer we invite you to fill out the application below and our director will connect with you to set a time when you can come down.
Community members are expected to be drug and alcohol free. Smoking is strongly discouraged on the property as we have to think of those who have allergies trying to enjoy our facility.