Group Retreats at the Monastery
Offering Solitude, Silence & Reflection
Sponsored Retreats available for guests who have been fully vaccinated.
A monastery is a perfect place for solitude, silence, reflection, and spiritual renewal. We invite you to come walk the grounds around Queen of Angels, in Mt. Angel, Oregon. Come, seek peace, pray, be still, reflect on your life and your journey with God. Take time to read, pray in one of our lovely gardens. We look forward to welcoming you in the Benedictine tradition, that all guests are received as Christ. We welcome people of all faiths, seeking God and peace.
Group Retreats
Shalom at the Monastery Sponsored Retreats
The Benedictine Sisters sponsor a number of retreats throughout the year. Below is the calendar of all upcoming workshops and sponsored retreats.
Workshops & Classes
Monthly Book Talk
Free • 3rd Saturday • 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
The group currently meets in person. Contact Sr. Dorothy Jean to join. Click here for a complete book list with meeting dates.
November 16, 2024 @ 9:30 a.m. Agatha Hall
Dream Group: Language of the Soul
$20 • 3rd Saturday • 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Listening to dreams in a group can help us pay attention to God's presence in image and word in our awakened life. Presenter is Clara Jean Dawson.
Paused until early 2025, watch this space for announcement.
Paused Until Early 2025
Please Note
Vaccination and social distancing
required (Mask are optional). for all attending retreats and workshops in-person at Queen of Angels Monastery. We greatly appreciate your help and support in keeping the sisters and guests safe.
Prayer of the Heart
Free • 3rd Monday • 3:30 - 4:30 pm
All are welcome to join this contemplative prayer group. Meetings take place in the Chapel, located on the second floor of the Hospitality Center.
November 18, 2024 @ 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
The Creative-Spiritual Life Circle via Zoom
Free • 3rd Saturday • 1:15 - 2:30 pm • Zoom
A Benedictine-centered discussion group whose concept is simple: people who gather together on a regular to share, without interruptions, whatever is gratifying us or amazing us or troubling us or puzzling us about the intersection of creativity and spirituality. September through May.
Click here to learn more and to register.
November 16, 2024 @ 1:15 p.m. via Zoom
Ongoing Formation for Spiritual Companions
2nd Friday • 9:30 - 11:30 am
All spiritual directors are welcome to attend the monthly meetings for on-going formation and education featuring lively discussions of pertinent spirituality topics, prayer and skills of the ministry. Meetings taking place via Zoom.
Nov. 8, 2024 @ 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. via Zoom
Retreats & Events
November 23, 2024
9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Chapter Room
Free
Refreshing Our Advent Prayer Practice with Advent Wreaths and Mandalas led by Sr. Dorothy Jean Beyer and Susan Black
The Benedictine Sisters are offering this retreat as an Advent/Christmas gift.
A most beautiful season of the liturgical year, Advent can easily become lost in the hurly-burly of modern life, holiday observances and all the multiple demands we face. We can miss the spiritual gift of quietly waiting -- anticipating -- with Mary the birth of Jesus, the Word made Flesh, coming to dwell among us.
Come spend a morning on retreat, preparing for a fruitful Advent and a holy Christmas. You will learn how to incorporate two traditional spiritual practices into your prayer life: the Advent wreath and its symbols of light, and the mandala, a contemplative form of art-making and prayer. All materials supplied.
Optional for the afternoon: Bring a bag lunch and stay on until 3pm to delve more deeply into mandalas as an art form and an ongoing spiritual practice.
To register and/or more information, call 503 845-2556 or sent a note to Sister Dorothy Jean Beyer, 840 S. Main St., Mount Angel, OR 97362, or email benedictinefoundation@gmail.com. Please register 3 days before the retreat.
January 4, 2025
9:30 am - 2:30 pm
Chapter Room
$40
Snacks Provided, Bring Your Own Lunch
Scholarships Available
The Way of the Cross - A Prayer for All Seasons guided by Susan Black
Though tied by tradition to the season of Lent, the ancient prayer practice of the Way of the
Cross offers rich spiritual opportunities at any time of the year. The Cross is the symbol of the
redemptive power of Jesus. The Cross is the means by which the joy of our salvation is
achieved. Through the Way, we have the opportunity to consider what we pray at Mass: “Save
us, Savior of the world, for by Your Cross and Resurrection, you have set us free.”
This retreat will offer a fresh experience of being with Jesus -- walking, reflecting and praying
with Him as He is condemned to death, as He makes His tortured way through Jerusalem to
Golgotha, as He consoles His Mother, as He encounters the kindness of Veronica and the grief of
the women of Jerusalem, as He weakens, stumbles and falls, as He is crucified, dies and is buried. Our faith tells us that death is not the end, that it is the necessary door to eternal life, that
the Resurrection belongs to Jesus and to us. Facing the reality of Jesus’s death helps deepen our
belief in this mystery.
Participants will be able to follow the Way using the Monastery’s own unique installations: the
outdoor version (on the path to the Benedictine Sisters Cemetery) and the wall plaques designed for indoor display. These meditative art resources were reverently crafted by Sister Angela Meister, OSB. She followed in the footsteps of many artists who, over the centuries, were inspired to convey the sufferings of Jesus. Examples of such interpretations will be presented as an additional prayerful approach to bringing the Way of the Cross into our daily lives.
This retreat, a version of which was offered last Lent, will be guided by Susan Black, an Oblate
who frequently leads retreats and discussions through Shalom at the Monastery retreat ministry.
To register, call 503 845-2556 or send a check payable to Benedictine Sisters, Attn: Sister Dorothy Jean, 840 S. Main St., Mt. Angel, OR 97362, three days before the retreat.
January 11, April 5, July 12,
and November 22, 2025
1:00 - 4:00 pm
Chapter Room
$20 each
Prayer of the Seasons guided by Gay Gomez, PhD
The unfolding of a human life, from birth to death, is often compared to the flow of the year’s seasons. It is not surprising that a metaphor from nature is used, as we too are a part of the gift of creation that surrounds and sustains us. Accordingly, the world of nature has much to teach as we too flow through the months and years, especially if we can take time to carefully listen. This retreat series, which consists of the four seasons, offers participants an opportunity for guided nature observation and quiet reflection time on the monastery grounds. Each session will begin with a passage from Scripture and a brief reflection on the season. After the outdoor time, we will reconvene briefly to reflect on our experience. Please join us for one, several, or all our gatherings, with will be held rain or shine.
Presenter: Gay Gomez, Ph.D., is a retired professor of geography, an occasional retreat presenter and naturist guide, and oblate inquirer of QAM. She enjoys gardening, nature observation, and learning about the land and life in the Pacific Northwest.
To register, call 503 845-2556 or send a check payable to Benedictine Sisters, Attn: Sister Dorothy Jean, 840 S. Main St., Mt. Angel, OR 97362, three days before the retreat. Please include your email address.
February 1, 2025
9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
via Zoom
$25
Includes breaks and time for personal reflection and prayer
Aging: The Open Door to the Rest of Your Life guided by Susan Black
“The Lord opened a door of opportunity for me.”
2 Corinthians 2:12
“When one door closes, another opens;
but we often look so long and so regretfully
upon the closed door
that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”
Alexander Graham Bell
Are you standing in the liminal space between the closed door of a known past and the open door to an unknown future?
This retreat is designed to help you see the opportunity presented by the open door of aging. If you regard aging as an integral part of God’s gift of life, you can be confident about stepping through that door. How can you support and sustain that confidence? By creating your own Credo of Aging -- a statement of beliefs and approaches that will help you flourish in a new and meaningful stage of life.
This retreat will be a time of personal discovery. Using a variety of creative and spiritual tools, you will review what has brought you to this time of transition. You will design your Credo, an approach to the future that is uniquely yours, because it will be based on your own history and your own aspirations.
Aging is an experience that is both universal and unique. As part of the mortal human community, we all take a journey from birth through life until death. As unique individuals, we take this journey in ways that no one else ever has, or ever will. And along the way, we encounter challenge and opportunity, success and failure, joy and sorrow, clarity and deep mystery. Doors close, doors open, paths unfurl ahead of us and detours and crossroads abound. Always -- if we are paying attention -- there are questions about the meaning of life, and how to fulfill it, how to honor what God has freely given us. Whenever these questions come upon us, that is the time to begin engaging with them. This retreat may be your time.
The retreat will be guided by Susan Black, who has adapted it for the Zoom format based on the in-person version she presented last year. Susan has led our monthly Zoom-based discussion group, the Creative/Spiritual Life Circle, since 2021, and has been responsible for numerous other programs at Shalom. She is an Oblate, an artist and a writer; to learn more about her, go to the website www.BlackStarStudio.me.
To register, call 503 845-2556 or send a check payable to Benedictine Sisters, Attn: Sister Dorothy Jean, 840 S. Main St., Mt. Angel, OR 97362, three days before the retreat. Please include your email address. You will receive, in advance, the Zoom invitation along with the agenda for the day.
March 1, 2025
1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Chapter Room
$20
Mary Magdalene: Apostle to the Apostles presented by Nancy Hendricks
There probably is no woman in history that has been so misunderstood as Mary Magdalene. She was one of Jesus' closest friends, supporting him in his ministry with her wisdom and love. Jesus came to earth to show us how to be fully human, being made in God's image. Mary Magdalene understood this and as Apostle to the Apostles she continues to teach us how to love. We will explore her depictions throughout history, and discover her deep friendship with Jesus, and perhaps with each one of us.
Presenter: Nancy Hendricks, MA, OblSB, received her master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry from the University of Portland. She now spends time presenting retreats, being active with the QAM oblate community, creating a 2-acre peace garden with her husband, and spending time with her family.
To register and/or more information, call 503 845-2556 or send a check payable to Benedictine Sisters, Attn. Sister Dorothy Jean Beyer, 840 S. Main St., Mount Angel, OR 97362, or email dorothyjeanb7@gmail.com. Please register 3 days before the retreat.
March 22, 2025
1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Chapter Room
$20
Snacks Provided
Children of War: Reflection, Prayer, Response guided by Susan Black and Mary Blankenship
An updated version of the original presentation in April 2024.
Join us for an interactive experience of reflection, prayer, awareness and response about the reality of war’s impact on the children of the world. We will open ourselves to the horror of that reality ... acknowledge the helplessness that it can engender in us ... but most importantly, focus on concrete steps we can take as individuals to nurture hope for the entire world. “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me."
Our time together will be guided by Susan Black and Mary Blankenship, Oblates of Queen of Angels Monastery and experienced Shalom at the Monastery retreat leaders.
To register, call 503 845-2556 or send a check payable to Benedictine Sisters, Attn: Sister Dorothy Jean, 840 S. Main St., Mt. Angel, OR 97362, three days before the retreat.
March 29, 2025
9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Chapter Room
Cost TBD
Bring Your Own Lunch, Beverages and Snacks Provided
Profiles in Courage and Humility: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Decisions and Our Own presented by Rev. Terry Moe, Rev. Roger Newell, Sue Newell, and Sister Dorothy Jean Beyer
April 26 & May 31, 2025
9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. (4/26)
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (5/31)
Chapter Room
$40 Suggested Donation For Both Workshops
Bring Your Own Lunch
Introductory Centering Prayer Workshop led by Alysa Hilton and presented in partnership with Contemplative Outreach of Portland
Centering Prayer is a receptive method of silent prayer developed in 1981 by Trappist Monk, Father Thomas Keating, in which we experience God's presence within us; closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. This method of prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship.
Led by Alysa Hilton, Oblate at Queen of Angels Monastery, is a commissioned presenter of Centering Prayer Introductory Workshops under the guidance of Contemplative Outreach. Alysa, a retired nurse practitioner, wife and grandmother, attends St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in Milwaukie, OR.
May 31st will be a follow up session to offer further support with your practice.
It is highly recommended that workshop participants purchase the book Open Mind, Open Heart by Father Thomas Keating (not required, but a good resource).
To register, call 503-845-2556 or send a check payable to Benedictine Sisters, Attn: Sister Dorothy Jean, 840 S. Main St. Mt. Angel, OR 97362, 3 days prior to retreat.
May 3, 2025
1:00pm
Outdoor Labyrinth, West End of Shalom Building
FREE
World Labyrinth Day: Take Steps Together for Peace
The Benedictine Sisters at Shalom at the Monastery invite you to walk with them their outdoor labyrinth on Saturday, May 3, 2025 at 1 p.m. Please gather at the labyrinth at the west end of the Shalom building.
At 12:45 p.m., there will be a brief explanation of the Peace Walk on the labyrinth. We will then walk the 20-minute Silent Peace Walk, using the format of Benedictines For Peace. Following the walk, refreshments will be served in the Benedictine Sisters' dining room. All are welcome!
To register, call Sister Dorothy Jean Beyer, (503) 845-2556 or email her here.
June 21, 2025
1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Chapter Room
$25
Snacks Provided
Jesus, The Living Water Retreat presented by Nancy Hendricks
Jesus desires to be our friend and guide as we journey through this river of life. We will look at ways He was a friend to others and how He can be a friend to us. His parables, sayings and actions are all ways He can be by our sides daily. He calmed the waters for the disciples in the boat and can do the same for us today.
Presenter: Nancy Hendricks, MA from University of Portland, Oblate of Queen of Angels Monastery, and retreat presenter is creating a 2-acre peace garden with her husband.
To register, call 503 845-2556 or send a check payable to Benedictine Sisters, Attn: Sister Dorothy Jean, 840 S. Main St., Mt. Angel, OR 97362, three days before the retreat. Please include your email address.
August 2, 2025
9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Chapter Room
$50
Among God's Holy Women: Scholastica, Clare, and Us presented by Susan Black
October 4, 2025
9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Chapter Room
$50
Meet Wisdom, the Feminine Genius of God, through the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament presented by Susan Black
November 1, 2025
1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Chapter Room
$25
Snacks Provided
Humility for the 21st Century Retreat presented by Nancy Hendricks
Chapter 7 in the Rule of St. Benedict speaks about humility. We will explore ways, that it is possible to live with humility in the 21st century as it was in the 6th century. We can be in the world but not of the world, which can be selfish and loud. St. Benedict and others will teach us practical ways to live with the spirit of humility.
Presenter: Nancy Hendricks, MA from University of Portland, Oblate of Queen of Angels Monastery, and retreat presenter is creating a 2-acre peace garden with her husband.
To register, call 503 845-2556 or send a check payable to Benedictine Sisters, Attn: Sister Dorothy Jean, 840 S. Main St., Mt. Angel, OR 97362, three days before the retreat. Please include your email address.
December 6, 2025
1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Chapter Room
$25
Snacks Provided
Can I Be a Saint? presented by Nancy Hendricks and Mary Blankenship
Let’s sit around an imaginary campfire, chat with the saints about their lives, and talk about what led to their sainthood. The retreat will help us discover ways in which we are saints in the making.
Presenters: Oblates Nancy Hendricks and Mary Blankenship, both Shalom at the Monastery retreat presenters.
To register, call 503 845-2556 or send a check payable to Benedictine Sisters, Attn: Sister Dorothy Jean, 840 S. Main St., Mt. Angel, OR 97362, three days before the retreat. Please include your email address.