6-Day Intensive and Post-Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat
Overnight Contemplative Retreat
May 4-9, 2025
Fr. Bill Sheehan, O.M.I., and Ron Barnett
This retreat offers two tracks simultaneously: intensive and post-intensive. Everyone attending will share three sets of two 30-minute periods of Centering Prayer, daily. The intensive retreat will watch and discuss video talks from Fr. Thomas Keating’s The Spiritual Journey. Instead of videos, the post-intensive retreat includes an additional hour of Centering Prayer each day. You choose the track that works best for you. Lectio Divina will be offered daily, as well as optional soul-friending with the staff. Silence is maintained throughout the retreat.
Pre-requisite: A daily practice of centering prayer for 6 months or longer.
Offering: Private Room with Private Bath - $950
Private Room with Hall Bath - $800
We thank the Trust for Meditation Process for their grant, which sponsored our work with Contemplative Outreach, LTD, and Contemplative Outreach of CT to develop our capacity for offering this retreat at Holy Family. We desire to make this an annual offering based on the foundational work done due to the generous grant we received.
We thank Contemplative Outreach, LTD for their grant from the Contemplative Outreach Divine Economy Fund, which made a $200 discount available for our first 25 registrants. The fund is dedicated to making Fr. Thomas Keating’s teachings in Intensive Retreats accessible to centering prayer practitioners.
Arrival and Departure Day Schedule Outline:
Sunday, May 4
3:00 pm - Registration and settle in your room
5:00 pm - Prayer Room Orientation, 20 min period of Centering Prayer
6:00 pm - Dinner
7:00 pm - Retreat Orientation - ENTER INTO GRAND SILENCE
Friday, May 9
9:00 am - Closing Session
COME OUT OF GRAND SILENCE
11:00 am - Retreat closes
12:00 pm - Optional Lunch with talking
If you're flying into Holy Family, the closest airport is Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, CT: https://bradleyairport.com/
This is generally about a 30 to 45-minute drive to Holy Family depending on traffic. Uber is available from Bradley.
Holy Family's address is:
Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center
303 Tunxis Road
West Hartford, CT 06107
If you're looking to stay at Holy Family in advance of the Retreat or afterward, please contact Kasia Owczarek, Director of Special Events/Facility Rental at kowczarek@holyfamilyretreat.org or 860.760.9799.
Presenter Profiles
Fr. Bill Sheehan
Fr. Bill Sheehan is an experienced and beloved retreat director who has led countless Centering Prayer workshops and retreats. Since 1983, he has been involved with Contemplative Outreach founded by Fr. Thomas Keating, practicing and guiding others in Centering Prayer. He participated in the original Lama retreat from which the Centering Prayer movement arose. In the last several years, he has also participated in leading 11th Step retreats.
Ron Barnett
Ron Barnett, a psychologist, has practiced Centering Prayer since 1997 and is a commissioned presenter of the practice. He has served Contemplative Outreach (CO) for intensive/post-intensive retreats, and as Chapter Coordinator, group facilitator, Board Member and Trustee, and he currently facilitates the Committee that oversees Thomas Keating’s intellectual property, a gift to CO. Ron is retired from medical research, teaches miksang contemplative photography, and facilitates Charis Circles with the Charis Foundation for the New Monasticism and Interspirituality.
Dietary restrictions? Holy Family is committed to making your stay as comfortable and enjoyable as possible, and to that end, we can accommodate most dietary needs. Please email Ted, our registrar, at tjastrzebski@holyfamilyretreat.org, if you have any dietary restrictions or food allergies, so that we may make preparations in advance of your retreat.