Two 9-day online retreats for Lent: Dorothy Day, March 7-15; Dietrich Bonhoeffer, March 21-29

We are offering TWO Lenten retreats this year focusing on and inspired by  the life and writings of Christians devoted both to their faith and to radical resistance against societal evil:

DOROTHY DAY and DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Join us for one or the other or both!

Simple and accessible:

one quotation or short excerpt per day
one spiritual exercise per day
one prayer per day
                                      
 on nine consecutive days

Dorothy Day retreat:

 

FRIDAY, MARCH 7 - SATURDAY, MARCH 15

 

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer retreat: 

 

FRIDAY, MARCH 21 - SATURDAY, MARCH 29

 

 

 

Dorothy Day (1897-1980): co-founder of the Catholic Worker, an anarchist, pacifist, lay Catholic Christian movement, and founder and editor of the newspaper by the same name, she was also a person of prayer whose Roman Catholic religious observance cannot be separated from her work for social and economic justice and peace or from what Christian tradition calls “the works of mercy.”

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945): pastor, theologian, and anti-Nazi resister at a time when a great majority of the Protestant churches in Germany had allied themselves with the violent dictatorship in their nation. His short life and many writings have become known around the world, from South Africa to South Korea to the U.S and Canada.

  

For information about and registration for the Dorothy Day retreat, click here.

If you need to begin a day later than March 7, that's fine -- and you will still get the full benefit of the retreat.

For information about registration for the Dietrich Bonhoeffer retreat, click here.

 

 

An online retreat ("novena" = nine days) with DOROTHY DAY -

Longing for reflective and prayerful time in your busy life?

    Need some support and inspiration?

Hungry for justice and mercy?

    Wondering about models of Christian commitment

    other than the ones making the most noise these days?

If you choose to observe the season of Lent,

hoping for a life-giving Lent?

Join us for

 

Nine Days with Dorothy Day
 

an online retreat
 

Friday, March 7 - Saturday, March 14, 2025

What can Dorothy Day teach us? How can she inspire us? Join us to reflect on her life,writings,  prayer, and practice.

Dorothy Day (1897-1980) is best known as the co-founder of the Catholic Worker, an anarchist, pacifist, lay Catholic Christian movement, and founder and editor of the newspaper by the same name. Journalist, activist, mother, speaker, she was also a person of prayer whose Roman Catholic religious observance cannot be separated from her work for social and economic justice and peace or from what Christian tradition calls “the works of mercy.”

Click here for an informative essay on Dorothy Day if you want to know more.

For Christians in both the Western and Eastern traditions, the season of Lent begins next week: Monday March 3 for Orthodox Christians, March 5 (Ash Wednesday) for Catholics, Anglicans (including Episcopalians), and Protestants.

It is a season of deepened reflection and prayer,  simplicity, and generosity -- in traditional terms, "prayer, fasting, and almsgiving."

 

Some, informally, speak of Lent as a 40-day spiritual tune-up. It is like a seasonal retreat for the church. It also is preparation for the most important feast of the Christian year, Easter (aka Pascha), the celebration of Resurrection. It is meant to renew awareness of the life, teachings, acts of healing, community building, suffering, and death of Jesus Christ. (And there's more community-building and -living after Easter!)

If you observe Lent, this online retreat will nourish and support you in your Lenten practice. If you are not observing Lent and/or are from a different spiritual path or religious tradition from Christianity, you are also welcome to the retreat.

Dorothy Day's nonviolent witness, radical social analysis, community life, and spiritual practice can speak to you, especially in these challenging times.

This year, a large portion of Lent coincides with the holy month of Ramadan in Islam, during which Muslims practice deeper prayer and study, observe a strict fast (daily from sunup to sundown), and practice deeds of charity. The Muslim calendar is a lunar one, like the Jewish calendar, so the coincidence with the Christian calendars (East and West) this year is an unusual one.

What

* Spiritual refreshment, nurture, and challenge

* Simple and accessible:

one quote or short excerpt per day
one spiritual exercise per day
one prayer per day
                                        on nine consecutive days

Where, when, and how

* This online retreat takes place on a members-only blog.

This means the blog is accessible only to people who have registered and signed onto the blog. It will be private and will not be searchable on the internet. Conversations (taking place in the comments section of the blog posts) will be among participants and closed to all other persons.

* You'll sign onto the blog just once (I will send easy directions once you have registered) and the blog will recognize you after that whenever you click its home page url. You do need to bookmark that home page once you have access to the blog, so that you can find it again easily.

* You will visit the blog daily for the nine days of the retreat but you can log into the retreat at any hour of the day or night that is convenient  for you.

* Have your retreat time at home, on a break at work, in a coffee shop, on vacation, in your daily life: read, reflect, meditate, and pray with the retreat materials in a way that suits your schedule.

* You'll need 20 minutes a day of focused time (any time, day or night) and a computer or tablet with internet access. More than 20 minutes (say, 40 minutes) would be even more enriching, but 20 mns will be fine if that's what you've got!
 

Register and pay

Register and pay in a single transaction using the secure PayPal button below.

Note: You can use the PayPal button and its secure connection to pay with a credit or debit card even if you don't have a PayPal account. The button offers you a choice of payment modalities. The PayPal mechanism will record your name and e-mail address and serve as your registration. You will receive an automated acknowledgment from PayPal and a also personal e-mail acknowledgment from me.

Powered by

Payment is non-refundable and due upon registration.

If you are in a situation of financial stress and the regular rate is too much for you, please use the hardship rate on the menu above or write me so that we can arrange for a payment plan or a scholarship. Don't let your lack of money prevent you from seeking spiritual support and nourishment here. If on the other hand you wish to help make possible more scholarships and discounts, just check the benefactor rate.

More FAQ...

Do I have to talk to other people on this bloggy course-retreat? I'm a very private person.

See the answer to the next question.

Can I get some support here? I want some company.

This online offering offers you a choice; it is up to you to find your preferred balance between the solitary and the communal, between privacy and solidarity.

You can and may remain private and just read the blog and use the spiritual practices and meditations on your own. Nobody will force you to speak or disclose who you are.

Or you can and may take part in conversation with other participants. Conversation takes place in writing, through the comments feature on the blog posts. 

Please be prepared to observe confidentiality and to respect other participants' diverse experiences and outlooks.

Use the retreat according to your personality and your circumstances. The online retreat is like a room in which you are welcome to sit in the company of others and to be either visible or invisible.

What, no Zoom? 

Because this is a meditative experience and requires time for reading and pondering, and because participants will be from different time zones, the best format for this offering is a blog.

 

I really, really, wanted
to take that Bonhoeffer retreat last December
but couldn't do it.

Last December, I offered a similar nine-day retreat, inspired by the life, writings, and practice of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the pastor and theologian who resisted the Nazi regime and was executed just weeks before the end of World War II at the age of 39. 

YES! We are offering a Bonhoeffer retreat again, from Friday, March 21 to Saturday, March 29. For information and registration, click here.

 

NINE DAYS with DOROTHY DAY: an online Lenten retreat

Longing for reflective and prayerful time in your busy life?

    Need some support and inspiration?

Hungry for justice and mercy?

    Wondering about models of Christian commitment

    other than the ones making the most noise these days?

Hoping for a life-giving Lent?

Join us (late in Lent) for

Nine Days with Dorothy Day
 

an online retreat
 

Friday, April 1 - Saturday, April 9, 2022

Dorothy Day (1897-1980) is best known as the co-founder of the Catholic Worker, an anarchist, pacifist, lay Catholic Christian movement, and founder and editor of the newspaper by the same name. 

Journalist, activist, mother, speaker, she was also a person of prayer whose Roman Catholic religious observance cannot be separated from her work for social and economic justice and peace or from what Christian tradition calls “the works of mercy.”

Click here for an informative essay on Dorothy Day if you want to know more.


 

What, when, where, how
 
* An online nine-day spiritual retreat, beginning April 1, 2022.

* The life and writings of Dorothy Day serve as a focus and inspiration.

* Simple and accessible:

one quote or short excerpt per day
one spiritual exercise per day
one prayer per day
                                        on nine consecutive days

* At home, on a break at work, in a coffee shop, on vacation, in your daily life: read, reflect, meditate, and pray with the retreat materials in a way that suits your schedule.

* Spiritual refreshment, nurture, and challenge.

* You'll need 20 minutes a day of focused time (any time, day or night) and a computer or tablet with internet access.

 * Easy registration via PayPal secure link, which takes credit and debit cards in addition to PayPal.

--You don't have to have your own PayPal account to use this online payment method. (If you prefer to pay by Venmo or check, please e-mail me.)

--Discounts are available for those in financial hardship. (If even the "hardship rate" is too high for you, please e-mail me about scholarship need.)

--The benefactor rate helps offset costs and makes scholarship aid possible.

--Payment is non-refundable and due upon registration.

Register here!

Retreat fee (choose one)

Regular rate $95.00 USD Benefactor rate $150.00 USD Hardship rate $60.00 USD

 

An online blog-based retreat? How does that work?
 
 * The retreat offers daily resources (the quotes, spiritual exercises, and prayers mentioned above, with some images as well to nourish you visually, and sometimes a piece of music too) online on a blog. More specifically, a closed blog.

* What's a closed blog? It's a blog like this, but it is not public: it is open only to those whom the blog owner-administrator (that's me) has signed in. In other words, it is not open to anybody wandering around the internet. It is not searchable: random web surfers will not be able to view either the blog or our conversations in the comments.

* Once you register for the retreat, I will send instructions on the one-time sign-in mechanism. After you first sign on to the retreat blog, the blog will always recognize you.

Privacy and community

During the retreat, you can remain anonymous, invisible, and silent and just read the blog and use the quotes, spiritual exercises, and prayers on your own.

OR

If you are more extroverted and communal or in need of companions on your retreat, you can share your thoughts, experiences, and questions via the comments function on the blog and engage in conversation with other retreatants and with the retreat facilitator. (More about your friendly retreat designer and facilitator, Jane Redmont, here. Please do not hesitate to write me with questions or concerns.)

The full list of our Lent 2022 online offerings is here.

Blog-based retreats like this one have a structure and a schedule, but they are flexible enough to integrate into your daily life: you are the one who decides when and where to read and pray with the materials in the retreat (day or night, at home or elsewhere) and how to apply the invitations to practice.

Note: We offer TWO kinds of online retreats:

 

 1. on a blog (as we have offered in the past):

No appointment needed: read, gaze, listen, and practice on your own time; resources are posted regularly to mark a rhythm and offer progression and order, but you may pick the hour of day or night and the pace at which you participate; any conversation is in writing -- or you may remain anonymous.

 

 2. on Zoom (as we began offering last year)

Weekly (or in some cases, one-time-only) gathering on Zoom, at an appointed date and time; in real time; any conversation is in person and with your face (or Zoom profile) showing.

  

 Reminder: The full list of our Lent 2022 online offerings 

(both blog-based offerings and Zoom offerings) is here.

 

Three EVENING RETREATS in Lent, on ZOOM, inspired by 1) Howard THURMAN; 2) William STRINGFELLLOW; 3) Dorothy DAY

This Lent, we're offering three short Zoom-based retreats.

inspired by three faithful, radical, wise Christians.

(Also several other retreats on other topics in various formats. See here.)

Pick one retreat, or two of them, or all three.

You may register until the day before each retreat. 

Each retreat will be  

on a Thursday evening in Lent, 

beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time 

 

Each will last for at least 90 minutes, 

up to a maximum of 120 minutes (two hours) long.

 

Each retreat is a shorter, in-real-time version 

of the nine-day ("novena") retreats 

inspired by the same three people.

 

Thursday, March 10: Meditations with Howard Thurman

 More about Howard Thurman here.

Thursday, March 24: Encountering William Stringfellow

More about William Stringfellow here.

Thursday, April 7: Walking with Dorothy Day

More about Dorothy Day here.

There is a sliding scale of fees, as you will see below. If the "hardship rate" is too high for you, write me and we will arrange for a partial or full scholarship. If you can afford the "benefactor rate," your fees will help make scholarships possible.

Register for the March 10 Howard Thurman retreat 

(by the morning of March 9)  

here:
(And please note that we may offer it again on March 17 

if there is interest, so let me know if you prefer that date.)

 

Thurman Zoom retreat - pick one rate

Regular rate $30.00 USD Benefactor rate $55.00 USD Hardship rate $15.00 USD

Register for the March 24 William Stringfellow retreat 

(by the morning of March 23) 

here:

Stringfellow Zoom retreat: pick one rate

Regular rate $30.00 USD Benefactor rate $55.00 USD Hardship rate $15.00 USD

 

Register for the April 7 Dorothy Day retreat 

(by the morning of April 6) 

here: 

Dorothy Day Zoom retreat; pick one rate

Regular rate $30.00 USD Benefactor rate $55.00 USD Hardship rate $15.00 USD

 Reminder: The full list of our Lent 2022 online offerings 

(both blog-based and Zoom ) is here.

A Yearning World: Advent Awakenings with Dorothy Day

As we have for the past half-dozen years, we are offering an Advent online retreat.

Some of you may have taken live or online retreats inspired by Dorothy Day in years past, but we have never reflected on her life, prayer, and practice through the lens of Advent. This is our opportunity to do so.

Advent is a season of waiting and hoping. It is also a season of turmoil, of yearning, even of fear.

There is gentleness and quiet in Advent, but there is also trepidation.

This is a season of prophecy, of warning, a season of learning to cast a new gaze on this old world. What does the future hold, in the long and short term? How can we live in a broken world? How can we who are so small make a difference in a world whose suffering is so great?

In Advent, we look toward the celebration of the Nativity --Christmas-- and also toward the end of time, toward completion, toward a time we can only imagine.

What can Dorothy Day teach not only her fellow Catholics, but Christians of all stripes? 

What can she teach all of us?

Dorothy Day (1897-1980) is best known as the co-founder of the Catholic Worker, an anarchist, pacifist, lay Catholic Christian movement, and founder and editor of the newspaper by the same name. Journalist, activist, mother, speaker, she was also a person of prayer whose Roman Catholic religious observance cannot be separated from her work for social and economic justice and peace or from what Christian tradition calls “the works of mercy.”

Click here for an informative essay on Dorothy Day if you want to know more.




This retreat lasts from the first Sunday in Advent (but you can start on Monday if your Sunday is already full) to Christmas Eve: from December 2 to December 24.

Every week will feature two three-part offerings.

Each three-part offering includes a passage from the writings of Dorothy Day, a spiritual exercise related to the reading or its theme for you to practice, and a prayer.

The twice-weekly offerings will come to you on Sundays and Wednesdays, but you can meditate on them and practice the spiritual exercises at other times if you prefer. It will be more fruitful if you keep to the twice-a-week rhythm, but you can focus on the retreat material on Mondays and Thursdays,, for example, or stretch it out for half a week.

An online retreat? Really?

The retreat offers its  resources (short readings or words of wisdom, pictures, spiritual exercises, prayers, and the occasional bonus piece of Advent music) online on a blog. More specifically, a closed blog.

What's a closed blog? It's a blog like this one, but it is not public: it is open only to those whom the blog owner-administrator (that's me) has signed in. In other words, it is not open to anybody wandering around the internet. It is not searchable: random web surfers will not be able to view either the blog or our conversations in the comments.

This format of the retreat is ideal if you are a busy person or if you are geographically isolated from retreat centers or other spiritual resources. The retreat requires only 15 to 30 minutes twice a week, at a minimum. You may, of course, devote more time than that to the retreat or divide up your "twice a week" time. Even a short time on a regular basis can be refreshing and beneficial. What matters is faithfulness, even in small doses.

It doesn't matter whether you are a night owl or and early riser. The retreat has a structure and a schedule, but is flexible enough to integrate into your daily life. You can take part in it from home, on a break from work, in a coffee shop, on vacation, anywhere you have a computer or a tablet and some intentional time apart: read, reflect, meditate, and pray with the retreat materials in a way that suits your schedule.

The material will be there on the retreat blog, waiting for you, every Sunday and Wednesday of Advent.

I will be available (in writing, with answers within 24 hours at most, or by phone or Skype (by appointment) to have one or more conversations with you about how you individually can get the most benefit from this retreat and fit it into your life during this often busy month of December. You will have independence, but also personalized support if you wish.

Once you register for the retreat (see below), I will send instructions for the sign-in mechanism. After you first sign on to the retreat blog, the blog will always recognize you when you visit it.

Registration

You can register via the PayPal secure link below, which takes credit and debit cards in addition to PayPal. (It will NOT show me your credit card number.)

You don't have to have your own PayPal account to use this online payment method. (If you prefer paying by check, please e-mail me.)

Some discounts and scholarships are available for those in financial hardship. If you are too broke for the discount rate in the drop-down menu below, write me.

The benefactor rate helps offset costs and makes scholarship aid and discounts possible.

Payment is non-refundable and due upon registration.

Register here!

Retreat fee (choose one)

Regular rate $150.00 USD Benefactor rate $250.00 USD Discount rate $100.00 USD

Questions? Write me, Jane Redmont, at readwithredmont@earthlink.net.

Cesar Chavez, Coretta Scott King, and Dorothy Day

"... love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.”--One of Dorothy Day's favorite sayings, from the writings of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Nine days in Lent with Dorothy Day

The full list of our Lent 2018 online offerings is here.

Longing for reflective and prayerful time in your busy life?

Need some support and inspiration?

Hungry for justice and mercy?

Wondering about models of Christian commitment

other than the ones making the most noise these days?

Hoping for a life-giving Lent?

Join us for

Nine Days with Dorothy Day

an online retreat

Wednesday, February 21 - Thursday, March 1, 2018

Dorothy Day (1897-1980) is best known as the co-founder of the Catholic Worker, an anarchist, pacifist, lay Catholic Christian movement, and founder and editor of the newspaper by the same name. Journalist, activist, mother, speaker, she was also a person of prayer whose Roman Catholic religious observance cannot be separated from her work for social and economic justice and peace or from what Christian tradition calls “the works of mercy.”

Click here for an informative essay on Dorothy Day if you want to know more.


 

What, when, where, how
 
* An online nine-day spiritual retreat, beginning Wednesday, February 21, 2018.

* The life and writings of Dorothy Day serve as a focus and inspiration.

* Simple and accessible:

one quote or short excerpt per day
one spiritual exercise per day
one prayer per day
on nine consecutive days

* At home, on a break at work, in a coffee shop, on vacation, in your daily life: read, reflect, meditate, and pray with the retreat materials in a way that suits your schedule.

* Spiritual refreshment, nurture, and challenge.

* You'll need 20 minutes a day of focused time (any time, day or night) and a computer or tablet with internet access.

* Easy registration via PayPal secure link, which takes credit and debit cards in addition to PayPal. 

Note: You don't have to have your own PayPal account to use this online payment method. (If you prefer paying by check, please e-mail me.)

--Register by February 2 for the Early Bird discounted rate!
--Some discounts are available for those in financial hardship. Talk to me.
--The benefactor rate helps offset costs and makes scholarship aid possible.

Payment is non-refundable and due upon registration. 

Register here!

Retreat fee (choose one)

Regular rate $75.00 USD Benefactor rate $120.00 USD Early Bird rate $65.00 USD Hardship rate $50.00 USD

An online retreat? How does that work?
 
 * The retreat offers daily resources (the quotes, spiritual exercises, and prayers mentioned above, with some images as well to nourish you visually, and sometimes a piece of music too) online on a blog. More specifically, a closed blog.

* What's a closed blog? It's a blog like this, but it is not public: it is open only to those whom the blog owner-administrator (that's me) has signed in. In other words, it is not open to anybody wandering around the internet. It is not searchable: random web surfers will not be able to view either the blog or our conversations in the comments.

* Once you register for the retreat, I will send instructions on the one-time sign-in mechanism. After you first sign on to the retreat blog, the blog will always recognize you.

Privacy and community

During the retreat, you can remain anonymous, invisible, and silent and just read the blog and use the quotes, spiritual exercises, and prayers on your own.

OR

If you are more extroverted and communal or in need of companions on your retreat, you can share your thoughts, experiences, and questions via the comments function on the blog and engage in conversation with other retreatants and with the retreat facilitator. (More about your friendly retreat designer and facilitator, Jane Redmont, here. Please do not hesitate to write me with questions or concerns.)

 Reminder: The full list of our Lent 2018 online offerings is here.

All of the retreats have a structure and a schedule, but they are flexible enough to integrate into your daily life: you are the one who decides when and where to read and pray with the materials in the retreat (day or night, at home or elsewhere) and how to apply the invitations to practice.

Nine Days with Dorothy Day

The full list of our summer 2017 online offerings is here.

Longing for reflective and prayerful time in your busy life?

Need some support and inspiration?

Hungry for justice and mercy?

Wondering about models of Christian commitment

other than the ones making the most noise these days?

Join us for

Nine Days with Dorothy Day

an online retreat

June 16-23, 2017

Dorothy Day (1897-1980) is best known as the co-founder of the Catholic Worker, an anarchist, pacifist, lay Catholic Christian movement, and of the newspaper by the same name. Journalist, activist, mother, speaker, she was also a person of prayer whose Roman Catholic religious observance cannot be separated from her work for social and economic justice and peace or from what Christian tradition calls “the works of mercy.”

Click here for an informative essay on Dorothy Day if you want to know more.


What, when, where, how

* An online nine-day spiritual retreat, beginning Friday, June 16, 2017.

* The life and writings of Dorothy Day serve as a focus and inspiration.

* Simple and accessible:

one quote or short excerpt per day
one spiritual exercise per day
one prayer per day
on nine consecutive days

* At home, on a break at work, in a coffee shop, on vacation, in your daily life: read, reflect, meditate, and pray with the retreat materials in a way that suits your schedule.

* Spiritual refreshment, nurture, and challenge.

* You'll need 20 minutes a day of focused time and a computer or tablet with internet access.

* Easy registration via PayPal secure link, which takes credit and debit cards in addition to PayPal. Note: You don't have to have your own PayPal account to use this online payment method. (If you prefer paying by check, please e-mail me.)

Some discounts are available for those in financial hardship. Talk to me.
The benefactor rate helps offset costs and makes scholarship aid possible.

Register here!

Retreat fee (choose one)

Regular rate $75.00 USD Benefactor rate $100.00 USD DIscount rate $65.00 USD Hardship rate $50.00 USD

Payment is non-refundable and due upon registration. 


An online retreat? How does that work?

* The retreat offers daily resources (the quotes, spiritual exercises, and prayers mentioned above, with some images as well to nourish you visually, and sometimes a piece of music too) online on a blog. More specifically, a closed blog.

* What's a closed blog? It's a blog like this, but it is not public: it is open only to those whom the blog owner-administrator (that's me) has signed in. In other words, it is not open to anybody wandering around the internet. It is not searchable: random web surfers will not be able to view either the blog or our conversations in the comments.

* Once you register for the retreat, I will send instructions on the one-time sign-in mechanism. After you first sign on to the retreat blog, the blog will always recognize you.


Privacy and community 

During the retreat, you can remain anonymous, invisible, and silent and just read the blog and use the quotes, spiritual exercises, and prayers on your own.

OR

If you are more extroverted and communal or in need of companions on your retreat, you can share your thoughts, experiences, and questions via the comments function on the blog and engage in conversation with other retreatants and with the retreat facilitator. (More about your friendly retreat designer and facilitator, Jane Redmont, here. Please do not hesitate to write me with questions or concerns.)

Reminder: The full list of our summer 2017 online offerings is here.