Shrine Mont Parish Weekends
Save the Date: Our annual parish retreat at Shrine Mont will take place September 12-14, 2025.
Scenes from the 2024 Parish Retreat
What to Expect: St. Michael’s Shrine Mont Weekend
St. Michael’s annual weekend at Shrine Mont will be September 12-14, 2025. Shrine Mont is a great time for all ages! Please join fellow parishioners for a period of reflection, relief, and relaxation in an inspiring outdoor setting.
Officially, Shrine Mont is the Cathedral Shrine of the Transfiguration and a Conference Center of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. The outdoor shrine is actually the Cathedral of the Diocese of Virginia. Shrine Mont is located 110 miles from St. Michael’s in Orkney Springs, VA. You can get to Shrine Mont in as little as two hours, depending on I-66 West traffic.
We unplug from our busy lives and gather in a slower, more intentional way over the course of the weekend. For St. Michael’s in particular, this is a pivotal yearly gathering for many of the relationships that sustain us throughout the rest of the year.
Reflections from a First Time Attendee to the Parish Retreat
My first impression of Shrine Mont came from one of the coffee cups at coffee hour. It looks scary to say the least. Then came a verbal challenge, thrown around a few weeks later at coffee hour, “I’ll go if you go…”
I will not lie, I was a little hesitant to leave home for a weekend to spend time with some people I was only beginning to know and join in activities that would involve things like ‘sharing, openess and reflection.’ I drove myself up because I was leaving later than most folks, which everyone understood, and I found the ride to be a nice opportunity to separate myself from Arlington and work. Once there, I was met with friendly smiles, easy choices of activities and a sense of calmness. The people I chose to spend my time with were fun, engaged and interesting. I must say, the fellowship was the best part. As I talked with other parishioners that I hadn’t yet met at church and then shared laughs with some of the much younger members of the church at mealtime, I finally felt like I was becoming a member of St. Michael’s. There was time to hike in the woods, hang out on front porches, and even sit in the chapel in the woods and be still. It was a special weekend that I look forward to repeating soon.
Carol Halvorson
