Celebrating Our Community Story
On our last Community Call of 2022, we reconnected to celebrate our shared story.
RCC had a year full of change and growth. We hosted twenty-one Community Calls, advanced our RHI programs, hosted the Land Legacies Learning and Living series, held our Gathering on the Land, added to our Green Paper, and put out the Community Survey. We also expanded our work with affinity groups: BIPOC People in Retreat Spaces, Catholic Centers, and Midwest Centers.
Read more about the major takeaways from this year in our 2022 Year-End Review.
Reflections from Community Members
As we gathered together, community members shared what it was like to be part of the Retreat Center Collaboration this year. They said:
The RCC shows us how much compatibility there can be between organizations—identities can intersect without conflict.
The RCC provides an opportunity for us to see one another as colleagues, instead of viewing one another as competitors. Many retreat centers are experiencing the same challenges, even if they’re in different locations. Through the RCC, centers have the opportunity to share questions and a sense of connection.
The RCC provides centers access to a wealth of information, programming, and resources.
Through the Racial Healing Initiative, the RCC is empowering centers to do meaningful work towards racial healing and liberation:
Within the RCC, centers are invited to be more intentional about exploring justice, diversity, and inclusion. RCC keeps the conversation going and expands the network to invite more people to walk that path together with us.
After the racial healing workshop with Amy Burtaine, at least one center is working to bring her to their center to do more work around racial healing.
We’re finding out that diversity goals are noteworthy, but racial healing needs to become part of the theology at religious retreat centers—so that the foundational values of those centers can also become inclusive.
Journaling Responses
After taking time to reflect, we invited community members to journal about how they might characterize the last year. Looking back on this year from five years in the future, how would they summarize the journey of their center and the RCC?
Community members shared that 2022 was a year of:
Gains in diversity - many centers saw more racial diversity and more LGBTQ+ folks on boards and among staff.
Challenges - centers lost staff members, saw expenses increase, and some centers are still working to bring their operations back to full capacity after the pandemic shutdown.
Imagination - many centers are looking to the future, wondering about longterm sustainability, and reimagining what retreat means. One community member offered this insight:
“Change cannot happen overnight, but the intent to evolve will open up opportunities for growth. We’re planting seeds of growth.”
What’s Next?
We want to celebrate the RCC as a connection point that makes so much possible. There is so much value in the relationships we cultivate with each other.
In 2023, community members are looking forward to:
More gatherings in person - physical presence is a great way to connect, recharge, and refresh.
The return of important programs - despite the challenges, it feels good to see retreat work in action, to see the benefits retreat brings for so many different people.
Improvements in marketing - grants and offerings from the RCC are making it possible for retreat centers to improve their outreach.
The CalPoly sustainability study -
There was an idea being circulated that for a retreat center to be sustainable, the center needed to have fifty rooms. We’re testing that idea out.
The students running the study are industrial engineering students and they’re looking into everything that goes into a cost analysis. They’re helping is to figure out what factors really end up making the difference.
In 2023, the students will be presenting their research at various stages of the study. They will need feedback from retreat centers, so please attend and participate in these Community Calls.
Affinity groups - the RCC is looking forward to connecting people and centers with shared identities.
The Racial Healing Initiative - RCC will be expanding our offerings to other centers, developing a cohesive curriculum to share with centers to use in their own spaces.
The Racial Healing Initiative and land healing - we want to expand our understanding of the connection between healing our relationship with the land and healing our relationships with each other.
RCC membership - a more formal RCC membership is in the works!
Join RCC’s New Facebook Group
As we continue to improve our offerings, we’re launching a private Facebook group for the RCC community. This space is for you and it’s open now!
This new Facebook group will replace the Mighty Network platform we’ve been using. RCC’s Mighty Network will close on December 31st, 2022.
Notes
Follow the link below to access additional meeting notes.
