Sending Care and Love to Closing Centers
by Ben Scott-Brandt, program director
You may have seen the news in recent weeks that the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland is going through a major transition, and that Santa Sabina Center in northern California is closing and placing their property on the market.
Both Findhorn and Santa Sabina Center have participated in the Retreat Center Collaboration community, and folks in their leadership teams have been honest and generous collaborators with retreat center peers over the past several years. Findhorn, as an intentional community, eco-village, and charitable organization, has been an early and influential model for many retreat centers in its 50-year history. Santa Sabina has cultivated a place of study, prayer and community for 53 years, since it opened as a retreat center in 1970.
The starkness of their closure, and the financial realities behind their decisions to cease operations, are important to recognize within our larger community of retreat centers.
Here at RCC, we grieve to see the loss of these peers.
All of our organizations share similar values, and we have each served our respective communities in similar ways as hubs for contemplative practice, community building, and inner work. How can we reach out to these community members and share their burden? And what can we learn together?
We know the COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult to weather, and that there were concerning trends in market studies of retreat centers conducted before the pandemic. We also know that 74% of retreat centers who responded to the RCC Community Survey last month characterized themselves as struggling to make ends meet, or merely breaking even financially.
Are there ways our organizations can support one another before those that are struggling reach the decision to close? What torch do these organizations and ministries hold (or does the land itself hold) that could be passed on? What is our collective role in supporting new visions for retreat when centers like these close their doors?
I am holding small rays of hope for the future healing impact of places and spaces like these. I know that the Findhorn community intends to evolve in new ways through this transition. And I dream of these spaces being lifted up and held in the light by a new, young and diverse generation of caretakers and stewards who share RCC's core values. I hope you’ll share my vision, and that together we might see these old trees (and many young ones) bear new fruit.
Are you part of a community that envisions opening a retreat center in the future?
Are you part of a community whose story is coming to a close?
Let us know what’s been happening, and what you’re learning along the way. Perhaps RCC can serve to connect these learnings for the broader community.