From the Trappist abbeys of Kentucky and South Carolina to the Benedictine monasteries of Minnesota and Oregon, the United States has hundreds of monastic communities. Many have a guesthouse open to those looking for a few days of silence and prayer.
This page brings together the places for a spiritual retreat in the United States listed on RITRIT, kept up to date: first the houses where you can send a stay request online, then the other communities in the directory.
These places welcome everyone, believer or not, with a free-will contribution according to your means.
In the peaceful countryside of Northern California, the Trappist monks of New Clairvaux welcome you for a retreat of silence and prayer, surrounded by vineyards and orchards. A unique place to slow down and recharge, home to a remarkable abbey church built with stones from a 12th-century Spanish Cistercian monastery.
A farm monastery in California's Tehachapi Mountains, where more than forty Norbertine sisters sing, pray and raise sheep, cows and puppies. Guests stay a few at a time in a simple mobile home.
Other communities are also present in the region. They are not part of RITRIT, but each has its own place, its own history and its own way of living out its vocation.
A retreat in the United States means finding, away from the cities, communities that live to the rhythm of prayer, silence and work, in landscapes that differ greatly from one state to the next.
On RITRIT, two houses in California can be booked online. In Vina, in the countryside of northern California, the Trappist monks of the Abbey of Our Lady of New Clairvaux lead a contemplative life centered on prayer, silence and work. In the Tehachapi Mountains, an hour from Bakersfield, the sisters of Bethlehem Priory have lived since 1999 on a former ranch, among oaks and pastures.
The directory also lists the country's great abbeys: Gethsemani in Kentucky, where Thomas Merton lived, Mepkin in South Carolina, Christ in the Desert in New Mexico, Saint John's in Collegeville, Minnesota, or Mount Angel in Oregon.
Depending on the place, you can come alone, in a group or with family, for a day, a weekend or several days, in silence or with spiritual guidance.
On RITRIT, sending a stay request is free.
Both houses that can be booked on RITRIT are in California, in Vina and in Tehachapi. The directory at the bottom of the page lists more than 170 other communities, mostly in California, Illinois, New York State, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Yes. The Trappist monks of New Clairvaux in California welcome retreatants and can be booked on RITRIT. The directory also lists other Trappist abbeys, such as Gethsemani in Kentucky, Mepkin in South Carolina, New Melleray in Iowa or Genesee in New York State.
It is not essential, but it helps. Each listing states the languages spoken when the community has specified them. In your request, simply say which languages you speak: the guesthouse will tell you whether it can welcome you.
Yes. Trappist and Benedictine abbeys live to the rhythm of the offices and of silence, and retreatants share that rhythm: this is the case at New Clairvaux. Each listing states the kind of welcome offered, alone or in a group, with or without guidance.
In most places, lodging is offered for a free-will contribution: everyone gives according to their means. Each community gives an indication, which you can ask the person in charge of the guesthouse. Money should keep no one from coming. It is all explained in our article How much does a spiritual retreat cost?
Looking elsewhere? Communities also welcome retreatants in France, Italy, Belgium and about ten other countries: find them on the destinations page.
American communities also offer retreats on fixed dates, on a given theme or for a specific audience. Browse them all, or locate the guesthouses on the map.
