Friends of Silence has a new home
You ask why I make my home
in the mountain forest,
and I smile, and am silent,
and even my soul remains quiet:
it lives in the other world
which no one owns…
Li Po
Warm winter greetings, dear friends of silence!
Once again, thanks to all of you, our worldwide community, we have journeyed successfully through another year here in Hannibal. Our gratitude knows no bounds; despite ever increasing costs and some unusual expenses, you have made the past year possible. And what an eventful year it has been, full of joy and sadness, loss and change, prayer and planning for the future of Friends of Silence. We have much news to share with you this year.
Someone has said, “The greatest journeys are made because of the call of the heart.” As most of you know, the year began with our dear Nan’s call to her new life: joy for her and great loss for all of us. Her guiding spirit remains strong, however, as FOS, the sacred endeavor she began so many years ago, journeys toward its new home in the mountain forests of Rolling Ridge in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. We are moving toward a date in the coming spring, though plans are not yet complete. Bob Sabath will guide and direct FOS, along with a team of community members. Introductions to Bob, Mary Ann Welter, and Trish Stefanik are on the reverse side, along with more information about Rolling Ridge and Still Point Partners LLC. Anne will remain on the board of directors and continue to produce the newsletter from her new home in Texas, where she will be living closer to her family.
Conversations for this move began well over a year ago, when Bob, Anne, and other board members journeyed to Vermont for several days of intense conversation regarding the future of FOS. Nan and Bob had known each other for a number of years and were very much attuned spiritually, and Nan was grateful for and at peace with his future leadership of FOS.
FOS will continue as it has been over the years--a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization providing contemplative resources to its network of members. The newsletter will arrive regularly in the same simple format we all look forward to and love, and Nan’s spirit and vision will remain strongly present with all of us. The move simply means FOS will also have the advantages of a retreat center nestled in beautiful natural surroundings in a scenic part of the country and an active team of leaders.
We are journeying not only toward a new physical home but also a new home on the web. Thanks to Bob, work on our website is progressing. Though incomplete and with work ongoing, you can find us at www.friendsofsilence.net.
We remain more grateful than words can express for your prayers, good wishes, financial support, and your many encouraging and affirming notes through the years. Words like the following warm our hearts, make our steps lighter, and fill us with humility as they express your feelings about FOS so beautifully:
“Thank you for the blessing of your monthly newsletter. The Light streams through it every time…I work with women in prison, and the newsletter has been a great teaching tool for me and a fresh source of inspiration…Thank you for being a channel of Grace and a source of blessings for all of us! With love and prayers, Valerie”
Thank you, dear friends. We ask now that you pray with us as we move into new opportunities and challenges. With your continued help, both spiritual and material, FOS will journey through the coming year smoothly and peacefully and will successfully settle into its new home with deep gratitude and joy.
Peace and Blessings to all of you,
Anne
Please Note New Telephone Number for Friends of Silence and Anne Strader: 210-861-4777
Still Point Mountain Retreat at Rolling Ridge is a partnership of small nonprofit organizations, including Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Community, small church groups, individuals and families. The group banded together as an LLC to purchase and maintain a 35-acre wilderness property bordering the Rolling Ridge Foundation's 1400-acre nature preserve in Jefferson County, WV. The group's mission includes conservation and protection of the property for use as an educational and spiritual retreat by the partners, their constituencies, and others in the larger community seeking the "still point" within, while experiencing nature's refuge.
The primarily wooded property includes a modern, 3-4 bedroom/2 bath log cabin; a small one-room guest cottage; two Native American tipis; a spring-fed pond for swimming, fishing and nature study; and access to the Shenandoah River, the Appalachian Trail, and the approximately 23 miles of marked hiking trails which wend their way through the Rolling Ridge Foundation land. A large deck overlooks the Shenandoah Valley and mountains beyond.
The Still Point Partners warmly welcome Friends of Silence to this land, retreat space, and community which embraces a shared vision for stewarding precious natural resources while retaining unique identities and missions. Under the guidance of Bob Sabath, the organization's work will be sustained and enhanced by a team of community members with collective experience in spiritual direction, nonprofit administration, and retreat ministry.
The team will immediately work toward expanding and renewing the FOS board to solidify the mission yet reflect the change. The board will provide guidance and oversight to any volunteer or paid staff involved in carrying out its mission. The operational tasks will be transferred to the West Virginia location and the particular team members most suited to each aspect of operation. Still Point Mountain Retreat will be open to Friends of Silence members seeking private retreat space or wishing to participate in retreats facilitated by Rolling Ridge Study Retreat and other Still Point partners.
Bob Sabath lives and works at Rolling Ridge Study Retreat community near Harpers Ferry, WV. He is web technologist at Sojourners Magazine and is a graduate of the Shalem Institute's Spiritual Guidance Program. He is working with Richard Rohr and a regional group to bring contemplative practice to men in a wilderness setting; he is also collaborating with Cynthia Bourgeault to establish a school of contemplation and action in the region. Currently he is also building a web site for Friends of Silence, where he is gathering a complete searchable collection of quotes from Friends of Silence newsletters from January 1988 through the present issue (http://www.friendsofsilence.net).
Mary Ann Welter has been the lead partner with Bob Sabath in the creation of Still Point Mountain Retreat at Rolling Ridge. Mary Ann and Bob have shared in retreat vision and practical retreat facilitation for more than 25 years through Sojourners, Circle Community Church and Rolling Ridge Study Retreat. Most recently, in addition to providing the development expertise for Still Point, Mary Ann and Bob partnered with Stefan Waligur to provide two Taize-style retreat experiences at Rolling Ridge over the past year: a month-long summer experience and a 4-day New Year's Retreat, bringing in 2010 in silence, chant, hope, and joy.
Mary Ann is a licensed social worker whose primary work is teaching high school students with learning differences. Her retreat work includes women's retreats, family retreats, and a variety of youth retreats, including nine years of week-long Girls' Arts Retreats at Rolling Ridge/Still Point for middle and high school age girls. A long-time reader of Nan Merrill and the Friends of Silence newsletters, all Mary Ann's retreats (and her days) begin with "Psalms for Praying." Mary Ann and her husband, Greg, are partners in Still Point Mountain Retreat. They are the parents, through birth, adoption, and fostering, of 13 children.
Trish Stefanik is a contemplative artist, retreat leader, and resident of the ecumenical Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Community. She is a Catholic laywoman who draws from the wisdom of the natural wilderness and the wells of many spiritual traditions to open to and express something of the breadth and depth of the Holy. Trish is a graduate of the Shalem Institute's Leading Contemplative Prayer Groups and Retreats Program. She leads half day, full day, and weekend retreats for various faith communities, focusing on contemplative seeing and spiritual practices to listen for God.
Prior to coming to Rolling Ridge Trish was a director of programs as well as a teacher at the Servant Leadership School in Washington DC, a "people's seminary" founded by the Church of the Saviour. Her work experience also includes thirty years in communications art, writing, and editing, and publications management, working in particular with religious communities, churches, and non-profit organizations.