Center for Clergy Renewal at Holy Wisdom Monastery
Providing clergy with fertile ground to root deeply into God’s love, grow in community and scatter seeds of hope for a flourishing world.
What is the Center for Clergy Renewal?
The Center for Clergy Renewal is located at Holy Wisdom Monastery, an ecumenical monastery rooted in Benedictine spirituality and nestled on 131 acres of restored prairie, oak savanna and pine woods on the north edge of Madison, Wisconsin.
The Center’s purpose is to renew the spiritual heart of pastors who are facing profound and exhausting challenges amidst the fast-paced shifts in their Christian congregations of all denominations. The Center for Clergy Renewal (CCR) offers pastors residential immersions into the monastic, contemplative life of the people, place and spiritual practices of Holy Wisdom Monastery.
The CCR offers opportunities for pastors to experience contemplative renewal through two paths:
CONTEMPLATIVE RENEWAL IMMERSIONS – Extended cohort experiences over two years.
DEEP BREATH – Individual opportunities for spiritual renewal.
Contemplative Renewal Immersions
Each year, between Nov. 1 and Jan. 31, clergy are invited to apply to be a part of an ecumenical cohort of pastors who are committed to renewal through deepening contemplative practices and serving as spiritual companions to one another. The cohort will experience a summer and winter immersion into the rhythms of Holy Wisdom Monastery, engage in written reflections, and meet in online contemplative listening circles as a part of this two-year program.
The program was created using the Lilly Endowment’s Thriving in Ministry Fund. It is designed to offer early and mid-career clergy the opportunity to nourish their spiritual center by developing life-long, covenantal relationships between clergy peers. These deep connections create spiritual companioning, renewal of calling, and revitalization within the congregations they serve. Participating clergy cohorts will be diverse in many ways including but not limited to; age, gender identity, ethnicity, theological training, denominational affiliation, years in ministry, and spiritual practice.
Deep Breath
Deep Breath merges the current opportunity for personal retreats at Holy Wisdom Monastery with the resources and support of CCR. Pastors come for self-guided retreats that offer space to take a deep breath and rest in the rhythm of the monastery and the beauty of the prairie.
Deep Breath is open to all clergy currently serving in a congregation or chaplaincy. We operate on a “Pay What You Can” basis, with every participant asked to contribute what they can toward their room and board costs, so that we can continue to provide this opportunity for those who need it.
New Offering in 2027: “What Now? A Retreat for Retiring Clergy: Living as Faithful Stewards After Active Ministry” April 26-29, 2027
For many of us clergy, it is hard to recognize how fully we live within the role or identity as pastor or leader. As we approach the end of our active ministry career, new questions of purpose, faithfulness and human connection emerge.
This 4-day retreat will be a chance for guided reflection on the significant questions emerging within the hearts and lives of clergy as they end their active ministries.
Immersed in the rhythms of Benedictine life and using some practices of Courage & Renewal, participants will be invited to a time away for prayer, conversation, reflection, rest and wrestling.
This retreat will be led by Rachel Young Binter and Winton Boyd. Look for more information in early 2027.
History and Context
In October 2018 the Benedictine Women of Madison received a $1 million grant from The Lilly Endowment’s “Thriving in Ministry” initiative for the purpose of establishing the Center for Clergy Renewal at Holy Wisdom Monastery. The Benedictine Women of Madison is an ecumenical Christian monastic community of sisters, rooted in Benedictine spirituality, whose home is Holy Wisdom Monastery. Alongside the other communities of the monastery, our mission is to weave prayer, hospitality, justice, and care for the earth into a shared way of life.
Since opening the retreat and guest house more than 50 years ago, the Benedictine Women of Madison have been welcoming people from all faith backgrounds to pray, study, and nourish one another. After years of experience with the many pastors, ministers, spiritual leaders, and theological and biblical scholars who have come to Holy Wisdom Monastery for spiritual renewal, they realized that at this point in its history Holy Wisdom Monastery is uniquely experienced and equipped to create and facilitate the Center for Clergy Renewal (CCR).
Support CCR
In the midst of rapid change and diminishing resources, clergy are in need of renewal more than ever. Your gift gives clergy time set apart on fertile ground to root deeply into God’s love, grow in community and scatter seeds of hope for a flourishing world.
Donate NowLearn More About Supporting the Center for Clergy Renewal