WAY OF HOLINESS
About Our Foundress
The Way of Holiness Retreat Center & Lay Community was founded by Sr. Mary-Jo Cassidy, in 1981. In the 1970's Sr. Mary-Jo felt God calling her to found a place that would provide people an opportunity for rest, healing, reflection, and prayer. Her vision was also to establish a monastic type of lay community with members who would be in constant prayer together, supporting the community at large with their prayers.
At the time of her call she was a Sister of the Precious Blood and gained permission from her superiors to leave their community to start the Way of Holiness, it is said that her Foundress wanted to join her!
She was able to aquire a building that was housing for nurses from Jasper. The building was moved by truck to its current location. Almost all of the contents, systems, and materials she needed to complete its construction were donated or completed by volunteers who came for weeks or months to live in the community and share there skills.Sr. Mary-Jo was a woman of deep faith she knew that God would always meet her needs.
On Aug. 25th, 1999 she went back to her heavenly home and now it is up to the next generations to continue her vision and mission.
Decades later, Sr. Mary-Jo’s vision has resulted in a transient community of like-minded individuals seeking personal holiness and healing.
WAY OF HOLINESS
About Our Community
The Way of Holiness Retreat Center & Lay Community was founded by Sr. Mary-Jo Cassidy, in 1981. Her desire was to form a community that would live and pray together.
Most current community members are volunteers who volunteer their expertise in exchange for room and board. It gives them a chance to discern, live in community and enjoy the natural surroundings while growing in their faith and prayer life.
Potential Community members are welcome to stay for a week to see if it is a match for them and if it is the right community setting. We as a current community take time to also see how the potential community member will integrate with current community members.
If both sides feel it is a good match then the potential community member is invited to remain for a longer period. Some community members commit to a few months and others commit to a year.
The running of the retreat centre, care of the grounds, and upkeep of the facility are accomplished through the cooperation of community members.
We currently have a full-time director on site who helps maintain the community and all other aspects of the facility.
As a community, we meet daily for prayer. Our door is always open for the general public to join us in prayer.
Each community member also participates in daily personal prayer. The time for personal prayer depends on the work being completed by that community member.
Winter time is filled with the removal of snow, warming fires in the great room with fireside chats, and interior work during the time when outdoor work is a lot less.
Summertime is filled with hikes on our forest trails, gardening, and outdoor activities.
During retreats and facility rentals, community members are assigned roles based on their skills and the retreat needs. We work together as a team.
Daily activities look different for each community member depending on what their role is and why they have decided to become a part of the community.
We often share our skills and talents with the community which brings variety and connection with our fellow community members.
If you are looking for a place to discern your next step in life, share in community and deepen in prayer we invite you to connect with our director and set a time when you can come down for a visit.
Community members are expected to be drug and alcohol-free. Smoking is strongly discouraged on the property as we have to think of those who have allergies trying to enjoy our facility.
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