2027 Women's Retreat
Walking Inward with Mary Magdalene
The women of Grace Church will enjoy a weekend of rejoicing, reflection, and renewal from Friday, January 15 to Sunday, January 17, 2027 at the Montreat Retreat and Conference Center in Montreat, North Carolina.
Mary Magdalene walked the full arc of human experience — through life, death, and rebirth — and emerged as a vessel of Christian wisdom. Her life was one of full engagement: with love, loss, and the world as it is. Drawing on ancient sources, contemporary scholarship, and contemplative practice, this retreat is an invitation into the living tradition of Mary Magdalene, a tradition that calls forth a life lived at the level of the heart.
In the ancient Christian mystical tradition, the heart is the deep center of the human person — the location of the soul, where mind and body and spirit converge. To live at the level of the heart is to see clearly and love fearlessly — to recognize ourselves, one another, and the world as held in the expanse of the Beloved. Inside a world of opposition and diminishment not unlike our own, Mary Magdalene offers us a path into the heart that is both fierce and tender, nurtured and engaged. She invites us into crucial questions for the times we are living — how do we hold the demands of the world and the quiet insistence of the soul? How do we love the world and not lose ourselves to it? How do we reside in the world at the level of the heart? We will follow the thread of her witness through ancient texts and contemplative practices into the terrain of our own lives.
Cost: includes room, meals Saturday & Sunday, all retreat expenses
• $380 for a single room with a private bath
• $345 for a single room with a shared bath
• $270 for double occupancyRegistration: Registration is now open! To register, complete and submit the online form below. A 50% deposit is required with your registration. The remaining balance is due December 1, 2026. Room requests will be honored as space is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Refund Policy: Because Grace’s financial obligations to Montreat become fixed on December 1, 2026, cancellations received after that date will receive refunds only if we can fill your space.
Contact: Please contact Cheryl Kelley with any questions.
The Rev. Judith Whelchel (she/her/hers) is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, and contemplative teacher whose work draws on the living intersection of embodied spiritual practice, prophetic witness, and the wisdom of the Divine Feminine. Ordained in 1996, she was the founding Vicar of the Church of the Advocate, a spiritual community with unhoused persons in Asheville, and currently serves as Rector of St. James Church in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Her theological vision is shaped by a deep commitment to spiritual practices, the ancient wisdom streams of Celtic and Divine Feminine tradition and being a mother. Judith holds an MSW, an M.Div., and an MFA in creative writing, and lives in Asheville, North Carolina.
Mary Magdalene Revealed: The First Apostle, Her Feminist Gospel & the Christianity We Haven’t Tried Yet by Meggan Watterson