"In a world of noise, confusion and conflict, it is necessary that there be places of inner silence and peace..."
Thomas Merton
Our Mission
St. Mary's Sewanee: The Ayres Center for Spiritual Development, is dedicated to providing spiritual hospitality to persons of diverse religious and spiritual backgrounds, where guests can encounter beauty and simplicity, silence and tranquility, warm welcome and spiritual friendship while here for retreat, renewal, and learning.
Who We Are
Resting on over 200 wooded and landscaped acres with a magnificent bluff view, St. Mary's Sewanee provides a sacred space in which guests may meet, bring their own group programs, engage in a personal retreat, or participate in program offerings by St. Mary's Sewanee.
Our simple beginning was a convent founded in 1888 by the Sisters of St. Mary, an Episcopal Order remembered as Saints for their heroic ministry during the Memphis Yellow Fever Epidemic. The Sisters soon opened a school for mountain children for who the county school was too distant, the road too difficult. As transportation improved, it became a boarding school for girls until 1968, then a retreat center sponsored by the Order using the former school buildings. When the Sisters moved to a convent nearby in 1988, the property was purchased and began an expanded ministry as a Center for Spiritual Development, continuing the Sisters’' legacy.
For twenty-four years, St. Mary’s Sewanee has welcomed its guests to the former girl’s boarding school’ dormitory and classroom building.
While we emphasize the small group experience, we are able to accommodate a large number for special events featuring recognized presenters who attract a wide following. Our facility includes two spacious meeting rooms, a dining room, reading room, and a small chapel suitable for individual devotions and small group worship. Set apart from the main building, The Woodland Hermitage, a lovely stone and wood cottage with kitchenette and bath, is an ideal place for a personal retreat.
Trails weaving through our campus access forests, fields of wild flowers, and rocky outcroppings overlooking the valley. There is a labyrinth on which to trace a sacred path. The University of the South, with its impressive resources, is minutes away.
Pictured Left to Right. Front Row: Kathleen E. Woods, Morgan Van Zandt Merrill, Susan Allen Huggins ( Secretary ), Sister Elizabeth Mills, Patricia Shield-Ayres, Robert M. Ayres, Jr. ( Vice President ) Carol W. Wray, and Jan Gessler Pate ( Treasurer ).
Back Row: The Rev. Thomas Rand Morris ( Executive Director ), John M. McCardell, Jr., J. Bradbury Reed, The Rev. Thomas R. Ward, R. Dale Grimes ( President), Frederick F. Sommer, Tom G. Watson, Jean Jackson Hastings, and The Rt. Rev. John Bauerschmidt.
Not pictured: Nora Frances Stone McRae, William V. Parsons and The Very Rev. William Stafford.
Amended Charter 10-30-04.pdf
501(c)(3) letter.pdf
Original Charter 10-20-1987.pdf
audit report.pdf
St Marys 2009 Final Report.pdf
990 Final - 2nd Amendment.pdf
6-30-11 Final Audit.pdf
St. Mary's Sewanee invites guests to discover the great promise they carry within them. We do not seek to change people. That is God's work. We seek to offer a place set apart where change may happen.
Program Descriptions
St. Mary's Sewanee offers programs and retreats designed to support spiritual growth and to appeal to a variety of interests. Presenters have been carefully selected for their expertise in biblical, contemplative, and practical spirituality. They are here to open new pathways of insight and understanding, and to provide concrete assistance and pastoral support. While the weekend schedule will vary somewhat depending on the nature of the program or retreat and the size of the group, a weekend at St. Mary's Sewanee is designed to include unstructured time for rest and reflection.
Check-in for our weekend programs begins at 4pm on Friday. The program officially begins with the 6pm evening meal and ends Sunday at 11am.
The respective residential fees include conference fees, lodging, and meals. The commuter fees cover conference fees and meals.
Please view our events page for a listing of upcoming St. Mary's Programs.
Centering Prayer is a method of prayer which prepares us to receive the gifts of contemplative prayer. Centering Prayer consists of responding to the Spirit of Christ by consenting to God's presence and action within. It furthers this development of contemplative prayer by preparing our faculties to cooperate with this gift. Centering Prayer facilitates a movement from more active modes of prayer - verbal, discursive or affective prayer - to receptive prayer of resting in God. Centering Prayer is meant to enrich and complement other forms of prayer, not exclude or replace them. Centering prayer is at the same time a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship.
It is Trinitarian in its source, Christ-centered in its focus, and ecclesial in its effects; that is, it builds communities of faith and bonds the members together in charity. Centering Prayer is drawn from ancient prayer practices of the Christian contemplative heritage, notably those of the Desert Fathers and Mothers and the monastic practice of Lectio Divina (praying the scriptures). The Cloud of Unknowing (author unknown), St. John of the Cross, and Teresa of Avila are a few of the classical resources in the contemplative heritage. Centering Prayer was distilled into a simple method of prayer in the 1970s by three Trappist monks, Fr. William Meninger, Fr. Basil Pennington, and Abbot Thomas Keating at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.
Please view our events page for a listing of upcoming Centering Prayer Retreats.
The Academy of Lifelong Learning at St. Mary's Sewanee is a program that provides opportunities for Lifelong Learning for local residents and visitors in a beautiful bluff setting at St. Mary's Sewanee. All kinds of topics, speakers, and conversations are presented!
An annual membership fee of $10 entitles you to a full year of admission to these monthly offerings designed to provide enrichment through creative, cultural and spiritual experiences.
Optional box lunches are available each month for $10. Please call us at 931-598-5342 to reserve yours.
All programs begin at 12:00pm and run approximately one hour in length.
Please view our events page for a listing of upcoming Lunch and Learn dates.
A personal retreat is a planned time of spiritual renewal and refreshment. A retreat of this type offers us the rare opportunity to look closely, with new eyes, at the meaning of our lives, our relationships, and our experience of God.
If you would like to plan a personal retreat at St. Mary's Sewanee, please call or email us. A reservation coordinator will contact you within 2 business days. We will help you set up a time for your retreat. Additionally, we can provide you with contact information for private yoga sessions, personal massage, spiritual direction, and worship opportunities.
Accommodations
We have three hermitages (The Woodland Hermitage, the Merton Hermitage, and Julian's Hermitage) for personal retreats expressing warm welcome through simplicity, order, modest beauty and spare practicality.
Financial Assistance is available when needed. Please contact us at reservations_stmaryssewanee.org for availability. All requests remain confidential.
"The spiritual life does not remove us from the world but leads us deeper into it."
- Henri J.M. Nouwen
Calendar
January 7, 2012, Saturday 9am - 3pm
1 Day Introduction to Centering Prayer Workshop
Presenter: The Rev. Tom Ward
Fee: $35
January 8-15, 2012, Sunday 4pm - Sunday 10am
8 Day Intensive and Post-Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat
Residential Fee: $695, Deposit $50
January 12, 2012, Thursday 12pm - 1pm
"The Mountaintop Water Supply" - Field Trip to Clifftops Lake Clubhouse
Presenter: Ben Beavers
Academy for Lifelong Learning Membership Fee: $10 annually, $10 boxed lunch (optional)
January 7, 2012.pdf
January 8-15 2012.pdf
February 9, 2012, Thursday 12pm - 1pm
"Visions of Constitutional Order"
Presenter: Gayle McKeen
Acadmey for Lifelong Learning Membership Fee: $10 annually, $10 boxed lunch (optional)
February 10-11, 2012, Friday 5pm - Saturday 5pm
Writing as a Spiritual Practice
Presenter: Anne Bright
Residential Fee: $120, Commuter Fee: $80, Deposit $50
February 10-12, 2012, Friday 6pm - Sunday 11am
Learning to Pray with C.S. Lewis
Presenter: The Rev. Dr. Robert MacSwain
Residential Fee: $275, Commuter $175, Deposit $50
February 26-27, 2012, Sunday 3pm - Monday 3pm
Poetry Divina: A Celebration of Rumi
Presenter: Edward Groody
February 10-11, 2012.pdf
February 10-12, 2012.pdf
February 26-27, 2012.pdf
March 4-8, 2012, Sunday 4pm - Thursday 10am
5 Day Intensive and Post-Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat
Presenter: The Rev. David Frazelle
Residential Fee: $525, Deposit: $50
March 8, 2012, Thursday 12pm - 1pm
"Jane Austen and the British Landscape"
Presenter: June Mays
March 9-11, 2012, Friday 6pm - Sunday 11am
Introduction to Lectio Divina
Presenters: Carolyn Goddard and Judi Gaitens
Residential Fee: $300, Commuter $190, Deposit $50
March 16-18, 2012, Friday 6pm - Sunday 11am
Male Spirituality in the Post Modern World
Presenters: The Rev. Gordon Peerman and The Rev. Dr. J. William Harkins
Residential Fee: $300, Commuter Fee: $190, Deposit $50
March 25-26, 2012, Sunday 3pm - Monday 3pm
Zentangle
Presenter: Rose Wathen
Residential Fee: $120, Commuter $80, Deposit $50
March 4-8, 2012.pdf
March 9-11 2012.pdf
March 16-18, 2012.pdf
March 25-26, 2012.pdf
April 12, 2012, Thursday 12pm - 1pm
"Contemporary Issues in the Middle East"
Presenter: Nick Roberts
April 15-16, 2012, Sunday 3pm - Monday 3pm
Consider the Wildflowers
Presenters: Tara Armistead and Bonnie Smith Whitehouse
Residential Fee: $120, Commuter Fee: $80, Deposit: $50
April 27-29, 2012, Friday 6pm - Sunday 11am
Healing this Troubled World:
The Spirituality, Social and Political Consequences of Effective Interfaith Collaboration
Presenters: Interfaith Amigos: Pastor Don Mackenzie, Rabbi Ted Falcon, and
Imam Jamal Rahman
*Please note this retreat has been canceled for 2012, but we hope to reschedule in the future*
April 29-May 4, 2012, Sunday 4pm - Friday 9am
Lectio Divina Immersion Retreat
Presenters: Leslee Ann Terpay and George Welch
Residential Fee: $525, Deposit $50
April 15-16, 2012.pdf
April 29-May 4, 2012.pdf
May 10, 2012, Thursday 12pm - 1pm
"If On a Desert Island...Music I Can't Live Without"
Presenter: Bob Bernhardt
June 2, 2012, Saturday 9am - 3pm
Presenter: The Rev. Thomas Morris
June 3-10, 2012, Sunday 4pm - Sunday 10am
June 14, 2012, Thursday 12pm - 1pm
Program to be Determined
June 2, 2012.pdf
June 3-10, 2012.pdf
July 12, 2012, Thursday 12pm - 1pm
"The Meaning of Caring: Caregivers and Those They Care For"
Presenter: Carroll Young
August 9, 2012, Thursday 12pm - 1pm
"Tennessee's Six U.S. Supreme Court Justices"
Presenter: Bill McKee
September 7-11, 2012, Friday 6pm - Tuesday 11am
The Sacred Breath of God:
Practicing the Presence of God in Everyday Life
Presenters: Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler, David Frenette, and Hadley Morris
Contact Contemplative Outreach Ltd. at (973)838-3384 for registration.
September 23-25, 2012, Sunday 4pm - Tuesday 3pm
3 Day Centering Prayer Retreat
Presenter: The Rev. Geoffrey Butcher
Residential Fee: $300, Deposit $50
September 28-30, 2012, Friday 6pm - Sunday 11am
From Emotional Chaos to Clarity:
The Power of Mindfulness and Intention to Change Your Life
Presenter: Phillip Moffitt
September 7-11, 2012.pdf
September 23-25, 2012.pdf
September 28-30, 2012.pdf
October 14-16, 2012, Sunday 6pm - Tuesday 1pm
Centering Prayer as an 11th Step Practice
Presenters: Roberta Oster and Becky Hannah
Residental Fee: $300, Deposit $50
October 26-28, 2012, Friday 6pm - Sunday 11am
Birthing a New Spiritual Paradigm
Presenter: The Rev. Jerry R. Wright
October 28-29, 2012, Sunday 3pm - Monday 3pm
Explorations in Film
Residental Fee: $120, Commuter Fee: $80, Deposit $50
October 14-16, 2012.pdf
October 26-28, 2012.pdf
October 28-29, 2012.pdf
November 4-5, 2012, Sunday 3pm - Monday 3pm
Creating Your Story
Presenter: Minton Sparks
November 16-18, 2012, Friday 6pm - Sunday 11am
Caregiving: Embracing Our Vocation as Beloved Children of God
Presenters: Dr. Roy Elam, John S. Mogabgab, Sr. Sue Mosteller,
and Michelle C. Foote-Pearce
Residential Fee: $275, Commuter Fee: $175, Deposit $50
November 30 - December 2, 2012, Friday 6pm - Sunday 11am
Lectio Divina and The Four Senses of Scripture
Presenter: Leslee Anne Terpay
November 4-5, 2012.pdf
November 16-18, 2012.pdf
November 30-December 2, 2012.pdf
December 7-9, 2012, Friday 6pm - Sunday 11am
Exploring the Spirituality of The Middle
Presenter: Dr. Lauren Winner
December 14-16, 2012, Friday 6pm - Sunday 1pm
Presenter: The Rev. Margaret Marshall
December 7-9, 2012.pdf
December 14-16, 2012.pdf
Weekly Offerings:
Yoga with Hadley
Tuesdays 9:00am-10:15am
Thursdays 3:30pm-4:45pm
Centering Prayer
Tuesdays 4:00pm-5:30pm
Registration Form.pdf
Plan Your Visit
Check In and Check Out
Guests may check in anytime after 4:00pm CST. If you arrive after regular office hours, your check in information will be posted on the bulletin board in the lobby of St. Mary's Hall. We ask guests to check out by 11:00am CST. If your check out outside of office hours, you may return your key in the Express Checkout Box located in the lobby of St. Mary's Hall.
Sister Anna Kathleen Ambrose, our resident host, lives on property and is available outside of regular office hours for urgent needs.
Groups
Our facilities can accomodate up to 100 guests though we place an emphasis on the experience available to groups of a smaller size. We have two spacious meeting rooms and a large dining room, each with picture windows and a bluff view. Each room can be configured in a number of ways to meet group needs. The larger meeting room can accomodate 100 guests, while the smaller meeting room can accomodate up to 40.
Delicious meals, featuring fresh garden produce when available, homemade soups, carefully prepared entrees, and desserts are served buffet style to groups of 12 or more.
Hospitality
Please notify any staff member if you have any needs. We have a small supply of sundries and a first aid kit in the Guest Pantry of St. Mary's Hall.
Coffee, tea, and ice are always available in the lobby. The Guest Pantry is located across from the office in St. Mary's Hall. A courtesy guest phone is located at the top of the ramp on the second floor of St. Mary's Hall. Long distant calls require a phone card. Cell phone coverage is generally good. Phone messages for guests received in the office will be placed on the Guest Information bulletin board in the lobby of St. Mary's Hall.
Wireless internet connection is available in the lobby of St. Mary's Hall.
Our Grounds
St. Mary's Sewanee offers over 200 acres of forest, bluff and pasture for your enjoyment. In addition, 13,000 acres on the domain of the University of the South are minutes away. Information about hikes and walks on our grounds and nearby areas is available in the lobby of St. Mary's Hall.
Worship
Daily services are held at the Community of St. Mary Convent, a beautiful 5 minute walk from St. Mary's Sewanee. Weekday and Sunday services are observed at Otey Memorial Episcopal Church and All Saints Chapel at the University of the South.
Additional Services
Guests may find it beneficial to schedule time with a spiritual director while on retreat. One common rhythm is to meet at the beginning and end of your retreat. Please contact us to schedule spiritual direction.
A certified Massage Therapist and a certified Yoga Instructor are available upon request. Additional fees apply. Please contact us for more information.
Room Rates
1 Guest 2 Guests
Per Night Per Night
St. Mary's Hall Dorm Rooms $50 $72
St. Mary's Hall Corner Apartment $65 $90
St. Joseph's Hall Dorm Rooms n/a $38
St. Joseph's Hall Apartments $40 $58
The Woodland Hermitage $65 $90
Meals
Minimum of 12 required for meals.
Breakfast $9
Lunch $10
Dinner $14
(all prices plus applicable taxes)
Encounter
beauty and simplicity,
silence and tranquility
Support Our Mission
Members of the Board of Trustees have committed themselves to launch a long-term capital campaign to secure $11.1 million in order to build facilities that will improve the experience of guests and broaden the scope of its mission. Strong growth in group reservations, program attendance, and guests from across the country has encouraged an expansion of its ministry of hospitality in the beautiful setting on the Cumberland Plateau.
The Center is increasingly constrained by outdated facilities designed for other purposes. Its main buildings, built of brick and cinder block, were designed 50 years ago as a school dormitory and classrooms. While many of its regular guests have grown to love this space, the limited flexibility of its meeting rooms and the shared dormitory bathrooms, have become significant barriers to growth. Without air conditioning it is difficult to offer St. Mary's Sewanee programs or to attract groups during the summer, a prime time to visit The Mountain.
The new buildings are designed to provide comfortable, attractive meeting and lodging spaces and to take full advantage of the beauty of The Mountain with its sweeping bluff view. The layout of rooms and meeting spaces will allow the Center to host several small to mid-size groups at the same time, with areas of quiet for contemplative practice and suitable gathering places for those engaged in more interactive programs.
The campus development will include:
• 50 guest rooms with private baths, flow through ventilation, quiet air conditioning and
heating;
• meeting space in two separate buildings, enabling the Center to provide appropriate
venues for groups of different size and different purpose;
• a modern kitchen and dining facilities;
• green features such as lighting, recycled insulation, certified wood, and VET flooring;
• four Hermitage houses;
• welcome center;
• chapel;
• library;
• necessary infrastructure such as a water tank for increased pressure, high tech
septic system; and
• furnishings for all buildings and kitchen equipment.
The Board of Trustees has wisely created phases for the campaign and the subsequent campus development.
Phase One: The first residential building with 20 guest rooms and septic system which will serve the entire campus. We have received the financial gifts for this phase and construction is underway.
Phase Two: $3,200,000 -- A dining and meeting building with kitchen, large and small meeting rooms, and offices. Our hope is to raise this money in the next 14 months, so we can start construction as soon as Phase One is complete.
Future Phases: $4,900,000 – A second residential building with 16 guest rooms, additional meeting space, a reception foyer, four Hermitage houses, a welcome center, chapel, library, and a third residential building with 14 guest rooms.
The Board of Trustees recognizes the challenge of a campaign this size. It also, however, recognizes the opportunity for expanded and enhanced ministry that success will bring. Members of the Board invite you to join them and many others who share the vision for St. Mary'’s Sewanee: The Ayres Center for Spiritual Development in transforming that vision into reality.
Please contact Linda Mays at linda.mays_stmaryssewanee.org or
1-800-728-1659 to receive more information about the new Ayres Center campus or discuss ways you can contribute to the campaign.
Thank you for considering a gift to St. Mary's Sewanee: The Ayres Center for Spiritual Development. As an independent non-profit Center for Spiritual Development, we count on our donors and advocates to support our mission. St. Mary's Sewanee is not an endowed organization. Our revenues include the fees charged for use and programming, donations from guests and friends, as well as grants from churches, foundations and corporations.
At St. Mary's Sewanee we cherish silence, stillness, and reflection, and the great gifts these bestow on our lives. We endeavor to make these gifts available in abundance through dedicated work and stewardship of the natural beauty of our Cumberland Plateau location. You can have a part in moving this vision forward with your financial support.
Please consider the following ways to make your gift to St. Mary's Sewanee.
Give Online
St. Mary’s Sewanee offers you the convenience of giving online with your credit card using PayPal. Here you can donate to the Annual Fund and/or the Capital Campaign. You also can set up a recurring transaction.
You also may make a gift over the telephone via credit. Call St. Mary's at 1-800-728-1659.
Make Your Gift By Mail or Telephone
If you prefer to donate by mail, you may send a gift to:
St. Mary's Sewanee, P.O. Box 188, Sewanee, TN 37375
Give a tribute gift
Honor your friends or family by making a gift in their honor or memory to St. Mary's Sewanee. For more information on making a tribute gift, call Linda Mays at 1-800-728-1659.
For more information about a gift of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or including St. Mary's Sewanee in your will, please contact Linda Mays at 1-800-728-1659.
Thank you for supporting St. Mary's Sewanee.
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said,‘"It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”" Acts 20:35
How does a non-profit run without volunteers? At St. Mary’'s Sewanee we are so blessed not to have to know the answer and cannot imagine life without them. They always seem to show up at the right time.
Many, many volunteers are interwoven into our daily life. Every guest who crosses the threshold benefits from the work of our numerous volunteers -- whose time is a gift and experience is gold.
Most of our board of trustees have volunteered their time and talents to St. Mary’'s Sewanee for numerous years, several even from our beginning 24 years ago. They run committees, plan events, garden, raise money, create websites, organize and host programs and retreats. And there are the countless others who help the board in making St. Mary’s Sewanee a special place where one can come for spiritual renewal.
You can hear the smile in the volunteer’s' voice when you call to ask for their help and the patience in their voice when you try to explain the situation that needs their guidance. Their answer and willingness to help is filled with love and kindness and somehow they always manage to go beyond our expectations.
Our volunteers’ goals are to help us improve upon our offerings and spiritual hospitality to all who come for a meeting, a night, or many days.
You too can volunteer your time and talents. If you would like to volunteer, please email Thomas Morris at thomas.morris_stmaryssewanee.org or call him at 931-598-5342. We are always grateful for extra hands and minds to help us fulfill the mission of St. Mary's Sewanee.
There are few opportunities in life to do something above and beyond the normal everyday experience that impacts the lives of men and women for generations to come. One of those rare opportunities occurs when a person makes significant, perhaps sacrificial, gift to St. Mary’'s Sewanee; and that gift often takes the form of a bequest or other type of planned gift.
A planned gift is one that is legally consummated during the donor’s' lifetime but whose principal benefits most often do not accrue to St. Mary’s Sewanee until some future date – usually after the death of the donor. Planned Gifts can play an important role in individual estate planning and wealth management and may include (1) bequests to St. Mary’'s Sewanee, (2) charitable lead trusts that may permit individuals to save on income, gift and estate taxes while providing for St. Mary'’s Sewanee for a specified number of years; and (3) charitable remainder trusts whereby the donor transfers an asset to a trustee for the eventual benefit of St. Mary’'s Sewanee and retains or provides for another person or persons an income for life or a specified number of years.
The Anne Magruder Legacy Society exists to recognize, honor and thank those individuals who have made provision for St. Mary’'s Sewanee in their estate plans. The Legacy Society honors Anne Warren Magruder who spent a lifetime in service to the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee and was instrumental in helping to establish St. Mary'’s Sewanee in 1988. Since the beginning of St. Mary’'s Sewanee Anne devoted enormous energy and time to its development and, like many of our leadership donors, carried a deep passion and devotion for what we offer.
