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November 14, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – Come join a ritual celebration of Winter Solstice from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, December 21, 2025, at Weber Retreat and Conference Center. 

The celebration of the shortest day of the year calls us to remember, in the words of theologian Teilhard de Chardin, that “we await the coming light, rising from the darkness … ‘There is light and only light ahead of us.’” In song and dance, we will remember that we are light for those we meet and for the world.

The celebration is facilitated by Sister Esther Kennedy, OP, a Dominican Sister of Adrian, a retreat leader and spiritual director, and the facilitator of Weber Center’s monthly Days of Mindfulness.

The Winter Solstice celebration is free and open to all. Registration is not required. 

Weber Center is on the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse, Adrian, Michigan. On East Siena Heights Drive, turn into the driveway between Adrian Rea Literacy Center and the solar panel-covered carport. Follow the signs to Weber Center. For information, call the Weber Center at 517-266-4000.

October 16, 2025, Florissant, Missouri – About 20 pilgrims hiked through the wetlands along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on September 27-28, 2025, to deepen their appreciation of God’s creation, and especially the role of water. They were participating in “Pilgrims of Hope for Creation: The Rivers as Waters of Life,” hosted by the Pallottine Retreat and Conference Center in Florissant, Missouri.

Adrian Dominican Associate Celeste Mueller, DMin, President of the Board of Directors of the retreat center, organized and led the pilgrimage, convened at the end of the 2025 Season of Creation. The purpose was to “walk together to observe, listen and learn from the Rivers and the communities of plants, animals, and humans that depend on these living waters,” according to information on the retreat center’s website.

During the walk, Celeste told participants that they were hiking on “sacred sites” and encouraged them to treat these sites with an expectation that their encounter with them “might change something in us.” 

Laura Law, another Adrian Dominican Associate, also participated in the pilgrimage, and said she appreciated the meditation experience of the retreat. 

Read more about the retreat in an article by Laura Kosta published in The St. Louis Review, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Feature photo at top: Some of the participants in the Pilgrimage of Hope for Creation, hosted by the Pallottine Retreat and Conference Center in Florissant, Missouri, take time to pose for a photo.