Clergy Wives to Gather for Retreat in Pennsylvania

BOLIVAR, PA — Clergy wives from across the Orthodox Christian community will gather Oct. 16–18 at Antiochian Village Camp in Bolivar, Pennsylvania, for the annual Clergy Wives Weekend. This year’s pan-Orthodox retreat, titled “Rooted and Resilient: Grace, Strength, and Sacred Boundaries,” will offer a weekend of fellowship, prayer, encouragement, laughter, and renewal.

The retreat will focus on the ways grace, resilience, and healthy boundaries can help clergy wives remain rooted in Christ while navigating the distinctive joys, expectations, and challenges of ministry life. Participants will have opportunities to share their experiences, reconnect with longtime friends, build new relationships, and reflect on their vocations within clergy families.

Bp. John of the Diocese of Worcester and New England will attend the retreat, while Mother Christophora, Abbess of the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration, will connect with participants remotely. Organizers describe the gathering as an opportunity for women who understand the particular demands of clergy family life to encourage and support one another.

The weekend will begin Friday, Oct. 16, at 4 p.m., with dinner scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday’s activities will provide additional opportunities for fellowship, discussion, prayer, and rest amid the surroundings of Antiochian Village Camp. The retreat will conclude Sunday following the celebration of the Divine Liturgy and brunch.

All clergy wives are invited to participate in the pan-Orthodox gathering, which organizers say is intended to provide a time to rest, laugh, pray, share experiences, and be strengthened in Christ alongside other women serving within clergy families.

Previously, the UOJ reported that the Antiochian Mid-America Diocese gathered more than 400 faithful for its 2026 Parish Life Conference.