The annual winter retreat hosted by the chapel at the University of King’s College offered students a weekend of prayer, nature and community. 

The weekend retreat was held at the Mersey River Chalets, from Feb. 7 to 9. It’s a yearly tradition, and many of the attendees, alumni and students alike, have been going for years. The chapel also hosts a retreat at the chalets every fall, as well as a Thanksgiving retreat to the Annapolis Valley and a day-trip to hike Cape Split. 

Fourth-year student Anna Carsley-Jones has been on 5 or 6 chapel retreats since she was in first year. She says she enjoys being in the kitchen and helping out behind the scenes. 

“It’s always really lovely because you get to do it with people who you don’t see maybe every day,” she said. 

The retreat was led by Rev. Dr. Maico Michielin, a writer and retired Anglican priest. Every day he gave a lecture exploring the retreat’s theme: “The Formation of the Secular Self: You are what you love!” He spoke about atheism, living in a secular age and how you are shaped by what you love.

Michielin began the first lecture with a prayer, and thanked the chaplain, Rev. Dr. Ranall Ingalls. 

“It is a real privilege for me to be here,” he said.

The chapel and its retreats are open to students of all faiths. Indra Molins, a first-year student at King’s, said she doesn’t attend the retreats for the religious aspects, but for the shared community and the chance to get off campus and connect with nature. 

Molins said she felt welcome at the retreat, as the religious aspects were “not strictly enforced.” She said the lectures were a standout and found they complemented what she has been learning in FYP.  

“As someone who is atheist it was quite an interesting topic to see what it meant to be religious in this day and age,” she said. “What it meant for the individual, what it meant as a community, in comparison to, perhaps, the medieval times.”

Although Molins felt welcome and found community at the retreat, she said it didn’t feel as community oriented as the Thanksgiving retreat. 

Carsley-Jones said she also finds community at the retreats and is not particularly religious or spiritual.

“It’s important for me to, you know, interact with the religious aspect of these events as much as I feel is enriching to me,” she said, “but not interact for the sake of feeling like I have to.”

The retreat was attended by people of all ages, including the youngest member, 6-week-old George. Reflecting on her first retreat, Carsley-Jones said a lot has changed since she was “a nervous first year.”

“The chapel retreat has been . . . an opportunity and a space for me to get more comfortable being in big groups and interacting with people.” 

By the end of the retreat, Carsley-Jones said she was eager to get back home. 

“I’m happy to go back home, settle into my routine,” she said. “I love Chapel retreats dearly, but my sleep is always thrown off a lot by them.”