This year’s retreat was once again a lovely blessing. Throughout the weekend at Camp Catoctin, about fifty Friends, mostly from Frederick, but also York, Shepherdstown and Gettysburg meetings gathered to explore how prayer works in our lives. The clerk of the Yearly Meeting also joined us on Sunday for worship. It is not any easy task to describe a weekend that meant much to so many different people in different ways. Was it the waterplay? The S’mores? The session led by Ethan and Katie Bliss? The wildflower walk? The workshops? The fellowship during meals, when singing, cooking or doing dishes? Living in community deepens our connections with each other, and even though this is not even a 48 hour event, somehow our spirits are opened when at our Yearly Meeting’s beautiful Camp Catoctin.

—Helen Tasker, Clerk of Frederick Friends Meeting