Do you…
- need a day of quiet and solitude to rest, reflect, be?
- need at least one of these each year?
- sense that God may be inviting you to enter silence and reorient?
Since Fall 2025, we’ve offered this opportunity on October 29 in celebration of National Hermit Day. It has been warmly received, so we’re introducing April Hermit Day as a midyear invitation to pause, continue this practice, and join others who courageously enter the silence.
Although the origins of Hermit Day are not firmly known, many attribute it to the 18th century and suggest a connection to the Irish Hermit Saint Colman. Through Hermit Day, we join the many others who, throughout Christian history, have entered silence and solitude to remember what is most important: to listen, to pray. A day like this has the potential to initiate or strengthen a regular practice.
Since 2014, Bon Secours Retreat & Conference Center has hosted Quiet Morning events that are also opportunities for shared silence. This day will follow a similar pattern. We will begin and end together in simple prayer, have lunch in shared silence, and spend the day on our own in prayer or other quiet activities such as walking, doing art, reading, journaling — whatever you feel inclined to do. The Center’s daily Mass at 11:00 am will be available to you, if desired. This is primarily a silent retreat, though a very brief (optional) sharing will be available towards the end of the day. Lunch is included. Guided by Joanne Cahoon.
Joanne Cahoon, D.Min. holds a bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies, master’s degree in Religion/Pastoral Ministry, graduate certificates in spiritual direction and in spirituality studies, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where her specialization was spirituality and practical theology. Along the way, Joanne has taught in elementary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate school settings. She has also served as youth minister, high school campus minister, consultant, writer, national trainer, diocesan staff member, staff member of a graduate school, spiritual director, facilitator of retreats, and professional coach. Joanne has welcomed and worked with many individuals and groups, serving them as they listen for God’s invitations in their personal and corporate lives. She finds it a privilege to be involved in spiritual and human formation — bringing deep listening, presence, creativity, and a commitment to her own ongoing formation to her work.