Star of the North Retreat Centre — St. Albert, Canada
A Christian retreat house of prayer, formation and welcome in St. Albert, Alberta
Take Highway 2 north from Edmonton into St. Albert, turn west on St. Vital Avenue, and the Star of the North Retreat Centre is at the top of the hill, beside St. Albert Catholic Parish. The house opened in 1953, offering retreats and what its pages call a spiritual oasis to the Christian community at large. It was built for live-in groups. There are 51 bedrooms (22 doubles, 29 singles), five regular suites and one barrier-free suite, a dining room for 86, a private chapel, two large conference rooms and several smaller meeting rooms. On average it serves 6,000 people and 300 events a year.
The centre's vision, "Awaken to Spirit, Transform the World," was revised by its Board of Directors and approved by the OMI Lacombe Canada Provincial Council in June 2016. It shares that council's values: closeness to the people, sacred space of welcome, solidarity with the poor and marginalized, and care for people and creation. The centre says its mission is wide enough to embrace spiritual seekers from all walks of life and particular enough to stay true to its Oblate spirituality. It also names a commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, and to retreats on justice, peace and the integrity of creation with ecumenical and interfaith dimensions.
The signature program is Aurora Living: Formation Through Word and Creation, a two-year journey of six three-month modules, from "Creation: Stories of Beginnings" to "New Community." Each module has an opening retreat weekend, two Saturday retreats and monthly small-group Wisdom circles. Participants can join in person, live in, or online. Alongside it run shorter retreats such as Enfleshed Spirits and Lamplight: A Journey into Scripture.
Personal retreatants can book a room for a night or by the day. The house has a library of spiritual reading, eight sitting areas and a yard and garden. The Sturgeon River walking trails are a ten-minute walk away. A list of spiritual directors will meet retreatants there. Behind the building, the cooperative Star Garden grows food by organic, deep-mulch, no-till methods. In 2024 it drew more than 50 volunteers and over 500 volunteer hours, in partnership with groups including the St. Albert Food Bank and Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society.
Traditions: Christian contemplative prayer, Oblate spirituality, Spiritual Direction, Scripture-based formation, Therapeutic Yoga, Regenerative gardening
Programs: Aurora Living: Formation Through Word and Creation, Personal Retreats, Spiritual Direction, Star Garden, Enfleshed Spirits, Lamplight: A Journey into Scripture, The Stories of Our Lives, Synodal Journey panel discussions