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Dominican Retreat

and Conference Center

What fun ~ this year, for our 75th Anniversary, DRCC is participating in the Schenectady County Historical Society's "Festival of Trees"

The event opens this Saturday, December 2 and runs through December 23rd. Hours are from 10AM - 4:30 PM. Our tree is beautifully decorated with handmade ornaments featuring our 75th Logo!

Link to the Historical Society page:
https://schenectadyhistorical.org/event/trees23/

Our first retreat was held in the "House on the Hill" with a Women's weekend beginning August 13, 1948. 

On August 13, 2023 we began our Jubilee Year, and have many wonderful events planned in the year ahead.  These will be listed on our Special Events page or on our Programs page, with Jubilee related programs listed in green rather than the usual blue.

This page will develop by sharing small "snippets" of history and a few photos as well as we move through the year.  It's going to be a wonderful ride, and we are blessed and thankful to be sharing it with you!

The original retreat house was purchased from the estate of Charles Witbeck in May 1948. The house was beautifully furnished and the transition from a family house to a functional retreat house was not an extremely difficult one. By August of the same year the house was ready to serve the community of the Albany Diocese, and on August 8th, the late Bishop Edmund Gibbons officiated at the dedication. His message to all present at the dedication ceremony: "This house is for you, the people. It is not the Sisters'. It is your house; it will be what you make it."  By August 13th, the retreat house was opening its doors for the first retreat group. Twenty-seven women were present for that first weekend.

As the retreat movement to spread, it became evident that larger accommodations were needed. Plans were made for a new retreat house which would offer accommodations for fifty people.

On May 3rd, 1958, the Most Rev. William Scully officiated at the laying of the cornerstone; on November 22nd of the same year, he blessed and dedicated the new building. The house was officially initiated into the world of retreats with its first weekend retreat on November 28-30, 1958, which fifty women attended.

DOMINICAN RETREAT AND CONFERENCE CENTER

75 Years of Caring for the Spirit!