The Rev. Robert Fruehwirth

Since my first years in the monastery I have developed a specialized ministry of offering spiritual direction, speaking at conferences, and leading retreats. These have taken me all over the country and to the United Kingdom, from small quiet days at secluded parishes to leading conferences with hundreds of attendees in Central London.

While I still offer retreats and spiritual direction, with an emphasis on clergy formation, the great joy at the heart of my parish ministry has been the development of a program that supports lay people in a ministry of offering small groups for spiritual formation. Facilitators meet regularly, engage a rule of life, study and pray together. We also practice active listening and group facilitation skills. For a PDF of the first small groups program run at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church click here.

Grounding such work is my post-graduate degree in Person-Centered Counseling from the University of East Anglia in the UK. Alongside my work as a therapist, I worked as a trainer in programs accrediting others for Counseling. 

Paying Attention is the Most Basic Form of Love. 

Upcoming events

• Oct. 26 - 28, 2018 - St. Michael’s Parish Silent Retreat  - Avila Retreat Center, Durham - Love Bade Me Welcome: A Retreat with George Herbert and Julian of Norwich. Retreat is filled.  

Selected Speaking Engagements Beyond Parish

• 2018: Conference Leader for national gathering of the Conference of Anglican Religious Orders in the Americas and the National Association of Episcopal Christian Communities.
• 2016: Book Tour in UK, including engagements at St. Paul’s Cathedral London, Westminster Cathedral Hall London, Meditatio London, Chichester Cathedral, in Norwich and Cambridge.
• 2015: Keynote speaker at UK National Conference for the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM).
• 2015: Delivered Lent Lectures at Norwich Cathedral on community inspired by St. Benedict of Nursia and Bl. Julian of Norwich
• 2014: Day conference on Julian of Norwich for St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.
• 2014: Led Quiet Days and weekend retreats offered at Cambridge, Chelmsford, and Norwich.
• 2013 and 2010: Keynote speaker, Silence in the City, Westminster Cathedral Hall, London
• 2013: Plenary presentation on spirituality in professional contexts at a CPD day on spirituality at the University of East Anglia
• 2012 & 2013: Quiet Day and Parish Retreat for St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich.
• 2012: Plenary presentation on Julian of Norwich, Cathedral Canon Pastors’ Conference, Norwich Cathedral.
• 2012: Speaker, International Conference on Children’s Spirituality, University of East Anglia.
• 1994-2010: Regularly offered retreats, conferences, quiet days, and addresses to different groups, including two clergy retreats, across the US and in the UK. Averaged four retreats or quiet days a year 1998-2010.