Labor Day Retreat
Sept 4 - 7, 2026
Welcome to the Rowe Labor Day Men's Retreat community for men who love men, where every man is embraced, valued, and celebrated for who they are. Join us in a community of camaraderie, support, and joy.
Camping: $440.00
Commuting: $395.00
Residential: $590.00
What is the Rowe Labor Day Men's Retreat?
In 1985, as the HIV/AIDS crisis was terrorizing gay communities across the nation, The Rowe Center took the bold step of opening its doors and creating a public weekend for men who love men. Men experiencing suffering and loss found comfort and companionship. Some, estranged from parents and relatives, created new families. Some who felt abandoned by society, the nation, and sometimes even God, found the embrace of a brother, a community, and sometimes, even God. Many who were grieving also found something to celebrate.
While a great deal has changed in the nearly 40 years since, we still gather for comfort, companionship, a sense of family, and a celebration of this life together. We are the oldest continuous gathering of our kind in the nation, a place where hundreds of lives have been transformed across the decades.
Who Are We?
We are gay, bi, trans, queer, and questioning. If you don’t see yourself in that list, we’ll add a word – COME. While a great deal has changed in the nearly 40 years since, we still gather for comfort, companionship, a sense of family, and a celebration of this life together. We are the oldest continuous gathering of our kind in the nation, a place where hundreds of lives have been transformed across the decades, and a place where all who seek to join us are warmly welcomed.
New for 2026: Check out our Rowe Men’s Retreat Chaplaincy Program.
Meet your CO-FACILITATORS
BILL CHISHOLM (co-facilitator) has been teaching yoga and stress management for 30 years. He is certified in Kripalu Yoga and completed Herbert Benson’s Mind/Medicine course through Harvard. He has also done extensive study and practice in vinyasa, Iyengar, and PNF yoga. He is the former founder of Cape Ann Yoga Center and has taught stress management and yoga at the Marino Health Center in Cambridge and several other medical facilities in the Boston Area. He is a fine art oil painter exhibiting throughout New England and a passionate student of both cello and duduk.
JIM PETOSA (co-facilitator) is Professor Emeritus at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, where he directed the School of Theatre (2002-2019) and taught through 2023. He served as artistic director of New Repertory Theatre (2012-2018), Boston Center for American Performance (2009-2019), and Olney Theatre Center in the DC area. He is co-artistic director of Potomac Theatre Project/PTP/NYC (1987-present).
A member of Actor’s Equity and the Society of Directors and Choreographers, Petosa is a current board member and past president of Becket Arts Center, chair of Quincy’s LGBTQ+ Commission, and has served on the Board of Governors at United First Parish Church in Quincy, MA.
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Chaplains at the Rowe Labor Day Retreat Q&A
Why is Rowe providing chaplains at the Labor Day Retreat?
The world is a hard place to live in right now. War, other forms of violence, political strife, unemployment, homelessness, food insecurity, illness… a partial list of the many problems and conditions that can affect all of us, directly or indirectly. Whatever we are carrying when we arrive at Rowe can affect our retreat experience, and our retreat experience can “kick up” whatever we are carrying. Sometimes it helps to talk to someone who is trained to listen and respond with compassion, empathy, and other forms of care to “lighten your load.” Retreat space, especially for newcomers, can be challenging; for example, “I had trouble getting into the conversation at dinner last night,” “I had a challenging exchange with my roommate,” or “There’s a guy I kind of like but I’m not sure what to do about it.” Chaplains can help people navigate spaces like these.
What does a chaplain do?
Chaplains are trained providers of spiritual care. They listen with presence and attention to a person’s emotions, and respond with appropriate support, such as compassionate presence, empathetic listening, mirroring strengths, and upbuilding resilience. Chaplains don’t try to “fix” or “change” us. They join us where we are, in the moment, as allies and companions in whatever we are experiencing, offering what some call “radical hospitality.”
Who will the chaplains be?
Karl Paulnack is a longtime Labor Day Retreat participant who co-led the retreat for many years. Karl did his clinical training in an ER during the COVID pandemic and now works as a hospital chaplain. Albert Johnson-Mussad first encountered the Labor Day Retreat in 1999 and has attended many of the retreats since then. Albert trained in a Trauma I hospital and also works as a chaplain in a hospital setting. Both Karl and Albert trained as interfaith/multifaith chaplains under the standards of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), the leading accreditor of chaplaincy education in the U.S.
Do you have to be religious or spiritual to talk to a chaplain?
No! Interfaith or multifaith chaplains care for people of all faiths or spiritual traditions, or no faith or spiritual practice.
What kinds of things can I talk to a chaplain about?
Everything! What’s going well? What are you celebrating? What feels hard? What questions or issues are you wrestling with? Where are you growing or feeling stuck? You can bring anything on your mind or in your heart to a care encounter with a chaplain. Conversations with a chaplain are held in sacred confidence and are never shared in any way, with anyone, except under very specific circumstances, such as if they believe you are about to harm yourself or others.
If I want to talk to a chaplain during the retreat, how can I do that?
If you’re feeling like you might benefit from some compassionate care, you can ask Karl or Albert for a check-in. If you sense a brother struggling, you can support them by reminding them the chaplains are available and perhaps even offer your support to go with them. While chaplains are typically not qualified to provide mental health care, compassionate presence and empathetic listening can help ease a difficult moment. Talking with a chaplain can be really casual, like a walk in the woods or a swing on the porch.
Can I talk to a chaplain after the retreat? If so, how?
We have discovered a valuable piece of advice over the years: “During the Rowe weekend, focus on the Rowe weekend. Focus on what’s happening right now, on your interactions with the people around you, on your feelings at this moment.” The role of the Rowe chaplains is specific to the weekend, and will end at the moment we say goodbye to each other. However, it is our tradition to host Zoom “reunions” several times during the year. In the weeks following the retreat, the chaplains will co-host a Zoom group meeting inviting those interested to share any “spiritual” (as they define it) learnings, challenges, awakenings, or next steps.
Albert E. Johnson-Mussad first encountered the Rowe Labor Day Retreat for Men Who Love Men in 1999. He has presented at this retreat on eclectic spirituality and our human goodness. Albert comes to chaplaincy from a life in PK-12 schools as a teacher, instructional leader, and school improvement consultant. Albert qualified as an Interfaith Chaplain in a hospital designated as a regional trauma center under the standards of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), the leading accreditor of chaplaincy education in the U.S. Albert currently works as a chaplain in a hospital setting.
The essence of chaplaincy as I have come to love it is listening and following this person as they are moved to share themselves with me. Building trust by connecting in our shared humanity is essential. Listening deeply, following closely, and building trust gently, as two people finding their way, makes it possible to encourage, build strength, and fortify resilience for each person’s unique and precious journey.
Some define chaplaincy as “care of the soul or spirit,” an orientation that touches me deeply. In a care encounter, my mission of service is to accompany by listening for the soul’s expression: For what is this soul yearning? With what hurt(s) is this soul entrusting and blessing me? What gifts and strengths is this beautiful soul revealing to me? I strive to use what I have heard to upbuild the care seeker, to leave them with new insight and courage on their way. I love being with people like this because I have found the work of caring for souls and spirits to be the deepest and fullest way to love a person.
Karl Paulnack, Chaplain
I am a retired classical pianist. I played thousands of concerts throughout the US and Europe as a member of orchestras, director of a conservatory, dean of a college, a professor, and a teacher of pianists, all of which required deep engagement with groups. I love understanding groups, how we move in groups, how we resolve conflicts, provide leadership, and cultivate lifelong relationships. While my work life was spent in music, my true love is “group life.”
I am a clinically-trained, ACPE-accredited hospital chaplain on the staff of the Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca, NY. As a chaplain I feel most drawn to the emergency room, patients with cancer, and people recovering from addiction. I make my home in Ithaca with Dave, my husband of 34 years, and our dog Mato. I am in a committed, long-term love relationship with Andrew, Cameron and Logan, my “Practice Group”, with the mission of knowing and being known deeply by other men. I also have a hunka, a Lakota word for a “brother closer than blood”, a committed-for-life partnership now in its second decade.
The nature of my spiritual practice is eclectic, mystical, and shamanic (“takes on different shapes in different worlds”). As a member of the leadership team at Easton Mountain in the early 2000s, I co-created the New Year’s Eve Fire Ritual, designed workshops, and led small groups. I came to Rowe a stranger, in 2015, as a keynote presenter of TouchPractice (touchpractice.com), a spiritual practice of holding others, which I originated and developed. During a ten-year period I held more than a thousand men, one hour at a time, and taught TouchPractice workshops to hundreds of men across the country. Chaplaincy residency in an ER during the COVID pandemic taught me how to “hold” people without touching them, while wearing full PPE. (The most important body part is the heart!) My roots are Catholic, Buddhist, and Unitarian, and my current spiritual practice partners are groups of Quaker, Shoshone and Wampanoag peoples.
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