Who We Are

Friends of MLRC: The Friends pray for the Retreat Center, and share a common love for contemplative community, the arts, and the environment. In addition to caring for the spiritual well-being of the Retreat community, they may commit to a small group that offers ideas as well as help with the concerns of the physical campus, upcoming programs, and policies that support wellness and safety of retreatants.

Director: Debbie Scott serves as Director of Mountain Light Retreat, which she and her husband David purchased in August 2021. David and Debbie attended an Art & Spirituality Retreat sponsored by the Cenacle Sisters at an Italian monastery and discovered the peace that results from time spent simply taking in natural beauty. Debbie is a Franciscan Companion, SSF, and a Spiritual Director trained at the RUAH School of Richmond Hill, trained in Group Spiritual Direction at Shalem Institute, and completed the Shalem Institute Program in Leading Contemplative Groups and Retreats in June 2022. She served as the Director for Spirituality and Service at St. Paul’s, Ivy Episcopal Church for 12 years, where she fostered Celtic spirituality, completing John Philip Newell’s School for Celtic Consciousness. She has loved serving the amazing, joyful people of Nzali, Tanzania, as well as local food justice-related ministries. Debbie continues to serve her church community by leading a centering prayer group and as an Education for Ministry (EfM) co-mentor, and the Diocese of Virginia as a Diocesan Spiritual Discernment Facilitator. She practices iconography, Celtic harp, and strives to control four-footed friends Napoleon and Queenie. Debbie and David are blessed to witness the loving relationships of their children and grandchildren. They are profoundly grateful for their family, and for friends and mentors who have supported the dream of a contemplative retreat.

Update: Debbie has earned a vocational certificate in Eco-Spiritual Direction, a program offered jointly by the Seminary of the Wild and Stillpoint. She looks forward to sharing this way of spiritual companioning!

Resident: Saccadharo Todd Brown is the visiting resident of Buddhist and interspiritual contemplation. Religiously raised in the Theravada and Zen Buddhist traditions, Todd also holds spiritual commitments in other Christian and Hindu contemplative communities. Todd has traveled extensively to retreat and reside in forest monasteries, abbeys, and ashrams throughout Europe, the US, and South Asia, learning from various teachers and cultivating the experience of inner-silence that emerges from the stillness, serenity, and wonder of spiritual practice in the natural world. Todd has been engaged in the complexities of a contemplative way of life for over 15 years, holds a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, has taught in the Religious Studies Department at George Mason University, and written for the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia. Todd is endorsed to teach meditation by his longtime spiritual guide and abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, founded in the Thai forest tradition. Todd’s experience at divinity school opened his eyes to the deep universal currents underlying the surface diversity of the world’s contemplative traditions, and led him to explore other spiritual paths and practices, and to ultimately embrace the interspiritual life. Splitting time between Northern Virginia and his residencies at Mountain Light Retreat, Todd will be in residence at various times throughout each month. While at Mountain Light Retreat, Todd will hold morning and evening meditation gatherings, which will include a short Buddhist chanting service. Beginning in March of 2025, he will also co-lead interspiritual retreats with teachers from a diversity of contemplative traditions. Being active in a 12-step recovery program, Todd can also be available for private discussions on spiritual integration on the path of recovery. To contact Todd regarding upcoming meditation gatherings, retreats, email updates, or any other matters, please email: todd.mountainlight@gmail.com.