Contemplative Outreach News ~ Volume 21 , Number 2 · Summer 2006

The Heart and Soul of the Contemplative Outreach Network

We will be hosting teleconferences on Lectio Divina, Contemplative Service, Silence and Solitude, Simplicity, Hospitality, and Prayer. 

We scheduled four teleconferences hosted by the Coordinators Communication Committee to discuss Chapter issues. The first took place on Wednesday, February 1, 2006. Fr. Thomas was joined by Susan Komis, Anne Mazza, Diane Harkin and I as we discussed Servant Leadership, Volunteerism, and the Refined Essentials for the Introduction to Centering Prayer. Future calls are scheduled to be held at 8:00pm EST on August 2 and November 11. 

Here, at our International Resource Center, we are committed to communicate and assist the growth throughout our contemplative community. Toward that end, we have brought Dyane McMahon on board as Executive Director to support the administrative needs of the growing organism of Contemplative Outreach.

Dyane comes to us with 20 years not-for-profit experience. She has extensive hands-on experience in finance, project management and human resources. She has strong communication, interpersonal, team building and customer service skills. She practices Centering Prayer and resonates completely with our vision and purpose. She will relieve me of the day-to-day administrative work and free me to accompany Fr. Thomas, teach and train our growing leadership and build alliances with like-minded groups while supporting the worldwide efforts to renew the Christian Contemplative Heritage. She is here to make the work of the volunteers in our network easy by providing them with tools that are designed to facilitate communication. Please join me in welcoming Dyane McMahon to COL. 

After twenty years of publishing the Contemplative Outreach News free of charge, it is time that we are gently inviting you to partner with us in its publication with your financial support. I encourage you to consider one of the subscription options available, and if you are not in a position to offer financial support know that you will not be dropped from our newsletter mailing. We trust that you will continue enjoying the newsletter and we count on your prayer support. (See the subscription categories on Page 5. ) 

As you know, Contemplative Outreach is offering ancient solutions to the challenges of modern time. We know that Centering Prayer changes hearts and provides a space for healing and peace to impact our global community. Contemplative Outreach gives me HOPE in a bleak world. As Fr. Thomas says in Open Mind, Open Heart, "Contemplative prayer is the world in which God can do anything. To move into that realm is the greatest adventure. It is to be open to the Infinite and hence to infinite possibilities. Our private, self-made worlds come to an end; a new world appears within and around us and the impossible becomes an everyday experience." P. 13. I invite you to join this adventure by staying connected and updated, visit our website regularly, attend our workshops and retreats, participate in our program offerings, and pray with one another daily. We are delighted to serve God through this magnificent network, and we know that any good that we do is the work of the Holy Spirit. ”

Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler,

President