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Fall/Winter 2002-03 Newsletter
Fall/Winter Updates
Quick Links:
Contemplative Outreach—Atlanta held their first
conference on “Visioning a Future” at the All Saints Episcopal Church
in Atlanta. Thirty people from five Christian church denominations
participated with Susan Komis, Chairperson of the Coordinator
Communication Committee, who facilitated members in forming a plan of
support and outreach to persons wishing to pray Centering Prayer. Fr.
Basil Pennington joined the afternoon session as we brainstormed ways of
strengthening Centering Prayer in our region. Since Fr. Basil’s arrival
at the Holy Spirit Monastery last year he, along with three other monks,
has taught monthly Centering Prayer Workshops. As a result, we now have
350 names of persons in Georgia who have attended workshops. Our prayer
groups have increased from four to eleven in one year with requests for
more in Catholic, Episcopal and Presbyterian churches. The cities of
Savannah, Albany, and small communities in North Georgia are also
receiving workshops and are in the process of setting up prayer groups.
Vernon and Mary Joyce Dixon are serving the North Georgia region and will
go anywhere in the state of Georgia upon request to give workshops. In
April, four of us attended the Basic Facilitator’s Workshop conducted by
Bonnie Shimizu in Cullman, Alabama. In July, our Regional Coordinator and
a member of our steering committee attended the Coordinator’s Leadership
Training at St. Meinrad’s, Indiana. Hopefully by fall 2002, we’ll have
a website and start sending out a newsletter. We are grateful to all who
participate in supporting our efforts, both by their assistance with our
programs and by their generous contributions. |
Central Florida mourns the departure of Jacquie Brinkman
from this life on May 29, 2002 and celebrates her passing into life
eternal. Jacquie was active in Centering Prayer long before she moved to
Central Florida. She was the Contact Person for Volusia County and
facilitated prayer groups in New Smyrna Beach and Port Orange. After
completing the Nine Month Course, The Practice of Contemplative Living at
Chrysalis House, she assisted Barbara Rietberg in offering the course in
South Florida and was instrumental in making it available in Central
Florida. Jacquie touched the lives of many people by her presence and
spiritual practices. As ongoing spiritual formation for the graduates of
the Nine-Month Course and for those who had long-established practices of
Centering Prayer, Jacquie planned an Enrichment Weekend with Fr. Thomas
Keating on July 5-7, 2002. This retreat brought together people from all
areas of Florida, as well as a few from out of state, and filled the
entire San Pedro Retreat Center to overflowing. Thanks, Jacquie.
The Formation for Contemplative Outreach Service was
held in July at the San Pedro Retreat with six participants attending.
Therese Saulnier, Coordinator of New Jersey CO, led the workshop with
Basha Perez assisting. A 5-Day Retreat is scheduled for April 29-May 1,
2003 with David Frenette entitled “Integrating Centering Prayer Into
Daily Life.” The Federal Prison in Coleman, Florida has weekly Centering
Prayer groups in the women’s camp and the men’s medium complex thanks
to the generosity of Kay Hill and Mary Ann Blaubach who facilitate both
groups. The women’s group has been active since November 2001 and men’s
group since April 2002. Support and encouragement also comes from Chief
Chaplain Fr. Tom Hereford, who attended a 10-Day Intensive Centering
Prayer retreat in Miami this past June and attended the Enrichment Retreat
with Fr. Thomas Keating at Winter Park in July. The excitement continued
when Fr. Keating visited the prison and spoke to the female and male
inmates. Both groups were honored by his presence and inspired by his
words. They are very grateful to Contemplative Outreach volunteers for
making Centering Prayer available to them and supporting them in their
practice.
Kay Hill 352-326-8676, Kayhill@gate.net |
The first Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat at the
Abbey of Gethsemani, with Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler and Ruth Dundon as
leaders, was Spirit filled for the participants and for the monastic
community. In May, Susan Komis, Chairperson for CCC, presented a
Leadership Formation Workshop for our chapter. With her direction we are
moving to form a Leadership Team. On October 26, Fr. Carl Arico provided
an Enrichment Day for us with the topic, The Power of Silence. Following
this he gave The Taste of Silence mission to St. Catherine parishioners in
New Haven, KY. Jean Johnson 502-549-3122, jeanj@centeralky.com |
Denver, Colorado
(CO of Colorado)
We open our center poised for another banner year. The
highlight of our fall class schedule is Divine Love: The Heart of the
Christian Spiritual Journey (Course V), the final five tapes of the
Spiritual Journey Series—Courses I-III and the Advance Course-Course IV
in the spring. We anticipate record-breaking enrollment again this year.
The Spirit is really touching people so we will accommodate as many as
possible. September marked the start of our fourth offering of The Course:
The Practice of Contemplative Living (The Nine Month Course). As is our
tradition, Fr. Thomas Keating was the featured speaker for a mini-retreat
in October. In September and October, we scheduled a Half Day of Prayer,
followed by an Immersion Experience in November and a Weekend Intensive
Retreat on December 6-8 at Sacred Heart Jesuit Retreat Center. A five-day
retreat is in the works for the spring, in addition to weekend Intensive
retreats in February and June. Our 2002 Annual Conference was attended by
640 people, the largest turnout ever! We are storming heaven for
inspiration to make our 2003 Annual Conference (March 22, 2003) an extra
special event as it occurs during Lent. We continue to have noonday
Centering Prayer on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The staff and I
are truly blessed to offer our Center for Contemplative Living to those
seeking to experience the Divine Presence in their lives through Centering
Prayer. Sr. Bernadette Teasdale, 303-698-7729 Cost: $2900 USD For
information and/or application, please contact Cathy McCarthy, 257 St.
Andrew’s Road, Walden, NY, 12586, 845-778-2102; Email cathymc@frontiernet.net.
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Ghana,
West Africa
The Centre for Spiritual Renewal (CSR) is at the edge of
Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana, the home of the Ashanti people.
The centre is a place of beauty and refreshment for the many religious
sisters, priests, brothers and laity. Both African and expatriates come to
be refreshed and renewed spiritually, physically and psychologically. I
spent ten months in Kumasi, Ghana at the CSR in 2001 and 2002, and spent
six weeks there in 2000. I was invited to give an Introductory Workshop on
Centering Prayer in 2000 and found the people open and eager for this form
of contemplative prayer. When I returned in August of 2001, I found
several people still very involved in the practice and longing to
experience more. This past year three Introductory Workshops were held and
the follow-up sessions were offered. There are many people in Ghana united
in prayer daily with their brothers and sisters in other parts of the
world. My plans are to return to Ghana early in 2003. I will continue to
offer the Introductory Workshop and there are plans to offer a 5-Day
Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat in the spring of 2003. The dates will
be determined by the sisters/religious/laity as the coordinate their
calendars with school breaks and other commitments. There is an open and
receptive attitude, in fact deep desire, for this prayer form. I often
introduce it to people who are making individually guided 8-Day retreats.
Providing video material and books is one of our
greatest challenges. Our video materials are limited, but we are in the
process of expanding them with some help from Contemplative Outreach, Ltd.
We are building a library of books available for lending as well as having
books available for purchase. The Church is growing all over Africa and
this prayer form is a great enrichment for those seeking a deeper
relationship with God. Keep Ghana in your hearts and prayers. Sr. Therese
Jacobs former C.O. Contact for Mississippi. |
San Antonio, Texas
(COSA)
As one of the youngest chapters in the Contemplative
Outreach family, we have made strides both great and small in our attempt
to become an effective chapter. We began by looking to Dr. Homer Bain’s
leadership and experience as our coordinator. He is ably assisted by Tina
Balderrama, who is our chapter contact through the following email
address: banit@satx.rr.com. Our long strides include hosting a three-day
event featuring Fr. Keating, implementing a follow-up program and hosting
a Facilitator Training workshop. In July 2001, we co-hosted a three-day
event at St. Mary’s University. Nearly 1,700 people attended. We used
the momentum from the seminar to establish a follow-up program to
encourage local congregations to establish Centering Prayer groups. In
October 2001, we hosted our first Facilitator Training workshop, which
attracted nearly 50 participants from across Texas. Bonnie Shimizu led the
three-day workshop in San Antonio.
Our smaller and currently ongoing strides include
developing our chapter leadership structure. We continue to support the
development of new small Centering Prayer groups as the Spirit leads.
Currently, we have more than 12 small groups in our area. We have
appointed a small group coordinator, Sara Henderson, to provide support
through communication and other resources as needs are identified.
COSA now works closely with the Omega Retreat Center in
nearby Boerne, TX at the Benedictine Monastery. Nearly 50 persons signed
up for our first three-day Centering Prayer retreat last spring. Several
Centering Prayer retreats are currently on the schedule. (See the National
Calendar of Events listed elsewhere in this newsletter for specific dates
and times). Sr. Mary Agnes Zinni, OSB, the Spirituality Programs Director,
welcomes anyone who is interested to join us. COSA, together with Fred
Eckart of CO-Houston, continue to nurture and mentor areas in Texas which
have yet to form CO chapters. Some of those places include Corpus Christi,
Brownsville, Laredo and the Texas Hill Country.
In keeping with this year’s theme “Ecumenism: Our
Common Search for God”, Fr. Keating is making plans for the following
multi-faith events in Texas in 2003. His first stop will be Corpus Christi
on Thursday, February 27th for a two-hour presentation. Next, on Saturday,
March 1st, Fr. Keating will lead a one-day Centering Prayer workshop in
San Antonio at the newly built St. Brigid’s church. We hope to use its
full capacity to seat over a thousand people. On the following day, Fr.
Keating has accepted an invitation to speak to the Fredericksburg
Ministerial Alliance. Further, on the evening of March 2nd, Fr. Keating
will co-host, with his long time friends and vineyard owners, a lovely
Hill Country dinner for 60 persons set in the old winery. We are happy to
announce that most of the profits from the above events will go to support
Contemplative Outreach, Ltd. Bye for now. Be sure to come see us real
soon, you hear? Timothy Koock, Contemplative Outreach Liaison |
Our Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat was scheduled for
July 8 to 12, 2002. The typhoon season was upon us. We had a big one
(Typhoon Chata’an) on July 5th. The whole island went without water and
power for weeks. We were very fortunate that in our convent where Our Lady
of Kamalin House of Prayer is located, our water never ran out. This
prompted us to continue to retreat, even without power. So we started as
scheduled, with nine of us present, with no power to view the Part 3 video
of The Spiritual Journey Series. I outlined the tape transcription and
made copies in places that had generator power. This is how we managed
with our lecture part. At noontime of the 9th, another typhoon was seen
approaching Guam and the National Weather Service declared typhoon
conditions for the entire island. That’s when some of the participants
needed to go to take care of their families and homes. Those of us who are
single continued throughout this second typhoon (Typhoon Halong). On July
12, when it was deemed safe to go back in the streets, all the
participants came back and continued with the retreat the whole day. We
did Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina, lecture and a reconciliation service.
At 4 p.m. we had Mass and dinner, sharing our experiences of everything
that had happened to us. We all felt the presence of God in us, in spite
of everything that besieged our island. We left very happy and fulfilled.
Sr. Bernadette Marie Leon Guerrero, 671-632-238 |
Greetings from Contemplative Outreach of St. Louis. You
find us in our 13th year of continuous service. Please check us out on our
website, www.centeringprayerstl.com. So far this year we have had our
second Formation for Service, and begun our sixth year of doing the
Spiritual Journey Video Series.
The United Day of Prayer has become a special annual
event to honor our Contemplative Prayer Communities. Our Lectio Lenten
Retreat, led by Susan Komis, was a very special spiritual experience. We
are about to have Fr. Carl come to do a Lectio Intensive/Post Intensive
Retreat. Other ongoing programs include our Six Silent Saturdays and our
Ongoing Spiritual Formation, which is held four times a year and is
directed to Prayer Groups, addressing such themes as “Lectio Divina,”
“Stages of Prayer as Related to Faith Development,” and “Stages of
Groups to Maturity.” In September, David Frenette did a special retreat
for us: “Integrating Centering Prayer in Daily Life.” We also had a
Special Presentation with Dr. Larry Berarducci, Diane Guerra and Matthew
Flatley entitled “Nurturing the Center” which focused on how our food
choices affect our personal health; the sacred elements of food and
mealtime community and how Centering can help us live a life of abundance.
In October, Fr. Bill Sheehan did our fall weekend retreat on “Spirituality
and Sexuality.” In November, we will have another Special Presentation
when Brother Wayne Teasdale comes to speak to us on “The Mystic Heart.”
We conclude our year this December with our third Twelve Step Retreat and
our NTN (Nourish the Nourishers) Leadership Team retreat. Needless to say
this schedule keeps us very busy...and a good motto for us might well be:
“We Exist to Serve!” |
St. Paul, Minnesota
(CO of MN)
In January, 2001, dozens of volunteers rolled up their
sleeves to create one cohesive program that would combine all Centering
Prayer activities and resources throughout Minnesota. A core group was
formed (representing the four corners of this big state) and a newsletter
was created (communicating information about core group activities).
Eighteen months later, we’re happy to report that the Minnesota’s
Contemplative Outreach Program is firmly established and offering dozens
of enrichment opportunities to Minnesota’s Centering Prayer community.
The newsletter—designed to deepen understanding of the Centering Prayer
practice—has grown to include 500 readers. And the core group has been
meeting regularly to share resources and plan programs (almost 100 since
it was formed). Most recently, for example, David Frenette came to the
Benedictine Center of St. Paul’s Monastery in St. Paul, MN in April to
lead an inspiring five-day “Centering Prayer Formation Retreat” for
about a dozen attendees. Last May, Fr. Carl Arico shared his humor and
wisdom with about 50 people, when he presented a one-day seminar on “The
Dark Nights of St. John of the Cross” at St. Scholastica Monastery in
Duluth, MN. To celebrate how far we’ve come, the Minnesota Contemplative
Outreach Program sponsored a day-long retreat on September 21 at the
Benedictine Center of St. Paul’s Monastery. Participants learned how to
“Live Contemplatively in a Busy World” from Christian and Buddhist
teachers who shared their unique—and similar— perspectives. Our core
group continues to assess the needs of the practitioners throughout the
state and to develop programs that will enrich their spiritual lives.
Kathleen Lindstrom, Editor, Minnesota Contemplative Outreach News |
New York
Walden, New York
(CO of Orange County)
Hello everyone from St. Andrew’s Retreat House in
Walden. We have just completed our third 21-Day Centering Prayer Immersion
Retreat and are having our first Immersion Renewal Retreat in January
2003. The next 21-Day is May 24-June 13. In September 2002, we had our
first followup to the Nine Month Course—Part II: A Deepening of
Contemplative Living. The members of the Contemplative Living Communities
met with Fr. Thomas on October 20 following our Day of Enrichment, October
12. We continue to meet our five-year pledge to Contemplative Outreach. We
are beginning Part III of the Spiritual Journey videotapes with one local
parish, and Part I with another. We continue to be grateful to God for all
the people who support our retreats and programs, and for the privilege of
serving God and others in and through Contemplative Outreach.
Cathy McCarthy 845-778-2102, cathymc@frontiernet.net
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Westchester, New York
(CO of Westchester)
God’s blessings keep flowing, touching and inspiring
us to do new things and offer more workshops. This year we instituted a
monthly prayer meeting which takes place the third Saturday of every month
at St. Patrick’s in Armonk. It’s truly a day of renewal which begins
at 9:30, ends at 12:30, contains two sessions of CP, Lectio Divina and
sharing. This fall we gave an Introductory Workshop at Immaculate
Conception in Irvington on Saturday, Oct. 26. In the spring, we’ll be
doing an Introductory in Chappaqua on Feb. 15 at St. John and St. Mary’s
parish. Our new Advisory Committee is brainstorming creative ideas and we
are looking forward to a stimulating year! Diane Harkin, 914-423-4888 |
Most of our efforts for 2002 have been toward conducting
one-day Introductory Workshops and leading the follow up sessions. The
Jackson, TN, group hosted a one-day retreat at St. Mary’s Catholic
Church. They have two active support groups meeting in Jackson. Three
people from Jackson attended the Facilitator Training Workshop in
Nashville, TN, led by Bonnie Shimizu. Presentations on Centering Prayer
have been made at two of the largest Episcopal congregations in Memphis
and a one-day workshop was held with one of them.
Following a meeting of the Southeastern Cluster at St.
Mary’s Benedictine Monastery in Cullman, AL, with Bonnie Shimizu, a
Saturday half-day of Centering Prayer was started on the first Saturday of
each month at Holy Communion Episcopal Church in Memphis. This was
patterned after one that Bonnie led at St. Benedict’s in Snowmass, CO.
It begins with coffee at 9 am and the first sit is at 9:30, followed by a
contemplative walk, a second sit and a silent coffee break. An
introduction of CP is led in a separate room and the participants then
join the other group for the final sit. Fifteen attended the first
session. Bill Clemmons and Sr. Joann Mascari, OP, have been leading it. A
second group meets in Memphis at the Dominican Spirituality Center every
other Thursday evening.
Norma Moore, convenor of the Jackson, TN group was
elected the Coordinator and Contact Person for the Chapter. An active
Lutheran in her church, she leads the Stephen Ministry caregiving team and
the ChristCare small group ministry there. She attended the training event
for Coordinators sponsored by Contemplative Outreach, July 21-28 at St.
Meinrad Benedictine Monastery in Indiana. Norma, Sr. Joann, Joy Boller
(Treasurer) of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Jackson, and Bill Clemmons
of Memphis serve as the coordinating group of the Chapter. They meet two
or three times a year to plan events.
For the fall, the Memphis team is planning two
Introductory workshops plus the follow up sessions, and will continue the
first Saturday, half-day Centering Prayer events. A number of people from
both Jackson and Memphis are planning to attend the Day of Enrichment with
Fr. Keating in Nashville on October 12. |
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