Thursday, August 6, 2020

Notes From Events Planning Meeting, Aug 5, 2020

In attendance:  Mary Williams, Linda Dollins, Joan Thompson, Kathy Mendoza, Elena Andrews, and Chris Hagen.  Patti Smith was not able to attend

Purpose of Meeting:  To assess where we are with event planning and creating a possible schedule of events for the rest of 2020 and possibly 2021.

We began the Zoom meeting with 10 minutes of Centering Prayer.

Scheduled events for 2021:  United in Prayer Day, March 21st.  (Note: Because COSD couldn’t host this year due to the pandemic,--our two chapters alternate hosting--we need to decide who will host in 2021.)   Prince of Peace Retreat October 15-17. 

Possible events this fall on Zoom.  Mary said that Patti Smith had taken the Welcoming Prayer Training and had shown an interest in presenting this fall.   Mary will be taking the Lectio Divina Presenter training this weekend and will probably need to present to receive certification. 

Modeling Opportunity:  Mary Magdalene Church is offering a presentation by Dr. Oliva Espin on John of the Cross on Zoom August 22nd and 29th for two hours each time. Some of us are going, in part, to see if that format is something we can use. Here is the Eventbrite link to register for the event.

CONSD Presenters: 

Elena has reservations about doing a retreat in November on Zoom.  The nature of her retreats incorporates a physical space and necessitates a certain amount of prayerful and reflective time for participants to experience the essence of the morning.

Chris has considered using a Zoom format for the presentation he has created: “Transformation of Consciousness: Becoming the Word of God.”  One concern is that he would like to be able to show his slides and also be seen at the same time rather than switching back and forth.  Mary said that Vincent Pizzuto’s “Apocalypse Now” switched between slides and Fr. Vincent’s talk as the slides were shown.

Chris also talked about possibly using former half-day retreat material again such as “Spiritual Gifts” and “The Prodigal Son.”  Forms would be required for the Spiritual Gifts retreat, and Joan suggested that they could be sent to registered participants and printed out before the retreat.

Ideas for Events:

Joan suggested that we have an event offering for Advent.  Linda mentioned using Alana Levandowski’s “Behold I Make All Things New” then realizing that Zoom doesn’t transmit music well.  We also considered showing YouTube videos which do allow for music. 

Linda suggested finding out more about Peter Traben Haas as a potential speaker either in a Zoom format or live.  He is a pastor at The Church of Conscious Harmony in Austin Texas. 

Mary reminded us that Rev. Susan Latimer who has been trained under and worked with Cynthia Bourgeault is a possible presenter from our area (Hemet).  She has presented using chanting and other contemplative forms.

Chris suggested that the prayer groups be contacted to find out what the members’ need for events is.

Actions:  Kathy said that she would find out more about the possibility of Peter Traben Haas presenting.  Linda, with Mary’s help, will work on contacting the prayer groups for input.  Linda will also work on sending out (Mailchimp) another list of Virtual/Zoom opportunities available through C.O., Mary Magdalene Church, and Fr. Vincent Pizzuto. Chris suggested that Mary contact Pamela Bergman and Mary Best for advice on hosting Zoom events and webinars for our local contemplative communities.

We agreed to meet early in September if needed.      

~ Linda Dollins


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