SLT Meeting Minutes from Sept 26, 2020

 

In attendance: Linda Dollins, Mary Williams, Diane Langworthy, Rick Martin, Kathy Agnew, Diane Oldfield, Jan Simpson, Patti Smith, Susan Wheeler.

Opening: The meeting began at 9:35 via Zoom. In the interest of keeping the Zoom meeting to 90 minutes or less, Mary led a 10-minute period of Centering Prayer.

Reports from Teams and Team Leaders:

• COSD Liaison Update: Diane Langworthy noted that the COSD Team Leaders last met in June. There have been tentative plans for an outdoor workshop on the Desert Fathers and Mothers at Mission San Luis Rey in February 2021; currently this is unlikely to occur. COSD will have a Prayer Group Facilitator meeting on Wednesday, Sep. 30.

• Media Librarian: Diane Oldfield reports that she can mail CDs and DVDs out to those who request them.

• Prayer Group Facilitator Support: Kathy Agnew is seeking input for the next Facilitator Bulletin: resources for Advent, stories about prayer-group Zoom experiences, and material related to the pandemic experience. As a follow-up to the August Facilitator Bulletin on the issue of politics in prayer groups, Diane Langworthy suggested including a link to Richard Rohr’s recent message on political divisiveness: "Some Simple but Urgent Guidance to Get Us Through These Next Months."

In the future, Kathy would also like to include a forum for facilitators in which they would speak from the heart about their experiences leading prayer groups – possibly titled “Heartspeak,” or “Sharings of Contemplative Wisdom.”

Kathy and Linda agreed that we need to have a meeting for Prayer Group Facilitators, as there has not been one in quite some time. Linda suggested that facilitators might share responses to questions such as: “Where are you in this? How is your prayer group doing? What are your concerns?” with an emphasis on answering from the heart.

Diane Langworthy suggested holding an hour-and-a-half retreat for Prayer Group Facilitators on Zoom.

Mary shared some updates to the “Be Still” blog: more Facilitator Resources, a link to SLT meeting minutes, and a Lectio Divina Template archive.

• Financial Report: Linda, as temporary Treasurer, reported that CONSD receives monthly donations from a couple of individuals. There have been a few expenses incurred for technical resources for Mary. The chapter’s SDCCU account has a balance of $10,174. Prince of Peace Abbey is still holding our $3900 deposit that had been intended for the Deepening retreat this past April -- canceled due to COVID. This deposit can be used for the three-day fall retreat in October 2021 or any future CONSD event at the Abbey.

Linda suggested that we might consider helping to start a new CO chapter in the Temecula area.

• Communications: Diana Conner has retired from serving as webmaster and newsletter formatter. Mary is asking for volunteers to help with the website and the newsletter. She particularly needs someone who is familiar with Wordpress – or suggestions on eventually hiring someone to update and maintain the CONSD website. She is also seeking contributors to write reflections for the CONSD Newsletter. Reviews on books about contemplative prayer or responses on books by contemplative writers are very welcome. Jan Simpson suggested that Prayer Group Facilitators could share their reflections on books that their groups are reading together.

• Events: Linda recently sent a questionnaire to Facilitators to get input from the people in their prayer groups about future CONSD events that would be offered via Zoom. In response: 22 people are interested in a 2-hour morning retreat based on a specific theme (like Henri Nouwen’s Prodigal Son), 14 people are interested a 2-hr retreat/workshop featuring a guest speaker, 7 people are interested in a multi-week course (like last year’s “Human Condition” course facilitated by Patti Smith), and 8 would be interested in a Lectio-Divina retreat/workshop. Pat Julian suggested Catherine Doherty, the founder of Madonna House, as a speaker. Another person suggested teachings on spiritual practices that complement Centering Prayer.

Patti Smith is open to leading a class that would include time for centering prayer, a Spiritual Journey video by Keating, and time for sharing. Linda suggested that the class could be limited to watching ½ hour (instead of an hour) of the video each time to keep the Zoomed meetings to around 90 minutes.

Patti also pointed out that the Denver Center for Contemplative Living (centeringprayer.net) is willing to share their courses, resources, and offerings worldwide. Also: Brother Micah, from St. Benedict's Monastery at Snowmass, is very good at leading Lectio Divina workshops.

Diane Langworthy noted that Eventbrite is a good resource to use to register people and receive donations for Zoom events. Also, Linda Hall-Phoenix, a harpist in her prayer group, would likely be willing to play the harp at retreats and workshops offered over Zoom. Diane's additional suggestion for a prayer-group facilitator Zoom retreat would be to have facilitators engage in the practices detailed in the appendices to Richard Rohr’s book, The Universal Christ.

Mary mentioned that CONSD could offer scholarships to people of limited income who would like to attend CONSD-recommended courses and workshops that require a registration fee.

• Other Concerns:

--The SLT voted unanimously to send a $100 donation to the Washington DC / Maryland CO Chapter. Their chapter coordinator, Martha Johnston, has allowed CONSD to share her Lectio Divina templates with our facilitators via our “Be Still” blog.

--Several people brought up the fact that a recent recording of an Introductory Centering Prayer Workshop facilitated by LJ Milone and Fr. Carl Arico is now available on YouTube. We can share this link to people and/or groups who are interested in an Intro or a Centering Prayer refresher.

--Calendar updates: A possible early December Advent retreat via Zoom. Next SLT Meeting: January 9, 2021. United in Prayer Day via Zoom: March 21, 2021 March 6, 2021 [updated by CO, Ltd. in 1/21]. Prince of Peace Fall Retreat: tentatively scheduled for Oct. 15-17, 2021.

--Susan Wheeler would be willing to take registrations for Zoom events through email.

• Susan offered up a closing prayer, and the meeting was adjourned at 11:00.

Respectfully submitted,   ~Mary Williams