Attendees: Mary Williams, Rick Martin, Chris Hagen, Kathy Mendoza, Parth Domke, Nichola Riggle, Jan Simpson, Linda Dollins, and Deborah Lewallen
9:35: Opening
Prayer followed by 5 minutes of silent prayer.
Reports:
COSD
Update: Mary
COSD is
advertising its 5-day Intensive Retreat, April 28-May 2, on the CO Ltd website.
“Forty Days
of Lent,” COSD’s Centering Prayer on Zoom, continues. Mary has attended a few times and 27-30
attend. Information about the event was
sent to CONSD’s prayer group facilitators.
Mary has not
yet met with Brian Curry, COSD’s coordinator.
Financial
Report: Linda
--CONSD’S current funds are $16,173.00
--Deposits
this period: $5,000.00 (donation).
--Withdrawals
$1,101.31
--Scholarships
since last report: $950.00
Communications
(Website and Newsletter): Mary
The next CONSD
Newsletter will be out sometime in May. We are also sending out flyers for the
Introductory Workshop on April 26. Mary
would like our flyers to be more jazzy and is investigating Canva, a document-creating
app. She still needs to complete the
work on the donation app for our website.
Introductory
Workshop Team: Parth Domke, Mary Williams, Jan Simpson, and Rick Martin
Parth and
Mary will be the presenters for the April 26 Intro Workshop, and the follow-up
sessions are scheduled online for April and May. The workshop will be held at St. Bartholomew’s
Episcopal Church in Poway from 8:30-12:30. Joan Thompson is taking care of
hospitality and using Starbucks’ carafes for coffee. Rick needs the CONSD credit card info to buy
Starbuck’s coffee [he ended up donating a carafe]. Parth will take care of contacting the
church’s sexton for set-up and other amenities St. Bart’s provides. As of now, there are 10 sign-ups, and with
the volunteers, a total of 16 participants are coming.
Deborah’s
Centering Prayer group has two new members who are interested in attending the
Introductory Workshop. Deborah is
encouraging them.
Jan Aller
contacted Mary about the possibility of an Intro at North Coast United
Methodist Church in Oceanside. The new pastor is interested (though this pastor
said she herself wanted to teach the prayer to her congregants). Mary
encouraged Jan to have the pastor get in touch with CONSD and possibly attend
the upcoming Intro. Mary suggested that another Intro in November might be
possible.
Facilitator
Enrichment on May 17, 9:30: Mary, Nichola, Chris and Parth
The team met
on April 11 to plan an Enrichment Morning for CONSD’s prayer group facilitators. The focus will be to encourage PGFs to more actively
shepherd their group’s new members (as well as older members who have never
attended an Intro) to make sure they understand the Centering Prayer method,
the purpose and guidelines of the prayer group, and the PG’s connection to the
worldwide network of Contemplative Outreach. Nichola said, “You don’t know what
you don’t know.” Parth will provide a
presentation on shepherding and a C. facilitator training video will be shown.
Chapter Enrichment
and Visioning Day: Mary
The date for
this day will be in either June or July, likely at St. Thomas More if it is
available. We have not scheduled a San Luis Rey Mission Day this year because
of the Chapter Enrichment/Visioning Day.
Mary emphasized that this is not a Discernment Day as we had five years
ago with Kathy DeFide. We do not need an
outside facilitator, but we will need a team of volunteers to help. Mary
suggested a catered lunch. Contemplative
Outreach Ltd has guidelines on the CO website to help make this day of
celebration and vision successful. Mary demonstrated where this information is on
the CO dropdown menu. Planning includes
a video with Fr. Thomas Keating, resources from CO, and instructive documents.
Mary
reminded us that we are living in an unprecedented time. In the last 5 years,
we have gone from in-person gatherings to meeting primarily on Zoom after COVID
entered our reality. Our divided times call
for heart, courage, and wisdom; the contemplative path calls us to receive and
share the Fruits of the Spirit. We, as
contemplatives, need to consider our body of practitioners as a whole and foster
times to be together as a community.
Mary asked
for those interested in creating a template for the Visioning Day so we can
begin. She suggested that this team
could watch the Thomas Keating video in preparation for an upcoming Visioning
Team meeting (on May 10). Kathy, Nichola, Parth, and Rick volunteered to work
with Mary.
Elena
Bertran Morning Zoom retreat: Mary
Elena is hoping to be able to have this retreat in August.
Chris
Hagen Zoom Event: Chris
Chris is presenting
a morning event on September 13, 2025 on Zoom entitled “The Third Way, a
Response to Social Discord.” The question driving the content is: What did
Jesus really mean by turning the other cheek and loving one’s neighbor? The format is different from Chris’s former presentations
with slides. Chris will give a 45-minute presentation on the topic and allow 45
minutes for small group discussion followed by a group representative reporting
back on the group’s discussion. Chris
will then present closing material.
CONSD
Prince of Peace Retreat: October 16-19, 2025: Mary
CONSD’s
yearly October retreat will again be four days with a similar format as last
year.
Discussion
on In-person Prayer Groups: Mary
The issue of
in-person prayer groups has been raised because a few people have contacted
Mary and Parth about why CONSD does not offer more of them. At present, only two are in-person. Mary and Parth have been discussing the
possibility of having Silent Saturdays at a church. Silent Saturdays are in-person occasions that
are simple in their format and allow for a gathering together for Centering
Prayer and Lectio Divina.
Deborah shared
that her prayer group’s decision to go back to in-person after the pandemic was
difficult, however, the group is continuing to grow after leaving Zoom. Deborah would like to offer leadership for the
in-person format, but her travel makes that difficult. Her former co-facilitator, Cindy Dodson, is
training to be a church deacon at Trinity Episcopal.
Barbara
Hamilton may be available to lead a Silent Saturday at St. Bartholomew’s. Barbara has also suggested having one at St.
Peter’s.
For a time, Nichola
said they had a parallel in-person prayer group with Zoom, but because Zoom
allows people to attend from out of state, they decided to focus on Zoom. Nichola thanked Mary for letting us know
about the in-person need.
Other: Parth will give a brief Forum talk
and slide show at St. Bart’s to inform people about the upcoming Introductory
Workshop on April 26.
Mary is now
working with Contemplative Outreach Ltd on an occasional basis. She assists with facilitating online programs
offered through Spirituality and Practice as well as writing and editing some
of the materials for Word of the Week.
She receives stipends for her work.
Because of these additional responsibilities, Mary told us that she will
need help, ideas, and energy.
The SLT
congratulates Mary on CO’s recognition of her gifts and her competencies—attributes
that we at CONSD have valued and benefitted from for many years.
Next SLT
meeting is July 12, 2025.
Chapter
Calendar updates can be found here:
http://bestillconsd.blogspot.com/2020/01/consd-calendar-for-2020.html
Closing
of Meeting: Mary
Mary closed
the meeting at 10:50am with the Prayer of St. Benedict.
“O gracious
and holy Father and Mother God, give us wisdom to perceive you, diligence to seek
you, patience to wait for you, eyes to behold you, a heart to meditate upon
you, and a life to proclaim you. Amen”
The meeting
ended at 11:50 am.
Respectfully
submitted,
Linda
Dollins
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