Attendees: Mary Williams, Brian Curry, Nichola Riggle, Jan Simpson, Deborah Lewallen, Ardy Woodmansee, Linda Dollins
9:33 -- Opening Prayer with a few minutes of silence.
Updates
Intro Team:
1.
Workshop at Solana Beach
Presbyterian: Feb. 28, 2026, from
8:30-12:30
Mary reported that over 40 people attended the workshop,
which the church also advertised as a Lenten event. Solana Beach Presbyterian provided
hospitality and registration. Patti
Smith and Mary were the presenters and Jan Simpson and Kathy Mendoza assisted. The follow-ups were on Zoom and attended by
2-8 people for the 4 sessions. Mary said
the choir rehearsal on Thursday was a conflict for some. These sessions were
recorded and made available to the attendees. For these sessions, Mary used the Invitation From God videos with Keating instead of the Carl Arico videos we’ve used
for our recent Continuing Sessions.
The church gave CONSD a free will offering of $87.00, which
we donated to Brother Benno’s. CONSD
also received a $500 honorarium from Solana Beach Presbyterian for the
workshop.
2.
Multilingual Workshop at St. Mark’s Lutheran
Church in Chula Vista: March 21,
2026
This workshop was a joint COSD and CONSD venture. Brian Curry and Mary Williams were the
presenters. Not many people
signed up, and about 12 attended, most who were from the St. Mark’s Centering
Prayer group. Not much translation was
needed but materials, including slides provided by CO Ltd., were both in
Spanish and English in case the need had arisen. The free will offering of $70
was donated to Brother Benno’s. Mary has driven down (about an hour) for the 5
follow-up sessions which are still going on.
Since this group has been reading and enjoying Carl Arico’s book, A
Taste of Silence, she showed the Arico and Keating video series for these Continuing
Sessions.
St. Mark’s has a Centering Prayer group led by Pastor Karla
Halvorson who loves Centering Prayer and wants to have more events & is
willing to provide bilingual resources if needed.
Brian also presented a Centering Prayer Intro at St. Mark’s in
2025.
COSD 2026 Five-Day Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat: April
13-17, 2026, at Prince of Peace in Oceanside.
Brian reported that he and Mike will lead this retreat. It is full, with 25 participants, some from out
of state, and a waiting list. Advertisement
was done by local chapter email blasts and through the CO Ltd website. Brian talked about changing some of the
content from last year, especially at the night sessions with another period of
Centering Prayer instead of Lectio Divina.
He likes the monastic silence. Ardy agreed that having fewer words going
into the prayer was preferable— “not so many words coming at you.”
The cost of the retreat is $550. A scholarship from CO Ltd has helped to cover
the cost.
Mary liked the idea of having 2 Centering Prayer silent
retreats, spring and fall, as part of our Centering Prayer yearly schedule.
4. Treasurer’s Report: Linda
·
Total balance: $16,706
·
Deposits: $5,657
·
$938 withdrawals
·
$150 scholarships
·
$157 Brother Benno donation
·
$620 chapter costs
5. Discussion: Chapters’ Enrichment & Visioning Day
Mary reported on the Visioning Day subcommittee. Mary had invited Jean Benfer from the Hawaii
C.O. chapter to advise us on hosting this day.
What stood out to Mary from Jean was that we should make this day celebratory
rather than a “lock in” for volunteers or call to service.
Last year, Mary’s prayer group hosted “Space for Grace,” a
silent Saturday opportunity where we met for a morning at St. Thomas More for
centering prayer, hospitality, Lectio Divina, and fellowship. She wants to encourage our prayer groups to
take turns sponsoring a silent Saturday; they could be designed in various ways,
such as showing a video or having time for Lectio Divina. She would like to explore this idea during
our Visioning Day. She will write a
letter to PGF’s to encourage them to make their own in-person offering for
their group and others.
In General Discussion:
-- Mary reminded us that there are many other contemplative
opportunities online such those offered by Closer than Breath, the Meditation
Chapel, and the Center for Action and Contemplation.
-- Nichola reminded us to simplify. Combining the two chapters into one would
allow us to have one website and one bank account.
-- Ardy said COSD held a “Day at the Mission” at San
Luis Rey.
-- Chris Hagen (who updated after our meeting) still plans to offer a presentation
in September: “Being the Image of God When it Isn’t Easy.”
-- A question had been raised about the need for PGFs
to be reimbursed for their upgraded Zoom accounts that they use to hold prayer
meetings. Many PGFs have a Zoom account that they use for multiple purposes,
not just for Centering Prayer meetings. Some, also, are reimbursed by their
church. Any PGF who needs more assistance with paying for their Zoom account is
welcome to ask CONSD for reimbursement.
6. CONSD/COSD name
change for credit union account to reflect chapter merging
Mary told us that the first step to changing our name to
COSDC is to have this name change reflected on our San Diego Country Credit
Union account.
Deborah Lewallen moved and Brian Curry seconded that CONSD
change the name on our SDCCU account to COSDC (Contemplative Outreach of San
Diego County). The vote was unanimous in
favor.
Brian said he would find out about making the same change to
the COSD account, which is currently at Chase Bank. He also mentioned that CO Ltd’s
Divine Economy program assists with retreat payments to Prince of Peace Abbey.
7. Miscellaneous
Jim from the Fallbrook prayer group wants to share
information about Centering Prayer with a men’s prayer group that meets there.
Brian and Rick have offered to work on this.
Deborah Lewallen and her husband are now living about half
of the year in a house in New Mexico.
When in Ramona, she is assisting with Faith Court which accompanies immigrants
to their court dates. She said that four
churches in Ramona are combining their church offerings, such as a multi-church
youth group. She thinks the four
churches would also support a Centering Prayer group, and she would like to
assist a volunteer, if we know of any, who would lead a Centering Prayer group
for these churches.
Brian will be gone June 9-17.
10:45 Mary
closed the meeting with a prayer by Adam Bucko.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Dollins
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