Dominican Women Afire Gathering at Dominican College, Blauvelt, NY

On May 24th 50 members of Dominican Women Afire are gathering at Dominican College, Blauvelt, NY for a 3-day conference. The gathering will be filled with moments of prayer and ritual, conversation and exploration, renewal of friendships and making new connections. Sparked by our shared commitment and creativity we hope to step into our future more fully than ever before.

There will be four movements during the gathering. We will build an understanding and appreciation for the different theologies, the compelling questions, and the desired growth for our faith and expression of it in our common life and mission. Our focus will then move to a shared exploration of our spiritualities, spiritual practices, and how we can companion one another to greater depths and expanded expressions of our love for God and God’s people. Shifting our attention just a bit, the values and principles that guide our choices, our ministries, our relationships, our priorities, and our vision for the future will become the focus of our conversation. And finally, we seek to use all that we share, uncover, and create to articulate elements of a dynamic Dominican life for the future and some of the steps that need to be taken to live into it more fully.

The process of coming together in open space to explore, identify, articulate, and plan invites each participant to be creative and active. Open space asks of us deep listening, thoughtful questioning, commitment to building common ground, and creative risk-taking. Open space holds great potential for the development of movement within our personal and shared lives. Open space is a process for open minds and open hearts.

Dominican Women Afire will be on an adventure this weekend…an adventure about the future, an adventure about vision, an adventure of relationship…rooted in a wise and loving tradition, companioned by wise and loving sisters and brothers, and reaching to live the vision of God through Dominic!

Holy Father Dominic, pray for us.
Catherine of Siena, pray for us.
All you holy men and women, pray for us!

Submitted by Didi Madden, OP
(Coordinator, Dominican Women Afire!)