Events & Retreats – 10.11.23

REGISTER FOR 2023 RFC CONGRESS

You are invited to join others in religious life at the 2023 RFC Congress November 9-12, 2023 at the Marriott Chicago O’Hare. The gathering is suited for both those whose ministry includes initial formation and those wanting opportunities for spiritual growth and professional development (ongoing formation). 

All are welcome!  

Those interested are encouraged to register and reserve a spot at this year’s biennial gathering before the October 15 discount deadline. 

Congress participation incorporates: 

  • Communal prayer and liturgies
  • Sharing of best practices and resources
  • Peer networking and relationship-building
  • Food and fun

Presenters include Rev. Cardinal Robert McElroy; Dr. Kathy Gallaher, PhD; Sr. Ann Letourneau, CSJ; Sr. Rosalia Meza, VDMF; Sr. Simone Campbell, SSS; Sr. Mūmbi Kīgūtha, CPPS; Bro. John Skrodinsky, ST and others.   

For a full listing of this year’s speakers and to register, visit www.relforcon.org/THRIVE

An Integral Approach to Spiritual Development

SINSINAWA, Wis.—As people embark on a journey of self-discovery, they often reach these in-between places. Join us via Zoom on Saturday, November 4, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with facilitator, Wendy Mitch, for an Integral Approach to Spiritual Development. An Integral Approach to Spiritual Development can offer guidance during these challenging times of transformation. Drawing on the work of Spiral Dynamics by Integral theorists: Ken Wilber, Don Beck and Clare W. Graves, we will look at the various phases of human development. Through the use of facilitator input, group processes, facilitated discussions, journaling, and integral practices incorporating head, heart, and body, participants will find community and practices to encourage continued growth. Please register by Monday, October 30, and the fee is $60 per person. Contact Arrangements at 608-748-4411 or visit our website at//sinsinawa.org/moundcenter for more information. Sinsinawa Mound, the motherhouse for the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, is located in southwest Wisconsin on County Road Z, off Highway 11, about five miles northeast of Dubuque.

Single Catholic Women Invited to ‘Come and See’ the Life of Adrian Dominican Sisters

October 4, 2023, Adrian, Michigan – Are you a single Catholic woman, age 19-45, who believes you might be called to a closer walk with God? If so, the Adrian Dominican Sisters invite you to a weekend of exploration and discernment, November 10-12, 2023. 

The Come and See at Weber Retreat and Conference Center on the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse, offers a weekend experience with the opportunity to meet other women discerning God’s call; learn about the life of a Sister and the Dominican life; tour the Motherhouse; engage in conversation with Sisters; spend time in prayer, reflection, silence, sharing, and fun; and join the Adrian Dominican Sisters for Sunday Liturgy.

There is no charge for this weekend. You are our guests. Register online at https://tinyurl.com/ADSDiscern. For information, email Sister Katherine Frazier, OP, at kfrazier@adriandominicans.org or call or text her at 260-229-3045.

Weber Center Shop Hosts Christmas Open House

Are you looking for a unique Christmas gift for a loved one or for spiritual Christmas cards to send to family and friends? You can find these, along with beautiful nativity sets, original ornaments, one-of-a-kind art pieces, and more at the Weber Shop’s Christmas Open House.

Weber Center Shop – the book and gift shop at Weber Retreat and Conference Center – hosts its Christmas Open House from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 1, 2023, through Saturday, November 4, 2023. 

A special Lunch and Learn program will launch the Christmas Open House and present a review of available items. The Lunch and Learn is from noon to 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 1, 2023. Bring your lunch. Refreshments will be served. The opening event will also feature special raffles and door prizes.

Weber Center is on the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse, Adrian, Michigan. Traveling east on Siena Heights Drive, pass the Adrian Rea Literacy Center and turn left just before the solar panel-covered parking lot. Follow the signs to Weber Center. For information, call the Weber Center at 517-266-4000.

Ignatian Retreat ~ Seeing God’s Presence in Your Daily Life (Online)

Tuesdays: Oct 10, Nov 14, Dec 12, 2023; Jan 9, Feb 13, Mar 12, Apr 9, May 14, 2024 • 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Do you seek spiritual deepening and wisdom? Do you yearn for spiritual strength as we move through these uncertain times and as we try to quiet the static and noise around us… Discover a discipline and practice that will move you to greater spiritual depth. The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola immerse you in deep noticing for the Divine in all things, revealing the face of God in our daily lives. Prayer practices (spiritual exercises) and weekly Scripture passages will guide and support us as we pay attention to the holy around us. For more information call 616-514-3325 or visit dominicancenter.com. Dominican Center Marywood, a ministry of the Dominican Sisters ~ Grand Rapids, is located in West Michigan off Fulton Street East, on the campus of Aquinas College.

Details & Registration: https://dominicancenter.com/programs-and-retreats/ignatian-retreat/

SoulCollage® Workshop (In Person)

Friday, Oct 27 • 6:00 – 8:30 pm

GRAND RAPIDS, MI –In the Christian tradition, just after Halloween comes the celebration of those who have passed from this life. We celebrate through All Saints and All Souls Day on November 1 and 2. Our gathering in October is the perfect time to connect to your ancestors. SoulCollage® offers an engaging way to honor them. Through creating collage cards for your ancestors, you tap in to how they are connected to your story and your soul. Whether our ancestors encouraged us, challenged us, or embarrassed us, they can become helpful voices as we look for insight and direction in our life. To help create your ancestor cards, it is recommended that you go through photos, and then make a copy on your printer of the photos you might want to use. Bring a variety of copies of photos reflecting a variety of ancestors – you never know who may want to come forward! If you don’t have access to photos, images will be available to help capture the essence of your ancestors. The workshop will also include how you can use your cards to set up an altar in your home to celebrate All Saints and All Souls. For more information call 616-514-3325 or visit dominicancenter.com. Dominican Center Marywood, a ministry of the Dominican Sisters ~ Grand Rapids, is located in West Michigan off Fulton Street East, on the campus of Aquinas College.

Details & Registration: https://dominicancenter.com/programs-and-retreats/soulcollage-workshop-in-person/

Experiential Prayer Retreat (Online & In-Person)

Saturday, Nov 4 • 10:00 am – 3:00 pm • Catholic Information Center, 360 Division Ave S

GRAND RAPIDS, MI –Do you feel your prayer life is becoming dry? How do you live a prayerful life and be present to God with greater depth all the time? How can your prayer life become a springboard for holy action? Please consider joining us for a retreat day to explore and experience various forms of prayer including: Dominican Praise, Presence/Word Exercise, Breathing, Journaling, Lectio and Visio Divina, and 9 Ways of Praying (St. Dominic). For more information call 616-514-3325 or visit dominicancenter.com. Dominican Center Marywood, a ministry of the Dominican Sisters ~ Grand Rapids, is located in West Michigan off Fulton Street East, on the campus of Aquinas College.

Details & Registration: https://dominicancenter.com/programs-and-retreats/experiential-prayer-retreat-in-person-registration/

Renew Retreat ~ Schedule Yourself or a Group for an In-Person Retreat

Available for Individuals and Small Groups by Appointment

GRAND RAPIDS, MI –The Renew Retreat is an individual or group retreat that is a self-guided contemplative pilgrimage. The gentle Christian practice of using scripture and prayerful prompts aligned with the four elements — fire, water, earth, and air — will help guide your journey into and beyond the garden in ways that strengthen your awareness of creation as a renewable resource, energizing your beingness, and the world around you. We will begin at Dominican Center Marywood at Aquinas College, transition to the St. Francis of Assisi Sculpture Garden, and return to Dominican Center. As you walk the paths along the wooded trails, you are led into the pace and rhythms of the natural world. Water, earth, fire, and air greet you — each element of nature a reminder of the peaceful relationship between living organisms and their physical environment. For more information call 616-514-3325 or visit dominicancenter.com. Dominican Center Marywood, a ministry of the Dominican Sisters ~ Grand Rapids, is located in West Michigan off Fulton Street East, on the campus of Aquinas College.

Details & Registration: https://dominicancenter.com/programs-and-retreats/renew-retreat/

Centering Prayer (Online)

Tuesdays • Noon

Centering Prayer is a modernized prayer method based on the intuitive prayer rooted in Lectio Divina. It is a method of silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer, prayer in which we experience the Divine’s immanent presence with us. Centering Prayer is grounded in relationship with God, through Christ, and is a practice to nurture that relationship. This method of prayer complements and supports other modes of prayer — verbal, mental, or affective prayer — and facilitates resting in the Divine Presence. Centering Prayer offers a way to grow in intimacy with God, moving beyond conversation to communion. For more information call 616-514-3325 or visit dominicancenter.com. Dominican Center Marywood, a ministry of the Dominican Sisters ~ Grand Rapids, is located in West Michigan off Fulton Street East, on the campus of Aquinas College.

Details & Registration: https://dominicancenter.com/programs-and-retreats/centering-prayer/

Quakes and Questions Everywhere

Tuesday, October 10, 2023; 6:30pm – 7:45pm
Facilitator: Miriam Brown, OP

Cost: $20 per session via Zoom

Our spirits must be alert and alive in these challenging times of world-wide quakes and questions. Are things dissolving or rearranging? Emerging into newness? Are we challenged, excited, holding on for dear life, deepening spiritually? Let us come together and share our spiritual energies as things shake in our church, worldviews and social and global relations.

Spirituality Alive Series: Quakes & Questions | Siena Retreat Center

Quests Deep and Wide

Tuesday, October 24, 2023, 6:30pm – 7:45pm
Facilitator: Miriam Brown, OP

Cost: $20 per session via Zoom

In the midst of quakes and questions everywhere, let us find our grounding, our active hope, our places to contribute our spiritual energies as individuals and communities of faith. The world is in a momentous quest that demands of us new depths and wide embracing spirits. Let us have eyes for the Spirit. Let us have hearts to embrace the challenge and power of God’s grace as we are pulled ever forward in the divine-human mystery of the Holy.

Spirituality Alive Series: Quests Deep and Wide | Siena Retreat Center

Writing  Haiku as Sacred Art

Saturday, October 21, 2023, 9:00am – 4:00pm
Facilitator: Vicky Curtiss

Cost of $60 includes the noon meal

Living in the present moment with attentiveness using all our senses is a spiritual practice enhanced by writing haiku. Haiku is a brief poem, usually of three lines with 17 syllables or fewer,that originated in Japan. Traditionally haiku included a nature image and seasonal reference but has expanded in English to capture a variety of moments within our everyday days—moments in which we can recognize the Sacred. Writing prompts and contemplative walks will fuel our creativity and awareness throughout the day.

Writing Haiku as Sacred Art | Siena Retreat Center

Grief and the Healing Power of Rituals: A Program of Continued Learning and Growth for Those Who Companion the Bereaved 

October 28-29, 2023
Facilitators: Melissa Minkley and Cat Horowitz

The workshop will begin on Saturday at 8:30am and will conclude on Sunday at 2:30pm.
Cost of $265 includes overnight accommodations, meals, book and handouts.
A fee of $25 will be charged for Continuing Education Units (1.6 units).

This workshop will offer those who companion the bereaved an understanding of how grief rituals can assist the bereaved in mourning their losses and move towards healing. We perform rituals in our everyday life. Rituals help us find meaning and create connection. For those who are grieving, rituals can provide comfort and order during a time of chaos. They can also assist the bereaved with getting in touch with their feelings and create ways to express them.  Supportive Grief Companion Workshop | Siena Retreat Center

SoulCollage: Life as Journey

Friday, October 27 to Sunday, October 29, 2023
This retreat begins at 7:00 PM on Friday and concludes at 1:00 PM on Sunday.
Facilitators: Vicky Curtiss and Missy Isely-Poltrock

Cost of $360 (includes overnight accommodations, meals, and supplies)

SoulCollage® is an experience of self-reflection using images that speak to you. No art experience is needed! Life is a journey whose path appears as we start to walk it. We can’t see far ahead, but looking back we can find connecting threads that weave meaning through our experiences. In this retreat we will name the various chapters of our lives, our guides or companions on the way, and explore the trust and courage it takes to move forward. We will make SoulCollage cards as well as draw a finger labyrinth and do a mapping exercise to identify from where we feel called to leave and where we seek to go.

SoulCollage® Weekend Retreat | Siena Retreat Center

Honoring Native Peoples, Land and Water

Friday, November 3, to Sunday, November 5, 2023
The retreat begins at 7:00pm on Friday and concludes with the noon meal on Sunday.
Facilitators: Amy Hernandez Maack, Siohban Marks, Suzanne Mills-Wemm, Stephaine Perdew, Dona Severinsen

Cost of $375 (includes overnight accommodations, program and meals)

Indigenous wisdom offers abundant insights into a holistic approach to life and environmental justice. This weekend retreat will be led by five Native women who reside in Wisconsin and northern Illinois.  Their presentations will include advocating for all living things, reclaiming the dress of ancestors, learning how to balance one’s life through medicine wheel teachings, and best practices for land acknowledgment.  There will also be a water healing ceremony and “prayerformance” of singing and prayer.

Honoring Native Peoples, Land, and Water | Siena Retreat Center