June 18, 2024

Events & Opportunities – 6.19.2024

Weber Center Offers Directed Retreat

Are you in need of a quiet, reflective break from the busy-ness of your life? Weber Retreat and Conference Center offers an in-person Directed Retreat with ample time to pray and contemplate. The Directed Retreat is from 2:00 p.m. Monday, July 15, 2024, through 1:00 p.m. Friday, July 19, 2024.

The retreat is open to all who seek solitude and guidance. You will have time and space for prayer and quiet reflection, the opportunity to participate in campus liturgies, and time to explore and savor the Motherhouse grounds and walk the labyrinth.

Each retreatant meets daily with their choice of a spiritual director. Directors for this year’s retreat are Sisters Esther Kennedy, OP, and Joan Delaplane, OP; Associates Joan Ebbitt and Trudy McSorley; and Janene Ternes, founder of Prayer in Motion, LLC.

The cost, including all meals for overnight guests and lunch for commuters, is $160 for commuters, $325 per person for double occupancy, and $450 for single occupancy.

Registration is required. Visit www.webercenter.org and click on “programs,” call 517-266-4000, or email webercenter@adriandominicans.org. Limited scholarships are available.

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 carport. Follow the signs to Weber Center. For information, call the Weber Center at 517-266-4000.

Retreat Focuses on Mystics: Julian of Norwich and Thomas Merton

What can mystics of the past teach us about how to live in our troubled world today? Retreatants can gain an understanding of their message through A Retreat on the Mystics: Julian of Norwich and Thomas Merton. The retreat begins at 7:00 p.m. Sunday, July 28, 2024, and finishes at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, July 31, 2024.

Joan M. Nuth, Associate Professor Emerita of Theology at John Carroll University in Cleveland, focuses on Julian of Norwich, a 14th-century English mystic whose eloquent theological writings served as an antidote to the fears and despair raised by the Black Death in her time.

Thomas Merton (1915-1968), an American Trappist monk, deepened his understanding of Christian mysteries such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Paschal mystery through his encounters with the mystical traditions of the Buddhists and the Sufis. Joseph Quinn (Joe) Raab, a Professor of Religious Studies and Theology at Siena Heights University, shares his studies on Thomas Merton.

The retreat costs $180 for commuters, $280 per person for double occupancy, and $380 for single occupancy. Registration is required. Visit www.webercenter.org and click on “programs,” call 517-266-4000, or email webercenter@adriandominicans.org. Limited scholarships are available.

Tending Our Hearts to Tend the Earth (In-Person)

Friday, Aug 9 • 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

GRAND RAPIDS, MI –The effects of climate change are all around us. We feel it in little ways as we pull on summer clothes and harvest gardens a little earlier each year. And in big ways as we watch fires blaze through entire towns and our streets fill with rain. Climate anxiety touches nearly everything we do, and especially how we interact with and support the next generations. What do we do with the fear, grief, and anger we feel? Join us for a retreat to place our bodies on this sacred land allowing the stones and the wind to carry our grief. There will be time for story sharing, wandering the woods, practicing rituals around our grief and anger, settling in silence and rest, and summoning that wild possibility of hope. This retreat is open to all wanting to tend their hearts around climate anxiety, especially those involved with children: parents, teachers, grandparents, neighbors, etc. Each of us belong to this sweet earth, all part of this earth family that shares responsibility, emotions, and hope. 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://www.grdominicans.org/program-retreat/this-sweet-earth/

Foundations in Spirituality (In-Person)

Saturdays: Sep 21, Oct 19, Nov 16, Dec 21, 2024; Jan 18, Feb 22, Mar 22, Apr 26, May 17, 2025 • 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
GRAND RAPIDS, MI –Foundations in Spirituality is a serious reflective study that opens our minds and hearts to the teachings and life examples of the great Christian spiritual teachers that continue to deepen our present spiritual journey. It’s the beginning, the first step of the formation offerings at Dominican Center Marywood at Aquinas College. Explore the rich preaching of St. Dominic; the unbreakable faith of St. Teresa of Avila; the deep spirituality of St. John of the Cross; the life-giving wisdom of the Beguines; the daily prayerful life of St. Ignatius; and the lives of many more who continue to enrich our own faith and spirituality. The course introduces the practice of contemplative prayer as grounding practice for living a richer spiritual life. Immerse yourself in Foundations in Spirituality and begin deepening your relationship with God through study, prayer, and community. 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/foundations-in-spirituality/

Called to be a Spiritual Director ~ Year 1 Practicum

Sep 13 & 14, Oct 11 & 12, Nov 8 & 9, Dec 13 & 14, 2024; Jan 10 & 11, Feb 14 & 15, Mar 14 & 15, Apr 4 & 5, May 9 & 10, 2025
GRAND RAPIDS, MI –A Spiritual Director holds sacred the stories heard in a one-on-one relationship or in a trusted group. The Spiritual Director Practicum is filled with contemplative spiritual practices, prayer study, and shared reflection; strengthens our ability to stay present; attunes our listening to sense how the Holy Spirit is present in our lives and in the lives of others; looks to Spiritual Giants to mentor participants during the formation process; and reminds that the ultimate healer holds up director and directee in all ways. Using an Ignatian spiritual framework, you are encouraged to find meaning in every moment. You are given space to deepen your relationship with God – the God who loves us into life. Through the process, move closer to uncovering your authentic self that guides the discernment of your calling. 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/spiritual-director-practicum-year-1/

Travel Greece & Turkey: The Footsteps of St. Paul

October 5 – 18, 2024
It’s a good time to contemplate a Biblical Travel Tour coming up in October 2024. Spend 13 days exploring historical sites in Greece and Turkey made sacred not only by the presence of the Apostle Paul but also by the Evangelists John, Matthew, Luke, and other early Christian leaders. No other area in the world can match the natural beauty, spectacular archaeological, and significant historical sites connected with the first traces of the early Church as it moved out beyond the boundaries of Israel into the wider Gentile world. Here lie the historical foundations not only of the New Testament itself, but also the development of the earliest Apostolic Church as it began to take root in the Greco-Roman world.

Details & Registration: https://ctu.edu/event/2024-greece-and-turkey/

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: http://dominicancenter.com/programs-and-retreats/centering-prayer/

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/