CONEO e-news     (View e-news original mailed)

 February 4, 2016

Dear friends of Centering Prayer,

Last Saturday, February 30^th, CONEO’s leadership group met to discuss the programs we are offering during this year. Below you will find  events and activities of new service teams  and  some information about our contemplative community that  may be interested to you

 Events

March 19 , 2016    United in Prayer Day

Join your Contemplative Outreach Worldwide Family as we come together in a single bond of Centering Prayer.  We will have two periods of Centering Prayer, view a DVD featuring the teachings of Father Keating from the national office of Contemplative Outreach, and enjoy a lunch courtesy of Laurel Lakes Retirement Community.

Date: Saturday, March 19, 2016

Time: 9:00 am to 2: 30 pm

Place: Laurel Lakes Retirement Community

            Serenity Chapel

            200 Laurel Lake Dr., Hudson, OH, 44236

Registration:  requested for lunch planning.

NO FEE. Free will offering will be accepted.

Please RSVP to Ivi  Latronica      e-mail:   ivi3@juno.com    Phone: (330) 273-9500

June 4, 2016               

The Centering Prayer Introductory Program                 “ The Introductory Workshop”

The Centering Prayer Introductory Program is for those new to Centering Prayer.

The Centering Prayer group at St. Basil Catholic Church is forming a service team to facilitate the planning of this event and helping with the publicity inside the parish and to the Christian community of Brecksville and surrounding areas.

Date: Saturday, June 4, 2016

Time: 8:30 am to 12:30 pm

Place: St. Basil Catholic Church at the Family Life Center

8700 Brecksville Rd, Brecksville, OH 44141

Cost: $35 (Includes latest edition of Open Mind Open Heart and four to six                                            Continuing sessions)

Presenters: Nancy Moran and Donna Panzica.

                      Both CO Commissioned presenters

 Registration:

            Checks payable to CONEO

            Mail to:  Attention to: Centering Prayer Workshop

                             Josefina Fernandez

                             6669 Hidden Lake Trail

                             Brecksville, Ohio, 44141

September 25 to October 1, 2016

Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat

We have the dates already reserved at Villa Maria Education and Spirituality Center. Susan Komis , Director of Chapter Resources and Communication Services of Contemplative Outreach Ltd., will be the leader for this retreat.

We are in the process of forming a Service Team for this event in order to plan all the details. we will probably be able to offer a double track program:  Intensive with Advance Retreat or Intensive with Post Intensive.

Please, SAVE THE DATES !  Sunday, September 25, to Saturday, October 1.

Andrea Kneier is forming a Service Team, and the first meeting will be on

Monday, February 29, at 6:00 pm, at St. Matthew Episcopal Church, 9549 Highland Dr. Brecksville, OH,44141

November 6, 2016.

Recognition and Appreciation Date for Facilitators.

Date: Sunday, November 6, 2016.     PLEASE. SAVE THE DATE !

We would honor those who has supported CONEO from the initial days of the Chapter. Plan now to share this celebration.

Information about our Contemplative Community:

     1. The Centering Prayer group at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is helping Chuck Herbruck during the retreat sponsored by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, The Cleveland Ecumenical Institute and River’s Edge. CONEO has been invited to have a table with information on Contemplative Outreach and the core programs:  Centering Prayer, The Welcoming Prayer and the Forgiveness Prayer.

April 29 – 30    A Retreat Led by James Finley

Friday,  April 29, from 7 pm to 9 pm – A Path to Inner Peace: Freeing the Mind and Heart from Spiritual Sobriety.  We will learn the universal principles of awakening and transformation that lead to serenity, clarity fulfillment and God’s nearness in our daily lives.

 Saturday,  April 30, from 9:00 am to 4 pm – Thomas Merton & Teresa of Avila. We will turn to Teresa’s classic work, The Interior Castle, in which she helps us find God by guiding us through the mansions of our own soul. Through the retreat, we will reflect on passages in Thomas Merton’s writing that resonate with the teachings of Teresa.

        To register or for more information: www.stpauls-church.org or call (216) 932-5815

      2.  Father Carl Arico wrote a series of questions and answers about the richness of Contemplative Prayer, Centering Prayer and the role of Contemplative Outreach.

I highly recommend you read his article: Renewing the Understanding of the Contemplative Tradition.

     3. We are looking for new opportunities to present the Centering Prayer Introductory Program. Please, find out if  your parish, church or congregation  is interested in offering this program during 2016. We have an excellent brochure about this program that may be very helpful to use. You may order it from the online store (color) or it can be downloaded and printed from the website (black & white). Please contact Josefina Fernandez for further information at coneo.digital@gmail.com

     4.Two articles related to Contemplative Christian Tradition

                   a. Catholic Meditation and Contemplative Prayer: What’s the Difference? by Carl McColman.   “            “

A reader of my blog wrote to me and asked this question:

What do you see is the difference between Catholic meditation and contemplative prayer?

It’s a great question, made complicated by the fact that words like meditation and contemplation can be used in a variety of ways, especially in society at large. Read more.

            b. Emptiness and Non-Attachment, by Carl McColman.

“Last week I wrote about the difference between how Catholics understand meditation and contemplation, based on material found in the

Catholic Catechism. A reader left the following comment on that post:

We rest in God. But we do not empty our minds. We are always in communication with God. Prayer is focusing on God and we praise him for who He is, we intercede for others, and we put our requests to Him. We align our wills with His in prayer. Never do we make our minds a ‘spiritual vacuum’ for something else other than the Holy Spirit to fill it.”  Read more.

5. Our next leadership meeting: Saturday, February 27, 2016, from 9:00 am to 11:00 am,  at St. Matthew Episcopal Church, 9549 Highland Dr., Brecksville, OH, 44141

I look forward to seeing you this year.

Blessings to all,

Josefina Fernandez

CONEO coordinator.

www.coneo.org

“ The quality of one’s service does not come from the activity itself, but from the purity of one’s intention. The single eye of the Gospel is the eye of love, which is the desire to please God in all our actions, whatever these may be”

Fr. Thomas Keating, Mystery of Christ

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