Monthly Update
July 2016
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Rally: Stop the Bomb Trains
July 6
  
Sponsored by Benedictines for Peace, this downtown rally supports the request that bomb trains-trains filled with tar sand-not be allowed to pass through Erie.
 
For more information email Sister Marlene Bertke or click here
 
Date: Wednesday, July 6
Location: 6th and State Streets in downtown Erie
Cost: Free and open to the public
Legacy of Leadership: Shared Conversation
July 6 & July 17
  
In the upcoming presidential election, we will need to muster every ounce of spiritual strength we posses. Join us for prayer and conversation, facilitated by Mary Ellen Plumb, OSB, around the discussion points offered in "The Legacy of Leadership: a gift for generations to come" by Joan Chittister, OSB.
 
The $2 pamphlet, The Legacy of Leadership, will be available for purchase at the gathering or order it now here
 
Please RSVP if you plan to attend: email Mary Ellen Plumb, or call 814-923-3679.
 
First Gathering
Date: Wednesday, July 6
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Mount St. Benedict Monastery, Large Front Parlor
Cost: $2 for The Legacy of Leadership pamphlet
 
Second Gathering
Date: Sunday, July 17
Time: 10:45 a.m.
Location: Mount St. Benedict Monastery, Garden Room
Cost: $2 for The Legacy of Leadership pamphlet


 
 

Lectio Divina: A Summer Experience
Online eRetreat
July 11 - August 5
  
This eRetreat invites you to use a number of God's texts - scripture, poetry, music and yoga - as ways to engage lifelong conversation with God. Sisters Anne McCarthy, Mary Lou Kownacki and Jean Wolbert, and Oblate Joanne Cahill will serve as your guides. Discover how the wonders of the sacred text, musical selections, poetry and the physical experience of yoga can stretch the soul in this four-week online eRetreat at Monasteries of the Heart. You must have a free membership at Monasteries of the Heart to register for this eRetreat.

Listen to a brief clip from oblate Joanne Cahill on yoga as lectio. Click here

More information and registration at Monasteries of the Heart
 
Date: July 11 - August 5
Location: Online at Monasteries of the Heart
Cost: $25


Reading & Writing with Mary Oliver at 
The Writing Studio
July 30
  
Ask any 10 people who their favorite living poet is and the name Mary Oliver will be repeated often. Spend a Saturday morning "Reading and Writing with Mary Oliver." We'll read some of her poems and interviews and use her writing to inspire our own. Facilitated by Sister Mary Lou Kownacki. Snacks provided.

More information and registration at The Writing Studio

Date: Saturday, July 30
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Location: The Writing Studio, 310 East 10th Street, Erie
Cost: $12 (payable upon arrival)
Justice for Immigrants
Prayer Vigil
August 5
 
Join us for a 30 minute vigil to pray that a just law will be passed for the 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.
 
For more information, email Marlene Bertke, OSB or visit Benedictines for Peace.
 
Date: Friday, August 5
Time: 12:15 p.m.
Location: Federal Building, 6th and State Streets, Erie


Erie Gives Day
August 9
  
Erie gives +ministries On Erie Gives Day, Tuesday August 9, a percentage match of your donation will expand your contribution to support Neighborhood Art House programming for inner-city children or services to guests at Emmaus Ministries Soup Kitchen, Food Pantry and Kids' Cafe. 

The Erie Community Foundation is sponsoring Erie Gives to help local nonprofit organizations raise funds needed for their various missions
 
Date: Tuesday, August 9
Time: 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Location: www.eriegives.org
Minimum donation: $25    




Erie Seawolves SBA Outing
August 10
  
Buck night on concession specials: hot dogs, popcorn, soda and domestic drafts.

For more information email  Cathy Stemmler.

Date: Wednesday, August 10th
Time: 7:05 p.m.
Location: Jerry Uht Park

Retreat: 
Discover Darkness & Light in Life's Journey
August 14
  
Sister Carolyn Gorny-Kopkowski will lead this retreat based on Sister Joan Chittister's book, Between the Dark and the Daylight. Retreat will offer time for personal reflection and shared wisdom, solitude and interaction, creative activity and prayer. Sister Joan writes, "There is light in us that only darkness itself can illuminate. It is the glowing calm that comes over us when we finally surrender to the ultimate truth of creation: that there is a God and we are not it."
 
For more information email Sister Phyllis Schleicher or call 814-544-8017.
 
Date: Sunday, August 14
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Catholic Rural Ministry Center, 472 Sartwell Creek Road, Port Allegany
Cost: Donations accepted
Stillpoint Contemplative Retreat Day
August 20
  
The Stillpoint Contemplative Retreat Day is silent and includes eight sitting sessions with chanting, contemplative walking and teachings. Dress comfortably and bring your own lunch. Coffee and tea provided. You'll have a chance to enjoy a quiet walk outdoors on woodland trails that wind through Glinodo's lakefront grounds.

Mark the next Stillpoint dates on your calendar now: September 24, October 22, November 19 and December 10

Email Sister Margaret Zeller for a registration form. 

Date: Saturday, August 20
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Mount St. Benedict Monastery, Garden Room
Cost: $15, registration required
Women's Writers Circle
September 2016 - April 2017
  
Are you a woman writer who would like to meet other women interested in writing, spend time writing together in a relaxed setting, read your writings (either from the evening's prompt or a piece that you bring)? Women's Writers Circle will meet monthly at The Writing Studio for eight months, from September 2016 - April 2017, on the first Wednesday of each month. Facilitated by Sister Mary Lou Kownacki. Snacks provided.
 
More information and registration at The Writing Studio
 
Date: Wednesday, September 7; continues first Wednesday of each month
Time: 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.
Location: The Writing Studio, 310 East 10th Street, Erie
Cost: $30 total (payable at first session)

Mid-Life/Long-Life Directions Retreat
September 9-11
  
Sign up now for a  weekend experience to refocus in the midst of life's changes with a Mid-Life/Long-Life Directions Experience of Personal and Spiritual Growth for Adults.

A Mid-Life/Long-Life Directions Experience:
  • provides time to reflect on your past 
  • looks at present reality and future hopes
  • helps you welcome transitions and reclaim gifts
  • incorporates Judeo-Christian spirituality, Jungian and developmental psychology
Click here for a downloadable registration form. 

Presenters:
Sister Rosanne Loneck, OSB, is a certified Mid-Life/Long-Life Directions consultant, spiritual director and certified in Family and Consumer Sciences.
 
Kathleen Kutz, MRE, is a religious educator and instructor in Hebrew and Christian Scriptures at parish and diocesan levels.
 
For more information  email  Sister Rosanne or call 814- 899-0614

Dates: September 9-11
Location: Mount St. Benedict Monastery
Recommended donation: $250 resident; $175 commuter
Taste of the Arts
September 13
  
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Save the date for the 2016 celebration of Taste of the Arts: Nature's Treasures. Enjoy a fun-filled evening as you support Art House programs for inner city children. Start at 5:00 p.m. with cocktails and light buffet, sale of children's artwork, Treasure Board (new this year) and silent auction. Program begins at 6:00 p.m. and includes performances by the Neighborhood Art House children, live auction and raffle.
 
If you are not on the Neighborhood Art House mailing list and would like to receive information about Taste of the Arts, please call 814-455-5508 or email Patti Eichen. 
 
Date: Tuesday, September 13
Location: Under the tent at the Neighborhood Art House
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Cost: $75 per person

Spiritual Direction always available
  

Spiritual Direction, sometimes referred to as spiritual guidance or spiritual friendship, is an on-going relationship in which one person (the directee), desirous of being attentive to his or her spiritual life, meets with another person (the director) on a regular basis (approximately once a month), specifically for the purpose of becoming more attuned to God's Presence in order to respond more fully to that Presence in all of life. The primary focus of the session is the directee's relationship with God as it is reflected and challenged by all aspects of that person's life. Contact Rosanne Loneck, OSB, certified Spiritual Director, 814-899-0614 or click here to email.

Suggested offering is $30/session.
 

 

Guest Accommodations available
  
One of the greatest gifts monastics can offer is their monastery as a place of prayer and peace, community and care, welcome and hospitality. In doing so monastics take to heart what Benedict advocates: the monastery is a dwelling where guests are to be cherished and respected, where hearts overflow "with the inexpressible delight of love." -Prologue, Rule of Benedict
 
Springtime is beautiful at the monastery. Come for a week, a weekend, or a single overnight. Click here for a guest registration form.