Womens Retreat

2023 ICC Parish Women’s Retreat

January 27-29, 2023

The Beatitudes: Extraordinary Blessings for Ordinary People

St. Francis Springs Prayer Center, Stoneville, NC

When have you seen the meek win political office? The poor in spirit achieve celebrity status? The merciful become international power brokers?

In a world that rewards ambition, aggression, egotism, and self-absorption, how can the “least among us” that Jesus mentions in the Beatitudes possibly be blessed? And how is this extraordinary turnabout key to the fulfillment of God’s kingdom?

In The Beatitudes: Extraordinary Blessings for Ordinary People, we’ll:

Open the Scriptures to discover how the Beatitudes are both a prescription for discipleship and an assurance of God’s blessing and compassion.
Explore in a safe, non-judgmental environment current racial and social justice issues and how we can come together as a “beatitude people” to turn these challenges into blessing for all.
Express our spirituality through solo and communal prayer, music, meditative movement, and other practices.
Renew our commitment to living the Beatitudes to bring hope and healing to a wounded world.

Dance Your Dreams Awake ©Mary Southard, CSJ, www.ministryofthearts.org.

OUR PRESENTERS

Jude Siciliano, OP

Jude Siciliano, OP, lives in a Dominican community in Irving, Texas. He has been a preacher since his ordination in 1969. For fourteen years he taught homiletics at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, and is a past president of the Catholic Association of Teachers of Homiletics.

Jude was a volunteer chaplain at San Quentin Prison and a member of North Carolina’s People of Faith Against the Death Penalty. He preaches parish retreats, as well as retreats for priests, religious, deacons, and laity.

Jude’s weekly email reflections on the Sunday scriptures for preachers and laity interested in preparing for Sunday worship can be found at preacherexchange.com.

Nebhet Adjuwa Nu-Annan

Adjuwa has more than 20 years of experience as a professional educator, grant writer, and public speaker. Her expertise is in helping organizations to create curricula and develop programs for grants and crowdfunding. During our retreat weekend, she will present an abridged version of a curriculum she developed to engage students in open, meaningful conversation around racial justice issues.

Dorita Beh-Eger

Dorita is a dancer and dance educator, certified yoga instructor, and Nia teacher. She was a co-founder of the Omega Liturgical Dance Company and has been dancing her prayers for many years, as well as guiding others in discovering movement
as a way to prayer. Dorita will lead sessions on embodied prayer during our retreat weekend.

Kathy Moore

ICC parishioner Kathy Moore grew up in Hurdle Mills, NC, a small town southwest of Roxboro. Her degree in business has led her down many paths: fitness and nutrition expert, massage therapist, and Science of Mind practitioner. She sets the tone for her day by spending quiet time with God each morning. Kathy will share with us her personal reflection on growing up as a Black female in rural North Carolina.

COST

Retreat Cost
$250 main lodge double room per person
$300 cottage double room per person
$350 single room
$400 single hermitage

Cost includes two nights’ lodging, retreat sessions and materials, and all meals. Cost does not include transportation to St. Francis Springs, which is on your own.

Partial financial assistance may be available to parishioners based on need (non-parishioners are not eligible for financial assistance). To request assistance, or to make a donation to help provide tax-deductible financial assistance to others, contact Margie Burton in the parish office at (919) 682-3449 by December 21.

Please register with payment in full by January 13, 2023.

Immaculate Conception parishioners will receive priority registration if form and payment are received no later than December 2, 2022. After December 2, all registrations will be accepted in the order in which they are received. Payment in full must accompany your registration.

Register online here, or return your completed registration form with check made out to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church to:

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church
Attn: Angela Flynn
901 West Chapel Hill Street
Durham, NC 27701

SCHEDULE

Friday
3:00-4:00 p.m. Check-in and room assignments
4:00-5:00 p.m. Welcome and introduction
6:00-7:00 p.m. Dinner
7:15-8:15 p.m. Large group session: Blessed Are We
8:15-9:00 p.m. Optional session: Intro to Movement as Prayer

Saturday
8:00-9:00 a.m. Breakfast
9:00-9:30 a.m. Options: Guided meditation OR Praying the rosary
9:45-11:00 a.m. Large group session: Breaking Open the Word
12:00-1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00-2:30 p.m. Racial justice session
2:30-3:00 p.m. Racial justice session continued discussions
3:15-4:30 p.m. Yoga
4:45-5:45 p.m. Small group sessions: Beatitudes Deep Dive
6:00-7:00 p.m. Dinner
7:15-8:15 p.m. Large group session: Praying the Beatitudes through Movement
8:30-9:15 p.m. Restorative yoga

Sunday
6:45-7:45 a.m. Sunrise yoga
8:00-8:30 a.m. Continental breakfast
8:45-9:15 a.m. Guided meditation OR Praying the rosary
9:15-10:00 a.m. Room check-out
10:00-11:00 a.m. Brunch
11:00a.m.-1:00p.m. Closing session and liturgy

30-minute massages will be offered at a reduced cost. Spiritual direction will also be available with advance notice. The suggested fee for a one-hour spiritual direction session is $60.

Where

About St. Francis Springs Prayer Center
St. Francis Springs Prayer Center is located in Stoneville, NC, just under a two-hour drive from Durham. The center is located on 140 acres of beautiful and peaceful wooded property that offers a natural setting for prayer, reflection, and meditation. The Craftsman-style main lodge, cottages, and hermitages are spacious and welcoming, and all rooms have private baths and full or queen beds.

The center is affiliated with the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province. The property has two chapels, a meditation room, a gathering space with stone fireplace, expansive patio with fire pit, three libraries (including an African American library and a disenfranchised persons library), a bookstore and gift shop, labyrinth, outdoor stations of the cross with a social justice emphasis, several meditation grottos and pergolas, and extensive wooded walking trails.

Meals at the center are generous, flavorful, and made with love. Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten- and dairy-free diets can be accommodated with advance notice.

St. Francis Springs Prayer Center
477 Grogan Road
Stoneville, NC 27048
(336) 573-3751 www.stfrancis.today

COVID-19 Policy

To attend the retreat, you must be vaccinated against COVID-19 with at least two initial Pfizer or Moderna doses or one J&J dose. Please bring your vaccination record with you. Note that COVID protocols are subject to change based on government regulations and other factors in effect at the time of the retreat.