Womens Retreat

2024 IC Parish Women’s Retreat

Hope for a Hurting World: Reflecting With the Psalms on Laudato Si’

April 12-14, 2024

St. Francis Springs Prayer Center, Stoneville, NC

“The divine and the human meet in the slightest detail in the seamless garment of God’s creation, in the last speck of dust of our planet.” -Laudato Si’, 9

Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical letter, “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home,” issued a powerful appeal to the Church to respond to the “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

Laudato Si’ follows the tradition of biblical teaching, from the creation story of Genesis to Jesus’s command of the winds and the seas in the Gospels, to view the entire world, including humankind, as the “seamless garment of God’s creation.” In this retreat, we’ll focus on the psalms to explore the grandeur of that “seamless garment” and our response to the call to care for it in all its sacred forms.

In Hope for a Hurting World: Reflecting With the Psalms on Laudato Si’, we’ll enjoy:

Scripture sessions in which we’ll break open the psalms to discover our interconnectedness with all of God’s creation
Thoughtful conversations on Laudato Si’, its challenge to respond to the “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor,” and how we can best respond to that challenge
Opportunities to express our spirituality through solo and communal prayer, music, meditative movement, and other practices
A chance to relax and renew in beautiful surroundings, enjoying yoga, massage, or simply time alone
The company of a wonderful, faith-filled community of women

Questions?
Please contact Hardee Klitzman at [email protected]

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.

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.

Questions?
Please contact Hardee Klitzman at [email protected]

COST

$250 main lodge double room per person
$350 single room
$400 single hermitage

Cost includes two nights’ lodging, retreat sessions and materials, and all meals, from Friday dinner through Sunday brunch. It 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 Olga Rodriguez in the parish office at (919) 682-3449 by March 5, 2024.

Please register with payment in full by March 29, 2024.

Immaculate Conception parishioners will receive priority registration if form and payment are received no later than March 5, 2024. After March 5, 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: Olga Rodriguez
901 West Chapel Hill Street
Durham, NC 27701

SCHEDULE

Retreat Schedule (All Sessions are Optional and Subject to Change)

Friday
3:00-4:30 p.m.   Check-in and room assignments
4:30-5:45 p.m.   Welcome, introduction, and ice breaker activity
6:00-7:00 p.m.   Dinner
7:15-8:15 p.m.   Opening session and ritual

Saturday
8:00-9:00 a.m.   Breakfast
9:00-9:30 a.m.   Guided meditation OR Praying the Laudato Si’ rosary
9:45-11:00 a.m.   Breaking Open the World Through the Word (psalms exploration)
11:00-12:15       Intro to embodied prayer and meditative movement
12:30-1:30 p.m.   Lunch
1:30-3:00 p.m.   Laudato Si’: Hope for a Hurting World
3:15-4:15 p.m.   Craft activity
4:30-5:45 p.m.   Yoga
6:00-7:00 p.m.   Dinner
7:15-8:00 p.m.   Small group discussions
8:15-8:45 p.m.   Sharing the Fruits of Our Contemplation
9:00-10:00 p.m.   Restorative yoga

Sunday
8:00-8:30 a.m.   Continental breakfast
8:45-9:15 a.m.   Guided meditation OR Praying the Laudato Si’ rosary
9:15-10:00 a.m.   Room check-out
10:00-11:00 a.m.   Brunch
11:15-1:00       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. More information will be made available upon registration.

Questions?
Please contact Hardee Klitzman at [email protected]

Location

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.stfrancissprings.com/

COVID-19 Policy

To attend the retreat, we recommend that you be vaccinated against COVID-19. Note that COVID protocols are subject to change based on government regulations and other factors in effect at the time of the retreat.

Questions?
Please contact Hardee Klitzman at [email protected]