Regional Updates - Eastern Region

CO of Central Kentucky -
Our Kentucky Chapter is on a new journey. We want to travel to every city and Christian church in Kentucky (that's possible) to share Centering Prayer. The first part of our journey is to take inventory on where we are as a Chapter and what we have to offer. We are discovering wonderful gifts and some weaknesses. We will be mindful of both, shift gears when needed, and, just get on with the journey. We have initiated contacts with some churches in different cities. Our request is to speak to the people at the end of their worship services and to take about 7 minutes to tell about Centering Prayer and to ask those interested to sign up for an Introductory Workshop. At the first church, we were somewhat overwhelmed with 89 registrations. Then to the second church where 55 people signed up. Now, before we go on, the priority is to provide grounding for these people. Then, it is on to the next part of the journey. Another road we are travelling is to work with college students and staff, youth groups and elementary programs.
Mary Otho Ballard, OP@ 502 331-9074,

CO of Long Island/Queens, NY -
We had an exciting year with many changes. In December, we offered an Advent Evening at Our Lady of Grace Retreat House in Manhasset, which has always been well attended, but this year we had the largest amount of participants ever — 45. We celebrated with Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina, and a pot-luck dinner, followed by singing Christmas carols, led by Kathleen Roland and John MacKay. For the first time we offered two weekend retreats. The first was our usual Centering Prayer retreat in June at St. Ignatius Retreat House in Manhasset. Our new offering was a Welcoming Prayer Retreat with Mary Dwyer as the presenter. Both were well attended and Mary won rave reviews. Some new things—we will be putting our newsletter, The Link, on our website and will be offering an “End of Summer Get-Away” Weekend at St. Joseph’s Villa in Hampton Bays, LI, incorporating Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina and choices of other activities.
Barbara Sullivan @ 516 481-0472,

CO of New York, New York -
We have been very busy offering Introductory Workshops in the New York City area with workshops having been held this past April at St. Paul the Apostle, in October at St. Luke in the Fields, and in January at St. Bartholomew’s. Upcoming Introductory workshops are slated for June and again in the fall. Additionally, we will be hosting a Spanish Introductory this spring, to be presented by Fr. Joachim Lally. We continue with our program, “Journeying in the Spirit.” Held on the second Saturday of each month, the day includes opportunities to join together for liturgy, Centering Prayer, viewing of one of the Spiritual Journey videos, and brunch with fellow practitioners of Centering Prayer. On February 9, Fr. Carl Arico presented a Lenten Retreat Day on the Forgiveness Prayer. It was a very enriching day and we were delighted to have a number of attendees from some of our neighboring Contemplative Outreach chapters. In March, Dr. David Keller, Ed. D, a member of the faculty at General Theological Seminary and co-founder, with Fr. Thomas Keating, of the Contemplative Ministry Project, will speak at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields on “Prayer through Quiet Contemplation” in which he will discuss the history of desert spirituality and the contemplative path, and lead a short contemplative prayer. Dr. Keller is author of Oasis of Wisdom: The World of the Desert Fathers and Mothers and his essay, Reading Living Water: The Integral Place of Contemplative Prayer in Christian Transformation, is featured in Fr. Keating's latest anthology, Spirituality, Contemplation, and Transformation: Writings on Centering Prayer. We are delighted to be participating again this year in the Annual United in Prayer Day which will be hosted by the University Parish of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village, in conjunction with the larger Contemplative Outreach network. Finally, we are happy to welcome Joseph Hemmes and Rose Hendricks to the Chapter Leadership Team and thank them for their service.
Rebecca Barnes, Coordinator, 646-533-1836,

CO of Orange County, NY -
For all of you who have participated in the wonderful retreats and programs held at St. Andrew’s Retreat House in Walden, NY, you might be interested in knowing that St. Andrew’s was finally sold the end of February 2008 - to a Buddhist Group - so the wonderful silence and prayer will continue. We participated in the United Day in Prayer on March 15 and it was a huge success. Our August Ten Day Post Intensive with Bill Sheehan and 6 Day Intensive/Post Intensive Retreats will be at the Franciscan Center in Ringwood, NJ (air-conditioned rooms and an Olympic size swimming pool). The Contemplative Wisdom School with Cynthia Bourgeault was an incredible experience, and we are already receiving registrations for 2009-2010. Another first is the 10 Day Christophany Retreat with Fr. Thomas and Cynthia, June 20-30, 2009. We are still offering Introductory Workshops (low attendance), Days of Prayer and are grateful for all the faithful members of Centering Prayer groups. The 21 Day Centering Prayer Immersion Retreat scheduled for September 2008 has been cancelled, and in it’s place another first - a 10 Day Inner Room Retreat with Fr. Thomas (waiting list only). We invite you to visit our website www.centeringprayernys.org - We are more and more grateful to the God who has provided and continues to provide so loving and supportive a community on this contemplative journey.
Cathy McCarthy, Coordinator @ 845 534-5180,
- website - www.centeringprayernys.org

CO of Westchester, NY -
Contemplative of Westchester is delighted that, for the first time, Fr. Thomas Keating will be coming to our Chapter. He will lead us in a Centering Prayer retreat, October 1-3, at Graymoor Spirituality Center, Graymoor, NY. You may request registration material from Diane Harkin or myself. We are also continuing with our Second Saturday prayer days in Armonk, NY. March will be Contemplative Outreach United in Prayer; April: Facilitator Recognition; June, Open Leadership Team Prayer, meeting, and "pot luck" luncheon. September: The Forgiveness Prayer, November: 12 Step; and December, Advent readings and reflection.
Sr. Rose Vermette, RCD, Coordinator @ 914 961-1559,

CO of Mid Ohio -
The year began with a truly historic event. Roseanne Havird, our regional representative, came to Mansfield to present a Facilitator Training. To our great delight our friends and neighbors from the Northeastern Ohio chapter joined us from the Cleveland area. The information Roseanne presented was exactly what we, as a young chapter, needed most and we welcome Wanda Dean, Emmy DeVore, Mary Holm, Paul Isaac, Adele Sheffieck, and Bill Waldron to our facilitator team. The United in Prayer Day was once again a very special celebration of our community as the members from our prayer groups come together to share in this day. We held our second four day retreat in Fremont. Our Lady of the Pines is a beautiful retreat center and provides an ideal setting for going deeper into the silence. For the fourth year, we celebrated Mother’s day with a weekend retreat at Maria Stein. It is beautiful to see a group come together to celebrate this special weekend in this way. Information about upcoming events and prayer group meetings are posted on our ContemplativeOutreachMidOhio.org website.
Anita Donnan, Coordinator @ 419-610-8520,

CO of Metro Washington, DC (COMW) -
It seems that it was only yesterday that we were together at the annual CO meeting in Houston. I was joined by three others from our Chapter there, Carol Leach, Ron Barnett, and Merle Helen Morrow. I think everyone would agree that it was a rewarding and enriching experience. The Chapter is doing well with a steady flow of requests for Introductory Workshops, and a very successful second year of the Living Flame II program coordinated by Laurel LaCivita and the Living Flame Service Team. We are offering a one-day Facilitator Training Workshop with Roseanne Havird co-sponsored by the National Cathedral (a very central location) that has offered their "Cathedral College " facility for the event. The COMW Servant Leadership is undergoing a reformation period.
Guy H. Semmes, Coordinator @ 301 983-1857,
- website - www.comwcp.org

Volume 23, Number 2 · June 2008

Contact Information