Program Information
Women Touched by Grace, a spiritual renewal program for women pastors serving congregations, is partially funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. and hosted by the Benedict Inn Retreat & Conference Center in Beech Grove, Indiana (15-minutes from the Indianapolis International Airport). Twenty women pastors from across the country will convene for five 10-day sessions focusing on building community, parish leadership, spiritual direction and prayer disciplines.
This project will bring together the best Catholic and Protestant traditions of prayer and leadership in order to equip clergywomen to be spiritual leaders of their congregations.
Clergywomen compose only 13% of all clergy in the nation. They need “to stick together,” as one so aptly put it. The Sisters of St. Benedict (Catholic women religious) wish to reach out to these women pastors to share their own rhythm of prayer and the monastic traditions that guide their lives. The women pastors, steeped in prayer and the spiritual disciplines, will be able to share that prayer with the people they serve.
The program will consist of five gatherings of clergywomen, each with a specific focus along with adequate time for prayer, reflection and meditation. All sessions will include joining the monastic community for the Divine Office.
The goal of the project is to provide a strong, cohesive body of women pastors, strengthened in the spiritual disciplines. They, in turn, will return to their congregations as spiritual leaders rather than simply administrators or managers.
This project is unique in that it will bring together two groups that do not normally interact: Protestant clergywomen and Catholic women religious. Although both groups are committed to serving the people of God, their differing traditions sometimes separate them. Each group has a rich tradition to share with the other. Both will benefit.
Participants of the program will be expected to share what they have learned with an already established group in their congregation. The sharing will encourage the clergywoman to sustain the practice of prayer that was generated during the time of renewal. The goal is to foster long-term practices and not simply have "bursts of spiritual renewal" followed by business as usual.
General Guidelines
For women pastors serving congregations either full or part time
Fee: $350 per session (Partially funded by Lilly Endowment Inc.)
The participant must commit to the entire program
Good health is a requirement
The pastor must have been ordained for a minimum of 5 years
Application deadline: June 1, 2007
For application materials, contact
Sr. Mary Luke Jones, OSB
Ljonesosb@benedictine.com
or to apply on-line
click here
Women Creating Community
Common life as established by Benedict
This first session will begin with time to gather together in
friendship women of many Christian traditions in the pastoral
role. The primary focus will be creating, forming and nurturing
community among the women as well as learning how this is an avenue
for community building within their own congregations. Topics
to be considered will be personal giftedness, friendship, hospitality,
communal prayer, common vision, group sharing, collaboration, leisure,
stability and conversion. Through this the participants
will be nurtured and reach out to their own congregations with
greater trust, creativity and leadership.
The Practices of the Spiritual Life
Contemplative disciplines
November 4-13, 2008
The focus of the second gathering will be learning
and using the various kinds of contemplative disciplines for personal
growth and then reaching out to the congregation with these methods
of prayer. Each participant will learn ways to incorporate
the classical monastic practices then how to teach them to others.
Some of the topics will include Lectio Divina, ceaseless prayer,
discernment, The Little Way (St. Therese), The Practice of Emptiness
and many others. Through these forms of prayer the woman
pastors will then be prepared to lead their congregations into
a deeper relationship with God.
Silent Retreat
April 14-23, 2009
Each participant is invited to choose options
from various offerings to create the sacred time in a quiet space
that meets her unique needs. Offerings include individual meetings with an assigned spiritual director who walks with
the participant on her spiritual journey, daily conferences,
common prayer with Our Lady of Grace monastic community, private
prayer, centering prayer, meditation, sacred rituals, journaling
and creative expressions such as music and art. This will
be a time for each participant to reflect upon her life from a
perspective of faith in openness to God's leading. This
"Sabbath time" will nourish the pastor to care for her
spiritual life in the midst of the demands of pastoral leadership.
Women Leaders, Systems Theory and Spirituality
The Unique Role of Clergywomen
November 10-19, 2009
According to the systems theory, each individual
has been affected by his/her environment, history and experiences
of the past according to family, culture and society systems.
In light of this, female leaders have influenced, acted and interacted
within these systems as well as been influenced by the many systems.
Any one member of a parish will have a profound affect on the
congregation. This holds true especially for the pastoral
leader. The presentations and discussions will examine how
these influences challenge or change the dynamics of the congregation
and the pastoral leader.
The Pastoral Leader as Spiritual Mentor
Spiritual Direction
April 6-15, 2010
During this session, the pastoral leader will
be mentored and will learn the way to mentor others on their spiritual
journey. This mentoring may be defined as one Christian
helping another on his/her spiritual journey by enabling each
to pay attention to God's Word, and responding wholeheartedly
to God's invitation by living deeply that relationship at this
time in one's life. This will be a time of personal discernment,
healing and listening in a contemplative way to the promptings
of the Holy Spirit in one's ordinary circumstances of the daily.
During this time each participant will allow her relationship
with God to mature and develop as she lives her life more intentionally
by attending to the Holy.
Past Participants of Women Touched by Grace
| Name |
Denomination |
State |
| Deborah Tate Breault |
United Church of Christ |
Maine |
| Sally Brower |
Lutheran |
North Carolina |
| Laurie Larson Caesar |
Lutheran |
Oregon |
| Sue D'Alessio |
Methodist |
Wisconsin |
| Maureen Dickman |
Disciples of Christ |
Missouri |
| Stacy Simpson Duke |
Baptist |
Michigan |
| Katherine Evensen |
Lutheran |
Minnesota |
| Beth Ann Fain |
Episcopal |
Texas |
| Marica Fuson |
Disciples of Christ |
North Carolina |
| Marty Hermanstorfer |
Disciples of Christ |
Missouri |
| Janice Hotze |
Episcopal |
Alaska |
| Karin Howard |
Episcopal |
Virginia |
| Peggy Krong |
Presbyterian |
California |
| Elizabeth Liggett |
Lutheran |
Nebraska |
| Sophie Mathonnet-Vanderwell |
Reformed Church in America |
Iowa |
| Erin Matteson |
Church of the Brethren |
Illinois |
| Karen Mosso |
Episcopal |
Indiana |
| Linda Nafziger-Meiser |
Mennonite |
Idaho |
| Carla Nelson |
Lutheran |
South Dakota |
| Elizabeth Olm |
Methodist |
Minnesota |
| Young Ok Park |
Methodist |
Illinois |
| Katherine Jameson Pitts |
Mennonite |
California |
| Jane Plantinga-Pauw |
Presbyterian |
Washington |
| Betty Lynn Schwab |
United Church of Canada |
Saskatchewan |
| Angela Shannon |
Lutheran |
Indiana |
| Karen Siegfriedt |
Episcopal |
California |
| Cathy Stewart-Kroeker |
Presbyterian Church of Canada |
Ontario |
| Teri Thomas |
Presbyterian |
Indiana |
| Kate Warn |
Lutheran |
Pennsylvania |
| Patti Waser |
Methodist |
Texas |
Back to Programs
Link to directions to the
Benedict Inn
Link
to e-mail page
1402
Southern Avenue, Beech Grove, IN 46107
Call: 317.788.7581
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