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Register now for these events in March and April
Stations of the Cross are prayed each Friday of Lent beginning at 3:30 p.m. Please gather indoors at the Center. We then process together to the Stations outdoors. No registration necessary.
Religious Studies Program: “Introduction to Christian Spirituality,” with Fr. Kent Hemberger, Saturdays, March 13 and April 10, 2010. Click here to learn more and register.
Evening of Recollection for the Laity: “Dying and Rising with Christ,” with Fr. Kent Hemberger, Thursday, March 25, 2010, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Click here to learn more and register.
Palm Sunday Weekend Retreat with Bishop Michael O. Jackels, March 26-28, 2010. Click here to learn more and register.
Evening of Recollection for the Laity, with Fr. Kent Hemberger, Thursday, April 15, 2010, beginning with dinner at 5:30 p.m. Click here to learn more and register.
“Leading Like Jesus” with Dr. Owen Phelps, “Encounter” session: Tuesday, April 20, 2010; “Facilitator Training” session: Wednesday, April 21, 2010. Click here to learn more and register.
Click here to go to the Calendar of Events page of the Center’s web site for more about all Spiritual Life Center offerings.
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March 2010
"Let the desire to be with God goad you as often and as intensely as it may." |
Anonymous Monk |
The above quote can be a good guide for our Lenten journey and our lives. Our desire for God is a guide for our prayer and lives. St. Augustine defined prayer as an exercise in desire. St. Ignatius of Loyola taught us to begin prayer by getting in touch with our desire for God and for a particular grace we were seeking from God. However desire is not enough by itself. We must allow our desire to be with God to goad us to seeking God in prayer and through retreats.
In following our desire to be with God, the Palm Sunday Retreat with Bishop Jackels still has room and is highly recommended by all those who have previously attended a retreat by the Bishop. Make your reservation soon before it fills up.
Introduction to Christian Spirituality is the final course of the 2009-2010 Religious Studies Program and takes place on two Saturdays--March 13 and April 10. We will be focusing on prayer, awareness of God, discernment and the spiritual journey.
I will lead an Evening of Recollection for the Laity on Thursday, March 25, 2010 beginning at 5:30 p.m. The theme will be “Dying and Rising with Christ,” which is appropriate as we approach Palm Sunday and Holy Week. We start with a nice meal in the Dining Room, followed by a 45-minute presentation, Eucharistic Adoration, an opportunity for Confession and then concluding with Mass.
Finally, please don’t forget that we will be praying the Way of the Cross outdoors here at the Center each Friday of Lent, including Good Friday. While the weather has not been cooperating so far, we are hopeful for warmer days ahead, just as we hope for and seek the Resurrected Christ at Easter.
In Christ,
Rev. Kent Hemberger, Director |
Saint Augustine
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Many of you know the Spiritual Life Center to be a place for retreats, adult education programs and other Catholic events. But you may not know that the Center serves as host for a wide variety of groups and functions. Here is a short list of our guests for the month of February, followed by some of the groups and events we will host during March. It is our hope you will suggest the Center as an event destination for church and other non-profit groups and organizations you may know about.
Some of the Spiritual Life Center guests in February included: Orthodox Clergy Brotherhood, Serra Club, Countryside Covenant Church Leadership Retreat, Coping, 12-Step Program, St. Mary’s Cathedral RCIA retreat, Faculty Retreat for Catholic educators St. Joseph’s (Conway Springs) and St. Joseph’s (Wichita), Teens Encounter Christ (TEC), Bishop Jackels’ “Rediscovering Confession,” Consecrated Religious from throughout the Diocese of Wichita, Marriage Encounter, Catholic Stewardship Consultants, Inc. and guests from throughout the United States, Retrouvaille, Catholic Engaged Encounter, Beginning Experience leadership planning, Priests of the Diocese of Wichita, Diocesan Office of Religious Education RCIA Retreat, and many others!
Some of the Spiritual Life Center guests we expect in March include: Priests from the Catholic Diocese of Wichita (5 years of service or less) Retreat, Planning day for Office of Religious Education, Totus Tuus and Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, Cursillo, Via Christi Health System Mentor Program, Fairmount Church Retreat, Harvest House Lenten Retreat, EMPAC, “Monican’s Group,” Serra Club, Young Adult Beginning Experience (YABE), St. Francis of Assisi RCIA Retreat, Central States Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Centering Prayer, and many others!
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More than 100 people gathered here at the Center on Monday, February 15 to hear an hour-long talk by Bishop Michael O. Jackels entitled, “Rediscovering Confession.” At the conclusion of his talk, Bishop took questions for nearly 30 minutes, covering everything from the affliction called “scrupulosity,” to the definition of a “general confession.”
THANK YOU to all who came out to hear Bishop speak.
If you are interested in obtaining a DVD of Bishop’s talk, please send $10 to the Spiritual Life Center, along with your name and mailing address.
In addition to the DVD, watch for Bishop’s short video series available online that cover various aspects of Confession. Part 1 of the series is called “The Gift of Confession,” and can be played by CLICKING HERE. The 2 ½ minute video plays in a Windows Media format. |
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One of the great gifts of the Roman Catholic Church is art. Paintings, sculptures, architecture, stained glass, music and a myriad of other types of art can lead us to the Truth and Mystery of God. Indeed, the Catholic catechism says:
“Genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God, Creator and Savior, the Holy One and Sanctifier.” (2502).
Here at the Spiritual Life Center, we hope the “sacred art” serves this purpose. As you walk through the Center, you will find many pieces of art. Did you know that the statues of the 12 Apostles and Saint Paul are smaller replicas of the statues found in the nave inside the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome?
These works of art are best experienced in person. Please visit the Center to see them “up close and personal.” But we also invite you to take a “virtual tour” of these glorious statues—the ones here at the Center as well as the statues of the St. John Lateran in Rome. They are gifts of priests from the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (C.S.S.R.), popularly known as the Redemptorists. As pilgrims on our spiritual journey of faith, we find assurance in the lives of the Apostles, who trusted in the Lord, even when they did not understand Him completely. The glorious band of Apostles, through their prayers, guides us on our Heavenly journey.
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After a one year hiatus, the Summer Theology Institute is returning to the Spiritual Life Center.
Please mark your calendars for July 15-17, 2010 as we explore Pope Benedict XVI’s Encyclical Letter: Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth).
Registration information will be available soon!
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2010 Spiritual Life Center | Wichita, Kansas | click here to unsubscribe from this newsletter |
