COME TO THE WATER HOLY SPIRIT RETREAT CENTER Vol.17 No. 1 Spring/Summer 2016 Celebrating 20 Years Here! CALENDAR Earth Week: Reflection Day & Movie: “Dirt” April 20 9:30 - 3:00 Volunteer Work Day May 21 9:00 – Early Aft Ice Cream Social with Al Batt May 22 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Quiet Retreat June 5 - 12 Franciscan Retreat: “Reflecting the Mirror” June 27- July 3 Mini Directed Retreat: October 10 - 13 This spring we will be celebrating the 20 th anniversary of the transfer of Holy Spirit Retreat Center from its founders Jack and Peggy Sexton to the Sisters of St Francis of Rochester. Along with the Center, we Sisters received the Sexton’s legacy of confident trust in God and a donation-based fee system intended to make the Center available to all, regardless of their ability to pay. This legacy has continued to be foundational to all that we have done these past 20 years. In these 20 years, we have renovated the Center and Sexton home, and built 4 hermitages (1 for S. Charlotte and 3 guest units). The customer-base of the Center has expanded from the original Christian church groups to include other religious traditions, meditation groups, recovery and personal-growth groups. Despite these inner and outer changes, the Center’s purpose has remained the same: to be a place of natural beauty where guests can encounter the Divine, themselves, and others. What Jack and Peggy began nearly 40 years ago on Jack’s family farmland continues to be a source of renewal, deepening, and growth. We are grateful to all those who have been a part of the life of the Center with us: former staff Srs Helen Jane Eynon, Arlene Majerus, Colleen Byron, Elaine Frank, Patricia Himmer, and Marita Johnson; temporary residents Srs. Elizabeth Gillis, Judy Chiodo, Helen Haag, and Bernadette Servatos; members of our Advisory Board and Program Planning Committee: Dave and Maggie Langenfeld and their friends who gave many hours to renovation projects and the construction of Jacoba Hermitage; innumerable volunteers who have helped with the physical maintenance of the building and grounds contractors and business people whose skills and professionalism have been a great support in our efforts to care for all of the Center’s resources. With thanks for all that has been and all that will be, Your Sisters, Jennifer Corbett, JoAnn Haney, Charlotte Hesby, Monique Schwirtz, Carmen Sonnek
Transcript
COME TO THE WATER HOLY SPIRIT RETREAT CENTER Vol.17 No. 1 Spring/Summer 2016
Celebrating 20 Years Here!
CALENDAR
Earth Week:
Reflection Day & Movie: “Dirt”
April 20 9:30 - 3:00
Volunteer Work Day
May 21
9:00 – Early Aft
Ice Cream Social
with Al Batt May 22
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Quiet Retreat
June 5 - 12
Franciscan Retreat:
“Reflecting the
Mirror” June 27- July 3
Mini Directed Retreat:
October 10 - 13
This spring we will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the transfer of Holy Spirit Retreat Center from its founders Jack and Peggy Sexton to the Sisters of St Francis of Rochester. Along with the Center, we Sisters received the Sexton’s legacy of confident trust in God and a donation-based fee system intended to make the Center available to all, regardless of their ability to pay. This legacy has continued to be foundational to all that we have done these past 20 years. In these 20 years, we have renovated the Center and Sexton home, and built 4 hermitages (1 for S. Charlotte and 3 guest units). The customer-base of the Center has expanded from the original Christian church groups to include other religious traditions, meditation groups, recovery and personal-growth groups. Despite these inner and outer changes, the Center’s purpose has remained the same: to be a place of natural beauty where guests can encounter the Divine, themselves, and others. What Jack and Peggy began nearly 40 years ago on Jack’s family farmland continues to be a source of renewal, deepening, and growth. We are grateful to all those who have been a part of the life of the Center with us:
former staff Srs Helen Jane Eynon, Arlene Majerus, Colleen Byron, Elaine
Frank, Patricia Himmer, and Marita Johnson;
temporary residents Srs. Elizabeth Gillis, Judy Chiodo, Helen Haag, and
Bernadette Servatos;
members of our Advisory Board and Program Planning Committee:
Dave and Maggie Langenfeld and their friends who gave many hours to
renovation projects and the construction of Jacoba Hermitage;
innumerable volunteers who have helped with the physical maintenance of
the building and grounds
contractors and business people whose skills and professionalism have been a
great support in our efforts to care for all of the Center’s resources.
With thanks for all that has been and all that will be, Your Sisters, Jennifer Corbett, JoAnn Haney, Charlotte Hesby, Monique Schwirtz, Carmen Sonnek
Come to the water*come to slow musing in the woods*come to rays and reflections on the lake*come to whispering leaves and creak of limbs*come to searching raccoon eyes*come to flash of cardinal color and flicker of wings*come to rustling wave of prairie grasses*come to silence of roaming deer*come to peace, quiet, serenity. Refresh. Renew. Restore. COME CONTEMPLATE. S. Marita Johnson
During the eight years (1998-2006) that I
was at Holy Spirit Retreat Center, I was
most impressed by the friends,
neighbors and volunteers who supported
us in our ministry. These people as well
as the beauty of the grounds, the
expanse of the lake and the many
woodland birds and creatures came
together to provide an environment of
peace where those who came to use the
Retreat Center or Hermitages
experienced the presence of God in all
around them. The ministry of the center
brought people from nearby as well as
from great distances who would return
again and again to this place of beauty
and peace. S. Elaine Frank
My time at HSRC in 1999-2000 with Ss
Elaine Frank, Colleen Byron and Char
Hesby was brief, but I appreciated the
calm, reflective spirit with which we lived
together and prepared for groups coming
to use the center. HSRC is a peaceful,
sacred corner of the world.
S. Pat Himmer
My years at Holy Spirit Retreat Center were a special
gift to me that I will cherish always and they live on
with me from deep within. Lake Elysian, the woods,
the rural setting as well as the gifts of moon, stars,
sunrises and sunsets are memories I renew each
summer on my annual retreat. I was gifted with a
caring Franciscan community and so enjoyed the
neighbors and persons who shared in the care of the
Center as well as those who came there to enrich
their spiritual lives. S. Colleen Byron
2016 Spring/Summer programs
April
May 17 9:00 – early afternoon
Join us for a day of work and community. Bring your work gloves and enthusiasm. We’ll provide prayer and lunch.
Volunteer Work Day
Saturday, May 21
9:00 am – Early Afternoon
Time once again to clean up after a long snowy winter. Join us for prayer, work, and camaraderie. Lunch will be on us.
Honoring Earth Day
Wednesday, April 20 9:30 am – 3:00 pm
Facilitator: S. JoAnn Haney
A day to reflect on care for our common
home using Pope Francis’ Encyclical,
“Laudato Si.” Input, prayer, time for
personal prayer, and sharing, lunch and an
afternoon movie, followed by discussion:
“Dirt” the Movie
“Dirt”, the movie, is an astonishing,
humorous look at the glorious ground
beneath our feet -- praising God for the
Dirt we take for granted.
Fee: $25 including lunch
Please register by April 15
Cost: $30 (includes lunch )
Please register by April 15
May
Sunday, May 22 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Ice Cream Treats
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Al Batt
Our favorite humorist and birder, AL Batt, will be with us to share his unique blend of folk-wisdom and nature insights. Bring your questions about birds, binoculars, bird-feeder vs squirrel (!), bats, or whatever.
May
Al Batt of Hartland,
Minnesota is a writer,
speaker, storyteller and
humorist. He writes humor
and nature columns for many
newspapers and does regular
radio shows about nature. He
writes a number of popular
cartoon strips that are
syndicated nationally and is
author of the book, "A Life
Gone to the Birds."
October
Mini Directed Retreat
October 10 – 13
“Living in the Light of Wisdom by
Embracing the Darkness”
Retreat begins with evening meal on Monday
Cost: $250 Partial Scholarships available
Summer 2016 Retreats
Quiet Retreat
Dates: 5:30 pm supper Sunday, June 5 – 12:00 pm brunch Sunday, June 12
Directors: Ss. Charlotte Hesby, JoAnn Haney, Monique Schwirtz
This is an opportunity for a private, meditation, or directed retreat – you decide what your heart needs at this time. We will provide meals and the quiet of our peaceful lakeside setting along with optional daily group prayer, meditation times, liturgy and group sharing of experiences and questions in meditation practice. Our experienced spiritual directors will be available for one-to-one sessions for those who wish. This is your time to plan and use as best suits you.
Cost: $400 (includes retreat fees, room and all meals) Please register by May 23, 2016
“Reflecting the Mirror”
Dates: 5:30 pm supper Monday, June 27 – 12:00 pm brunch Sunday, July 3
Thomas of Celano named seven virtues of Clare of Assisi that have a contemporary ring. The two daily conferences during this retreat will illustrate how these qualities were operative in Clare’s life and how they remain vital for today’s spirituality. A silent and contemplative environment with daily prayer and liturgy, as well as optional evening faith sharing sessions will allow the retreatants to enter into a prayerful experience with the Mirror, Jesus Christ.
Retreat Facilitator: S. Ramona Miller, OSF
Sister Ramona has wide experience in Pastoral Ministry in parishes – Director of Adult Faith Formation, Pastoral Associate – and at retreat centers. She served as Director of Spiritual Formation at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkely, CA (2002-2006) and as a member of her congregation’s leadership team (2006-2012). From 2009-2013 she served as the president of the Franciscan Federation. For twenty-five years her ministry included serving as a staff member of the Franciscan Pilgrimage Programs leading pilgrimages to Assisi, Italy.
She is a graduate of Seattle University (Master’s in Ministry) and the Franciscan Institute, St Bonaventure’s University (Master’s in Franciscan Studies) and the author of In the Footsteps of Saint Clare and co-author of Praying with Clare of Assisi.
Cost: $425 (includes retreat fee plus room and all meals) $275 Commuter (includes retreat fee plus meals)
Please register by June 17
Monique
A sacred encounter – all are welcome as I move into my 12th year on staff here at HSRC. I reflect on the variety of people who walk across the threshold and the stories of refreshment and transformation that happen here. It is heart-warming and affirming to know the wonder that can happen for individuals and groups. S. JoAnn Haney
I came to the Retreat Center as a fulfillment of a long held dream to "come and work here before I die." That has happened! What is new for me after more than two years, is the discovery "my decision" was really a gift of Obedience, of God's voice to me. Obedience can have echoes of a burden and of discounting of one's preferences. I have come to understand I would not have had the energy to leave Chicago after 39 years if there was not this determined and joyful Grace urging me on. All that comes in my life in our small community, in the country neighborhood, just in the day and night is made richer by receiving it all as part of ongoing obedience and freedom. S. Jennifer Corbett
Welcoming persons from all walks of life and persuasions to this place offering a spirit of peace and comfort to all. Natural distractions from managing the Retreat Center: a small bird on a branch outside the window, a squirrel scampering from branch to branch on a high tree, the lone call of an owl in a summer evening, frost on trees in a winter day. Gratitude! S. Monique Schwirtz
HSRC for me is A place/space of healing & refuge A being present, given and shared Living in a community of service and welcoming Blessed by the wonder of God’s creation The 30+ acres are a gift to my heart -- of gardening and caring for Mother Earth. S. Carmen Sonnek
When I came to Holy Spirit, it was to put down roots in a permanent hermitage and hopefully begin to build hermitages for others. I wanted to share the hermitage experience of external silence and solitude which can lead to the Silence of God within. Not only has this become reality, but Retreat Center guests say they can feel the stillness that pervades this place as soon as they turn onto our driveway. The Presence of God palpably embraces us all. S. Charlotte Hesby
HOLY SPIRIT RETREAT CENTER ADVISORY BOARD Leo Bromenschenkel Marilyn Frank
Mike Donohoe Mike Niemczyk S Barbara Haag, OSF
PROGRAM PLANNING & MARKETING COMMITTEES Marlene Breckner Donna Hagerty S Lois Knipp, OSF Bonnie Johnson Jackie Cesario Pastor Cindy Kennedy Linda Grant
HOLY SPIRIT RETREAT CENTER TEAM S Jennifer Corbett, OSF S JoAnn Haney, OSF S Charlotte Hesby, OSF S Monique Schwirtz, OSF
S Carmen Sonnek, OSF
HOLY SPIRIT RETREAT CENTER 3864 420th Avenue Janesville, MN 56048 Return Service Requested
