St Bede's Pastoral Centre

Please will you come and celebrate 25 years of

St Bede’s with us?

May 26th 2012

11.30 – 5.30

Just drop in any time.

There will be displays of the various activities and groups using  St Bede’s; an ongoing PowerPoint with photos of our  history;  Videos made by some of those attending our ‘Personal and  Spiritual Development’ course and nibbles throughout the day - and of course a chance to meet each other...

The fixed points will be:

2.00 - 3.15 Frs. Geoffrey, Aidan and Peter OSB will be in the sitting room to meet with anyone who would like to connect up again.

3.15   A short talk by Sr Cecilia followed by a Service in the chapel arranged by the Friends of St Bede’s.

There will also be the launch of Beth Harrison’s book on the history of St Bede’s—a fascinating and beautifully written record of all the many changes that have happened since 1987, and many, many photos of all the people and activities that have gone on over the years.  This will be on sale from the 26th onwards and I do hope many of you will enjoy having your own copy of it.

We would love to see you there!

Sr Cecilia and all at St Bede’s

Regular groups AND PRAYER MEETINGS

To find God in all things: discovering the Ignatian way of praying the scriptures, with Sr Louise CJ. £1 per meeting.

Tuesdays 7.30-8.45pm: 24 April, 15 & 29 May, 12 & 26 June, 10 & 24 July

York Justice and Peace Group: a group interested in a wide variety of justice issues.           

Usually 7.30pm on the second Monday each month.

Contact Nan Saeki 01904 783621

Christian Meditation: an ancient form of contemplative prayer, seeking God in stillness and silence.

Wednesdays 8–9pm: 18 April, 2 & 16 May, 6 & 20 June, 4 & 18 July

Contact St Bede’s for more details.                                      

City Prayer: a group of enthusiastic people who meet to pray and sing together.

 Mondays,7.30pm Contact David Copeland 01904 330 608

St Bede’s Chapel Services during Term Time.

Mondays 12 noon Eucharistic Service.

Wednesdays 12 noon Mass.

Bar Convent Chapel Mass at 12 noon every Friday throughout the year.

PLEASE RING TO CONFIRM IF NOT A REGULAR ATTENDER.

IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY AT St BEDE’S.                                                                 

Please see our website for more details.

We offer various days, workshops and training courses specifically based on Ignatian spirituality for those who are interested in learning more, and also for those who are working as spiritual directors.

WHITBY RETREAT FULLY BOOKED FOR 2012.

PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT [PSD] a two year experiential course open to all, next course starting September 2013.  For more details please phone or email St Bede’s Office  

FOLLOW UP TO YORK IGNATIAN SPIRITUAL ACCOMPANIMENT COURSE [DISAY]  A year of input and practice direction for those offering spiritual accompaniment. Please contact Cecilia Goodman CJ [cecilia.goodman@virgin.net] if interested.

OCCASIONAL DAYS ON THE PROGRAM  are provided and are designed to be of value to anyone interested in learning more about Ignatian spirituality.

If you have any old candles or candle wax from your church that needs recycling do bring it to the Office in St Bede’s:

Any amount; any colour all gratefully received!

The CJ Community are hoping to have a second ecumenical pilgrimage to the Lady chapel at Mount Grace in honour of              Mary Ward on

Saturday July 7^th

For further information please email Sr Mary CJ marywalmsley.cj@bar-convent.org.uk

 INDIVIDUAL EVENTS

Beyond Belief

with Margaret Silf

Thursday 19 April 10.00-4.00 £12

What does it mean to be a person of faith in today’s world?

Is it about ‘believing six impossible things before breakfast’? Or perhaps it is more truly about trusting a power beyond ourselves rather than giving intellectual assent to a set of propositions. Is it about assenting to the correct creeds and doctrines, or about taking the risk of following a way of transformation?

What does the mystery of ‘God’ mean to us, and how can we be in relationship with this mystery in ways that relate to our daily lives. Who is Jesus for us, and what does it mean to follow his ‘Way’? What makes authentic faith community?

What might be obstructing our faith, and what could help us beyond these obstructions? What burning questions would we like to ask God? What questions might we need to ask of ourselves?

Can ‘faith’ take us beyond traditional religion, to a radical following of one who shows us what it means to be ‘a human being fully alive’? And what does that following mean for us in our world today, both personally and globally? What questions does the challenge of faith bring up for us, and should we really be looking for answers?

The day is based on the book ‘Faith’ (in the series ‘Simple Faith’) published by DLT, London, April 2011. This book is also published by Loyola Press in Chicago under the title ‘Simple Faith’, and can be obtained from Amazon.

Darkness Visible

with Jackie Wilkin

Wednesday 2 May 10.30-3.30 £12

A Quiet Day exploring the mysticism of the poetry of                                               

Henry Vaughan and William Wordsworth

‘To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.’ (William Blake)

Henry Vaughan was born in 1622 in the small town of Usk. His collection of verses entitled The Swan of Usk celebrated the beautiful characteristics of a river he particularly loved. His best-known work is Silex Scintillans: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations (1650) which contains the exquisite short poem 'The Retreat'. His mystical outlook on nature influenced later poets, including Wordsworth; he himself was deeply influenced by the life and poetry of George Herbert.

William Wordsworth’s poetry broke the cult of sterile rationalism and ushered in Romanticism and its cultivation of the imagination. His response to the divine   being, expressed through Nature, is as mystical as Vaughan’s. Like him, he writes of sublime imaginative and spiritual experience in which he has direct, immediate and intuitive perception of an all-embracing infinite: ‘

…a sense sublime

Of something far more deeply interfused,

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns

And the round ocean and the living air… (‘Tintern Abbey’)

During the Quiet Day we shall explore Vaughan and Wordsworth’s poetry and think about our own response to this approach to God.

Jackie Wilkin is a patient and inclusive retreat leader. Before her retirement in 2008, Jackie lectured in literature for Manchester University, Bolton University and the WEA as well as residential colleges nationwide. She pursued an early interest in theology and Biblical Studies by studying for a theology degree at the University of Manchester before her postgraduate studies in literature.  She has always been interested in the links between literature and spirituality and now offers retreats with a literary theme.

Mirror of eternity: in search of St Clare of Assisi.

with Rowan Williams

Thursday 10 May 10.00-3.30 £12

Clare represents an aspect of Franciscan spirituality that is still largely hidden, but which deserves to be much better known. I will be looking at who she was, how she lived, what she wrote, and why she has been so overlooked. In a time of political, social and economic instability, Clare's distinctive form of Christian   discipleship has much to say to us about healthy leadership, the value of friendship, and Christlike simplicity of life.

Rowan Williams is an Anglican priest and chaplain to the University of York. For seven years she was a member of an Anglican Franciscan religious order, and she has worked as a parish priest and hospital chaplain. She has written one book on Franciscan spirituality (A Condition of Complete Simplicity, Canterbury Press 2003) and is currently in the final stages of a doctorate on the theology of St Clare at Cambridge University.

Three voices, one song - To live justly, to love tenderly, to walk humbly.

with Christian Smith

Monday 21 May 10.30-4.00 £12

A day to reflect upon this invitation as a way of living in the busy-ness and preoccupations of our lives and our world.

Christian Smith is a member of St Antony's Ecumenical Spirituality Centre in Durham where she is engaged in spiritual direction, counselling, retreat work and days of recollection. Before working at St Antony's, Christian was a Pastoral  Director at Ushaw College working with men in formation for ordained ministry in the Catholic Church and women and men studying for the BA in Theology and  Ministry.

Silk? Satin? Muslin? Rags?

An invitation to explore a spirituality of clothing

with Ann Bowes

Thursday 14 June 10.00-4.00 £12

“On the subject of dress, almost no one, for one or another reason, feels truly indifferent:  if their own clothes do not concern them, somebody else’s do. Elizabeth Bowen

The workshop will draw on the King James Bible and other literary sources: for example Trollope (Anthony of course) ! Art, music and beginning to craft a prayer shawl, (Jewish Tallis), will be further options, in exploration of this challenging topic, which is rarely discussed or considered in a conscious way. Please bring a pashmina or shawl if interested in making a prayer shawl, need not be new.

The day is offered in celebration of the life of Jenny Mitchell, to whom the spirituality, energy and friendship she discovered at St Bede’s was so precious. Jenny loved clothes; choosing hers with great care and consideration in style, colour and fabric. She also loved food - so let’s have a Bring and Share Feast in her honour.

“Don’t ask yourself what is on the outside that I want. Instead ask yourself, what is on the inside which I have yet to unpack! “ Quentin Crisp

Ann has been a Reader for 20 years, with experience in hospital chaplaincy; directing a retreat centre for those of any faith or none; and been in charge of ministry in three  parishes in rural Yorkshire. She is currently working alongside a United Reform Church in Northallerton. Much of her ministry has been working ‘on the edge’ of the established church boundaries. She has an energy for growing and developing her own spirituality;  supporting others in their explorations like- wise, both in and outside the church           institution; and she has had a life-long passion for clothes with all the agony and ecstasy that has  entailed!

A Day in the Country

with Sophie Weston

Thursday 5 July 10.30-4.00 £12

This year’s ‘Day in the Country’ will consist of guided visits to three churches south of York, which, between them, possess architecture from the late Anglo-Saxon period to the time of the Reformation.  Starting at Birkin, one of the least spoilt of Yorkshire’s Norman churches, we shall move on to Brayton, a church whose origins were closely linked with Selby Abbey.  After lunch our day will finish with a visit to the church at Skipwith, one of Yorkshire’s most beautiful churches, where tea will be provided (donations welcome).  Please meet at Birkin church at 10.30 am.

 (We need to point out that this is a ‘self-transport’ day, and I will need to have numbers for lunch a week before at the latest)