Day 1089: Notes from the 1-Day Retreat and an update for the next!

An invitation for the next Retreat: Please check your calendars for either

April 16th or April 22nd next month. At Sunday's celebration, we'll choose the date to meet once again at Enid's who has graciously invited us to gather at her home again and either of those dates works for her. Please let Mary or Victoria know which date is best for you either via email or in person on Sunday.

Here are the notes from the afternoon of our face-to-face retreat on March 4th:

Results of OUR EMMAUS ONE DAY RETREAT March 4, 2023:

"Who Do We Say That We Are?”

A day of discernment and a chance to connect, communicate, contemplate and possibly make changes to our community.

March 4, 9:30-4:00

NOTES from the Large Group Discussion afternoon portion of our day:

"Who Do We Say That We Are As A Beloved Community?”

(Each person spoke, in a brief go-round, offering one or two topics that they would like to see the large group discuss during our afternoon together)

• The importance of seeing our community as a “web of relationships and connections.”

• Engaging in small groups; having simple soup suppers to foster closer connections.

• The importance of having guest speakers, for our community, as well as outreach.

• Spiritual should be at the top of our Emmaus list.

• Our community needs to create an equitable division of workload.

• Emmaus is where I can be intimate in my sharing with myself and others.

• Ways to encourage sustained dissent possibilities.

• Issues on aging, and our support of one another as we age.

• Ways to make global connections with what we are doing as a small faith community.

• How Emmaus can clarify the expression of our action and presence as a faith community so that others know what we stand for.

• Through our baptism, we are all called to priesthood; how do we express our individual priesthood?

• How do we respond when people ask us, “What is Emmaus?” What is our Vision / Mission Statement? What are ways to clarify how we see ourselves and how we express this to others? (Bookmarks, internet access, etc.?)

• Ways to simply be a small alternative, inclusive Catholic / Faith Community sharing a meal together.

• Emmaus ends in “us”! Develop a short, simple statement that evokes our inclusion, conversation and openness.

• Ways to be more welcoming, share our good news and do outreach that all are welcome here at Emmaus.

• We are small “c” catholic. What does this mean?

• Catholic-ish; with more of an interfaith component.

• What does Conscious Aging mean, and how can we be more conscious in our aging?

• See Emmaus as a group of “heart-centered spiritual seekers” and prefers the small intimacy that our current numbers foster.

• What is happening to the organizational aspects of Emmaus: i.e: Board meetings; treasurer, secretary; need to look at the operational aspects of Emmaus (especially as a 501-C3, what are the legal requirements)?

• To look at where we are going. Are we sustainable over the next 5 years? Are we thinking about “legacy” and “succession” planning?

• Are we thinking about the emphasis on Catholic with a big “C” rather than questioning a more interfaith / multi-denominational approach?

• Do we need a “definition of terms” in order to express and see what “priest” or “healer” actually looks like?

• The need to be free to share my deepest self and be held / loved by this Emmaus community.

• What is the social action that Emmaus takes, and how does it show up? (Sam Jones, caring for ourselves and each other, etc.,).

• When we first began our discussion, liturgy was not mentioned…why?

• How can we highlight and promote the "incarnation aspect” of our faith?

• How might the Liturgy Committee be more robust in training and encouraging presiders so that our liturgies become more of a group effort rather than an individual enterprise?

• It’s important to remember that we are all coming out of three years of COVID and how that has affected, and is still affecting, everything.

• Are we the Catholic Church or something else?

• Can the Liturgy Committee meet more frequently to discuss developing more creative aspects of our liturgies?

• Catholic / Christian: how do we deal with the impacts that these terms generate, especially in this era when “Christian” is being combined with nationalism, etc.,?

• What are the possibilities of creating small regional groups (spirituality groups, book study groups, etc.,) and how these might help in our desire for more intimacy and connections?

• Of all that we have been discussing, 5 areas seem to be surfacing:

• the desire for more INTIMACY/ CLOSER CONNECTIONS

• LEGACY

• LITURGY

• OPERATIONS

• IDENTITY

…and how meeting again as a large group, or in selected small groups, might help in the deeper processing of these areas of concern and interest.