Welcome to the Central Connecticut Living Flame I
Fall 2014 - Spring 2015 Program
Latest News as of 5/12/2015
Year 1 of Living Flame wrapped up in a wonderful way on Saturday 5/9/2015. We're looking forward to beginning Year 2 in October. Many thanks all the folks at Contemplative Outreach that made this possible. We thank Holy Family Retreat Center for their support and for allowing us to host Living Flame there. We are grateful for the community of folks that came together and were touched more deeply by the time we spent together.
Year 1 of Living Flame wrapped up in a wonderful way on Saturday 5/9/2015. We're looking forward to beginning Year 2 in October. Many thanks all the folks at Contemplative Outreach that made this possible. We thank Holy Family Retreat Center for their support and for allowing us to host Living Flame there. We are grateful for the community of folks that came together and were touched more deeply by the time we spent together.
Here is a running Reading List of Presenter Recommendations which contains recommendations from all our presenters. In addition here is a list of Recommended Readings relating to the topic of The Human Condition that Steve Standiford put together.
We have one or two openings in Living Flame 2 for those or you who still have an interest or know of someone who might. Here is a copy of the Registration form. More details on this program and a place for those not attending Living Flame I to register can be found here!
We have strong interest in our Second Annual Day of Prayer but still have room for more folks to attend. Here is the Information and Registration page for the Second Annual Contemplative Day of Prayer to be held at Holy Family Retreat Center on Saturday 6/6/2015 is available! Please use this page to register for this exciting and enriching event!
We have one or two openings in Living Flame 2 for those or you who still have an interest or know of someone who might. Here is a copy of the Registration form. More details on this program and a place for those not attending Living Flame I to register can be found here!
We have strong interest in our Second Annual Day of Prayer but still have room for more folks to attend. Here is the Information and Registration page for the Second Annual Contemplative Day of Prayer to be held at Holy Family Retreat Center on Saturday 6/6/2015 is available! Please use this page to register for this exciting and enriching event!
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Here are the Holy Family Retreat Center grounds:
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(Click image to enlarge)
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General Information On Living Flame in CT
The Living Flame program is a two year Contemplative Formation Program that has been offered by Contemplative Outreach since 1993. We are blessed to have the opportunity to offer Year 1 of this program for the first time in the Central Connecticut area. We are graced with over 40 participants in this program from various parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
This Contemplative Formation program includes seven full-day Saturday sessions offering in-depth spiritual study presented by commissioned presenters from the various Contemplative Outreach Service Teams located around the United States. Designed to teach the vital conceptual background needed to support a faithful practice of Centering Prayer, the program also:
All sessions will be held at the Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Rd, West Hartford, CT 06107. Based on other ongoing retreats, our meeting locations will vary. You will find a facilities map here. Participants can contact Kasia Owczarek (860-760-9799) at the Holy Family Retreat Center a week in advance to arrange accommodations on an availability basis if they would like this option. There are also hotels available close by.
The dates, topics and presenters for the Central Connecticut Living Flame program are:
We are reserving 05/16/2015 as a backup date in the event that one of the sessions needs to be postponed due to weather or other reasons beyond our control.
The format for the day is as follows:
The following change will be incorporated into the morning Centering Prayer Period (10:10 - 11:00) to allow for this entire period to be treated as a time of prayer:
All participants are assigned to small groups for a more intimate experience of sharing during the seven sessions. The makeup of the small groups will remain unchanged for the duration of the Living Flame program. Over time members will bond in the Spirit. The guidelines for small group faith sharing are:
The Presenter of the day will give the small groups one or two focusing questions to keep the group on the topic. Each of the small groups will be facilitated by a member of the Central CT Living Flame I organizational team:
Your facilitator will contact you and the members of your small group by email prior to the start of the program.
We will ask that each participant turn in an evaluation form after each session. You can obtain the Living Flame evaluation forms here.
This Contemplative Formation program includes seven full-day Saturday sessions offering in-depth spiritual study presented by commissioned presenters from the various Contemplative Outreach Service Teams located around the United States. Designed to teach the vital conceptual background needed to support a faithful practice of Centering Prayer, the program also:
- offers encouragement and support in a small community setting;
- heightens the awareness of the purification process;
- helps discern when psychological skills can be helpful tools;
- and provides the opportunity to give and receive spiritual companionship.
All sessions will be held at the Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Rd, West Hartford, CT 06107. Based on other ongoing retreats, our meeting locations will vary. You will find a facilities map here. Participants can contact Kasia Owczarek (860-760-9799) at the Holy Family Retreat Center a week in advance to arrange accommodations on an availability basis if they would like this option. There are also hotels available close by.
The dates, topics and presenters for the Central Connecticut Living Flame program are:
- 10/11/14 - Lectio Divina presented by George Welch - Buffalo
- 11/08/14 - Refinement of Centering Prayer presented by Marilyn Webb - Indianapolis
- 01/17/15 - The Human Condition presented by Leslee Terpay - Denver
- 02/14/15 - Divine Therapy presented by Steve Standiford - New York City
- 03/14/15 - The Dark Night of Sense presented by Susan Komis - St Louis
- 04/11/15 - Welcoming Prayer presented by Jim McElroy - St Louis
- 05/09/15 - Discernment presented by Mary Dwyer - Miami
We are reserving 05/16/2015 as a backup date in the event that one of the sessions needs to be postponed due to weather or other reasons beyond our control.
The format for the day is as follows:
- 9:00 - Arrive, Welcome and Breakfast snacks (30 mins)
- 9:30 - Check-in, Introduction and Theme of that day (40 mins)
- 10:10 - Centering Prayer (20 mins)
- 10:30 - Contemplative Walk* (10 mins)
- 10:40 - Centering Prayer (20 mins)
- 11:00 - Silent Break (15 mins)
- 11:15 - Teaching Conference (1 hr)
- 12:15 - Early break before Lunch
- 12:30 - Full Lunch (with or without conversation) (1 hr)
- 1:30 - Teaching Conference (1 hr )
- 2:30 - Centering Prayer (20 mins)
- 2:50 - Silent Break (15 mins)
- 3:05 - Small Group (1 hr) - increase small group time
- 4:05 - Large Group Check-out and Survey (25 mins) - time to ask questions / share insight
- 4:30 - Depart
The following change will be incorporated into the morning Centering Prayer Period (10:10 - 11:00) to allow for this entire period to be treated as a time of prayer:
- 3 gongs
- Opening Prayer
- 1 gong
- 20 minutes of Centering Prayer
- 1 gong
- Contemplative Walk
- 1 going
- 20 minutes of Centering Prayer
- 3 gongs
All participants are assigned to small groups for a more intimate experience of sharing during the seven sessions. The makeup of the small groups will remain unchanged for the duration of the Living Flame program. Over time members will bond in the Spirit. The guidelines for small group faith sharing are:
- Practicing the art of listening
- The groups are not problem solving sessions
- Confidentiality is essential
- Freedom to share or not to share
- Give each participant equal time
The Presenter of the day will give the small groups one or two focusing questions to keep the group on the topic. Each of the small groups will be facilitated by a member of the Central CT Living Flame I organizational team:
- Jean Ficaro (Purple group) - rjcarf92@hotmail.com
- Mike Smoolca (Dark Blue group) - msmoolca@hotmail.com
- Nancy Nichols Kearns (Light Blue group) - nancynichols1010@yahoo.com
- Nancy Stimac (Red group) - nstimac@comcast.net
- Rosemary Hall (Green group) - rhall91@comcast.net
- Rosemary Shirley (Yellow group) - rshirley66@gmail.com
Your facilitator will contact you and the members of your small group by email prior to the start of the program.
We will ask that each participant turn in an evaluation form after each session. You can obtain the Living Flame evaluation forms here.
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If you have any questions or comments about this program please feel free to contact Mike Smoolca, at msmoolca@invialumen.org or by phone at 860-798-8992.
You may also fill out the Comment Form to submit your question or comment and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. |
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