8th Graders Walk the Wisdom House Labyrinth

These are a few photos of some of the 25 8th Graders from St. Mary Magdalen School in Oakville who came to Wisdom House on May 28 for a program about the labyrinth.

The students are given an introduction to the labyrinth, invited to walk it, and then encouraged to reflect on their experience. St. Mary Magdalen School has brought their 8th Graders to Wisdom House for this program for the past five years.

Below are some of their comments about what they experienced : “As I walked the labyrinth....”

1) ...I felt peaceful and happy and wondered what I could do be a better person. The calm surroundings helped me get in touch with God.
2) ...I felt all my worries lift off my shoulders and I could breathe freely.
3) ... I forgot about all the things that hold me back from living my life.
4) ...I felt serene. My mind and soul were at peace, everything felt amazing and life got less complicated.
5) ... I felt more in tune with nature and any feelings of anger I held previously, just vanished.
6) ...I felt very quiet, relaxed, closer to life, and was able to think straight.
7) ... I felt like my prayer intention was slowly being accomplished.
8) ...I became happier and happier as I got closer to the center of the labyrinth.
9) ...I thought about my journey through all my school years and how God was by my side all the way.
10) ... I felt relief like everything was taken care of.

Photos and text by Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP
Click here to find out about family labyrinth walks at Wisdom House on June 8.
Click here for other posts about the Wisdom House labyrinth.

Wisdom House Accepts Donations to Catholic Relief Services to Assist with Efforts in China and Myanmar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2008

Contact:
Sister Rosemarie Greco, DW
Wisdom House Administrator
860.567.3163 (x104)

Wisdom House Accepts Donations
to Catholic Relief Services to Assist with Efforts in China and Myanmar

(LITCHFIELD, CONN. - May 29, 2008) - Wisdom House will be sending a donation to Catholic Relief Services to assist with the relief efforts in China and Myanmar. We have already received some donations from a limited email that was sent last week but we see that others would like to make a contribution to assist the suffering people of China and Myanmar.

Wisdom House will add its donations to those of the Daughters of Wisdom who have designated funds for this cause. The contributions will be mailed on June 5.

If you would like to add your donation, please send a check made to Wisdom House-Relief, 229 East Litchfield Road, Litchfield, CT 06759.

Thank you for your care, concern and gifts to help those experiencing such disasters.

New Pages at Wisdom's Table

We have added Social Concerns at Wisdom's Table and Wisdom House Press Releases to this blog. Social Concerns presents articles of interest from other organizations that share our concerns and provides links for more information about these topics. Press Releases include all of Wisdom House's press releases from May 7 on.

We have also added Feedburner subscription boxes to these blogs so that you can subscribe to them separately. After you enter your email address in the subscription box, you will receive a confirmation email message. After you click on the link in that email, you will receive an email message whenever the blog is updated. The message will contain a link to the new blog post.

Your email address will not be used for any purpose other than to notify you of blog updates.

Francine Prose: A Literary Event for Readers and Writers

Author Francine Prose led a workshop for readers and writers last weekend that focused on her most recent non-fiction book, Reading Like a Writer. Starting from the premise that quality reading informs great writing, she guided 30 participants in a close reading of John Cheever's short story "Goodbye, My Brother," and Denis Johnson's "Emergency." Participants learned to read slowly and to savor every word of a work of literature, the better to appreciate great writers' techniques and the beauty of words themselves.

Here is a video of poet Davyne Verstandig's interview with Francine and of Francine's reading from her new book. Here is an excerpt of her conversation with the group.

Photos by Sister Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP
and Sandy Carlson

Spring Flowers Around Wisdom House

Photos by Sister Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP

Photos from Reeve Lindbergh's Presentation at Wisdom House

These are photos from author Reeve Lindbergh's May 10 presentation at Wisdom House, "The Gift of My Mother: Celebrating Anne Morrow Lindbergh." In the third photo, Carol Hyman leads the group in a meditation using the works of Anne Morrow Lindbergh. In the fifth photo, Paula Desel presents Reeve with a quilt inspired by her mother’s book, Gift from the Sea.
Photos by Sister Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP

Reeve Lindbergh: The Gift of My Mother: Celebrating Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Author Reeve Lindbergh led a program at Wisdom House on Saturday, May 10m, in which she remembered her mother, famed aviator and writer Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Reeve led a humorous, tender and insightful conversation with the 50 participants, many of whom shared their recollections of the Lindbergh family and the meaning of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's books in their lives. (Click here to watch a video excerpt of the program.)

Reeve's new book, Forward from Here, Leaving Middle Age--and Other Unexpected Adventures, promises to be every bit as engaging as her previous memoirs.

Here is a synopsis from the Simon & Schuster website:

In her funny and wistful new book, Reeve Lindbergh contemplates entering a new stage in life, turning sixty, the period her mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, once described as "the youth of old age." It is a time of life, she writes, that produces some unexpected surprises. Age brings loss, but also love; disaster, but also delight. The second-graders Reeve taught many years ago are now middle-aged; her own children grow, marry, have children themselves. "Time flies," she observes, "but if I am willing to fly with it, then I can be airborne, too." A milestone birthday is also an opportunity to take stock of oneself, although such self-reflection may lead to nothing more than the realization, as Reeve puts it, "that I just seem to continue being me, the same person I was at twelve and at fifty." At sixty, as she observes, "all I really can do with the rest of my life is to...feel all of it, every bit of it, as much as I can for as long as I can." (Click here to continue reading.)

(Here is a video clip of Reeve's reflections on her father, Charles Lindbergh.)

Social Concerns at Wisdom's Table

Please visit our Social Concerns page to read about issues that concern us but are not directly related to Wisdom House.

Joy Brown's Sculptures at Wisdom House

These are sculptures by artist Joy Brown of Kent, Connecticut. Many of these are available for purchase. For more information, contact Wisdom House.

Click here for other posts about Joy Brown.

Photos by Sandy Carlson

'Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church' at Fairfield University

Bishop Geoffey Robinson of Sydney, Australia will speak about his book, “Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church.” At a free event on Saturday May 24, 2008 at 10:30 AM at Fairfield University. Bishop Robinson invites us to “serious conversation regarding the broad range of church issues that have too often been declared off-limits by church leadership” says America magazine. For more information, visit www.fairfield.edu/catholicstudies.

(Last week, Krista Tippett's NPR radio program Speaking of Faith looked at "The Beauty and Challenge of Being Catholic: Hearing the Faithful." Click here to visit Tippet's site and to hear the podcast.)

Wisdom House Chef and Cooks Tend the Raspberry Bushes

Head chef Gerard Hall (left) with prep cooks Mary Bagnaschi and Bill Box clear the land to give space to the raspberry bushes at Wisdom House.

Poem: Gently

Coming up at Wisdom House: Exploring Catholic Culture

Scripture is God’s Word and Revelation in human language. On the weekend of June 20-21, 2008, we will explore the ways scripture has been and can be interpreted in the Roman Catholic community.

Exploring Catholic Culture creates the opportunity for us to present the good news of the Catholic culture as it evolved in Roman Catholicism over the past two millennia, to identify significant movements and developments which influence today’s Roman Catholic practice, and to appreciate the ways in which the Spirit of God has nourished and shaped the Roman Catholic
community within a multicultural world.

Rev. John R. Donahue, S.J., will be the presenter of this program co-sponsored by Wisdom House and The Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield University in Fairfield Connecticut.

Rev. Donahue earned a PhD at Fordham University, STL,Woodstock College and PhD in New Testament at the University of Chicago; taught New Testament at the Vanderbilt Divinity School and at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley;Visiting Professor at Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome and University of Notre Dame; Professor of New Testament Studies (Emeritus), St. Mary’s Seminary and University, Baltimore, MD; past president, Catholic Biblical Association. Author of many works including Hearing the Word (3 vols), The Gospel of Mark (with Daniel Harrington,SJ); Are You the Christ? He has lectured in USA, Canada, South Africa and East Asian Pastoral Institute, Manila.

Click here to download a PDF version of the the Wisdom House brochure for this program.