Susan Lovallo at Wisdom House: Simplify Your Life

Here is Susan Lovallo during the program "Simplify Your Life" at Wisdom House recently. More than 40 people atended.

One participant commented that she could see the connection between organizing and spirituality. "Simplifying one's life can help me focus and feel more peaceful about myself and my activities. I'm ready to start cleaning out my closets! Susan Lovallo is an excellent presenter."

Photo Credit: Sonja Zinke/Register Citizen

Observing Earth Hour on March 28

Chicago's DePaul and St Xavier Universities, Notre Dame U and many Catholic high schools are among the "flagship campuses" spearheading this year's Earth Hour to be held on Saturday 28 March at 8.30pm local time.

Internationally, many other Catholic organizations are involved in this worldwide event. The entire church of the Philippines has backed EarthHour while China's Baoding diocese is promoting the event as part of Lenten abstinence.

Source: CathNews USA

Taize Prayer Service Video

Note: This is an update of a previous post. We hope you will watch and enjoy the video about Taize prayer services.

A prayer service based on the worship of the Taizé Community in France will be held at Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center from 7 pm to 8:30 pm on Friday, April 3rd. The program will be led by Helen Falcone of Southbury, CT.

This contemplative, reflective service consists of Scripture readings, prayer, song and silence. It will be a time to center oneself and be held in God’s tender love and compassion.

Ms. Falcone is an educator, musician and professional singer. She is on staff at Pomperaug High School, Southbury, CT and holds advanced degrees from Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, CA.

Accompanying Ms. Falcone will be flutist Jenny Li, also of Southbury. Ms. Li was born and raised in Taiwan and began her musical studies there. She received a BA from Taiwan Theological College. She holds a Post Graduate Diploma from the Brooklyn Conservatory and a MFA from New York University, both in flute performance. Ms. Li is a founding member of Selah Music Ministry, a group which performs regularly in New York and Connecticut.

The fee for the evening service is $6. For further information and to register call Wisdom House at 860.567.3163, email programs@wisdomhouse.org, or visit www.wisdomhouse.org.

Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center is an interfaith center presenting programs in spirituality, education, and the arts. It offers hospitality for group meetings and specializes in service to the not-for-profit community. The center is a ministry of the Daughters of Wisdom.

World Water Day is March 22

World Water Day is celebrated on March 22, and the focus this year is transboundary waterways. Please visit the UN's World Water Day website here for videos, a photo gallery, and an interactive world map of events planned for World Water Day. Also, there is an FAQ page of information about transboundary waterways.

According to the UN: The world’s 263 transboundary lake and river basins include the territory of 145 countries and cover nearly half of the Earth’s land surface. Great reservoirs of freshwater also move silently below our borders in underground aquifers.

With every country seeking to satisfy its water needs from limited water resources, some foresee a future filled with conflict. But history shows that cooperation, not conflict, is the most common response to transboundary water management issues.

World BankOver the last 60 years there have been more than 200 international water agreements and only 37 cases of reported violence between states over water. We need to continue to nurture the opportunities for cooperation that transboundary water management can provide.

We share the responsibility for managing the world’s transboundary waters for current and future generations.

Taize Prayer Service to be Held at Wisdom House April 3

A prayer service based on the worship of the Taizé Community in France will be held at Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center from 7 pm to 8:30 pm on Friday, April 3rd. The program will be led by Helen Falcone of Southbury, CT.

This contemplative, reflective service consists of Scripture readings, prayer, song and silence. It will be a time to center oneself and be held in God’s tender love and compassion.

Ms. Falcone is an educator, musician and professional singer. She is on staff at Pomperaug High School, Southbury, CT and holds advanced degrees from Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, CA.

Accompanying Ms. Falcone will be flutist Jenny Li, also of Southbury. Ms. Li was born and raised in Taiwan and began her musical studies there. She received a BA from Taiwan Theological College. She holds a Post Graduate Diploma from the Brooklyn Conservatory and a MFA from New York University, both in flute performance. Ms. Li is a founding member of Selah Music Ministry, a group which performs regularly in New York and Connecticut.

The fee for the evening service is $6. For further information and to register call Wisdom House at 860.567.3163, email programs@wisdomhouse.org, or visit www.wisdomhouse.org.

Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center is an interfaith center presenting programs in spirituality, education, and the arts. It offers hospitality for group meetings and specializes in service to the not-for-profit community. The center is a ministry of the Daughters of Wisdom.

The Labyrinth

As spring approaches, we again invite you to stop by Wisdom House and walk the labyrinth. The video above is an introduction to walking the labyrinth as a form of meditation.

Artists' Accolades

We’d like to share some good news about some of the artists who now have works on exhibit in our Marie Louise Trichet Gallery. Each has been given some well-deserved acclamations recently.

Mary Thompson of Litchfield, CT has been named Outstanding Secondary Art Educator for 2009 by the Connecticut Art Education Association. In writing to Mary about the award, the organization’s chairperson said, “This award is competitive and is intended to recognize you for significant contributions to the field of art education.” The award will be given on March 31 at the CAEA Awards Dinner. About receiving the award, Mary said, “ We all stand on the shoulders of those who come before us. I am proud to offer my best as a foundation to my students.

Janet McKenzie of Island Pond, Vermont, was commissioned by the Orton Family Foundation ( Art of Action: Shaping Vermont’s Future Through Art) to create art for their new collection.

This year Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY is publishing a book whose working title is The Art of Janet McKenzie: Empowering Holiness. Many of Janet’s paintings, including her award-winning, “Jesus of the People,” will be featured with reflections by leading writers and feminine theologians, including Sister Wendy Beckett, The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Diana Hayes, Sisters Helen Prejean, Elizabeth Johnson, Joyce Rupp, and Joan Chittister.

Jack Lardis of Beacon Falls, CT is the founder of Oil Drum Art, a Connecticut-based environmental art organization. It has had 22 exhibitions, including New York City, with over 26,000 visitors in the last five years.

During 2008 Earth Day Week, it was featured on the CBS Early Show. Last September, it was featured on New York Fox – 5 News.

Until March 13, artworks created from used 55-gallon oil drums will be on display at ArtSpace Gallery in Hartford. The drum is employed as a metaphor for oil and how it affects society such as the environment, global warming, and our carbon footprint. Power Boothe, Dean of the Hartford Art School, selected the pieces from over 50 submissions by regional artists.

After the Hartford exhibition closes, up to 25 art works will be chosen by the Bradley Airport Marketing Department for display in an art gallery in the airport from April 2 – July 31.

Joy Brown of South Kent, CT writes: “ I have been invited by a patron to work in a foundry in Shanghai to cast several of my figures in bronze, making them 10 feet tall!

One piece possibly would be in a sculpture park in Shanghai in time for the World Exposition there next year. Very exciting and new territory and adventure for me!

I have always wanted to go to China, as my grandparents met and lived there for 40 years, and my father was born there. My family lived in China before I was born until 1949, when they were forced to leave. I look forward to being there connected to my work and my family roots.”

Brown University Student Works on Her Thesis at Wisdom House

Zoe Brennan-Krohn, a senior at Brown University, spent a week at Wisdom House working on her senior thesis. Her thesis which will present the history of the Camphill Movement, an international organization of theraputic communities and schools for persons with disabilities. Zoe had the opportunity to live in one of the Camphill Communities in Ireland for two years before matriculating at Brown. There she volunteered full-time working and living with children with disabilities. The organization was founded by Austrian Jewish refugees in 1939.

While at Wisdom House, Zoe participated in one of our weekly Yoga classes.

Students from the Convent of the Sacred Heart on a Kairos Retreat at Wisdom House

Packed and ready to go home, the junior class from Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich took part in a three day Kairos Retreat at Wisdom House.

Sacred Heart Students on Retreat at Wisdom House

Sacred Heart University students during an activity time while on a recent
weekend retreat at Wisdom House.

March 8 is International Women’s Day

March 8 is International Women’s Day, and the 53rd Commission on the Status of Women meets at UN Headquarters in New York March 2 – 13.

When we contemplate the status of women around the world, one area of grave concern is the growth in human trafficking in recent years. Human trafficking means the forced use of human persons as a form of commerce, whether as slave labor or for sexual exploitation. Victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls, but trafficking is connected to economic, political and social forces that increase the vulnerability and desperation of the poor, of refugees and of immigrants. Women and children are the most vulnerable.

The UN calls for more to be done to reduce the vulnerability of victims of trafficking, to increase the risks to traffickers, and to lower demand for the goods and services of modern-day slaves.

You may want to send a message to the major government representatives at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) who are members of the Bureau and your own government’s representative:

H.E. Jan Grauls (Belgium)
H.E. Julio Peralta (Paraguay)

H.E. Nell Stewart (Canada)
Representative to the CSW, (USA)
For further information, click here .