Future Teacher

Hallie Yasuda, a student at CCSU majoring in education, also writes poetry and enjoys sketching. While taking part in the Wisdom House Writers Fellowship grant through the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Fund of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, she spent a weekend at Wisdom House this summer to take time to write as well as sketch. She is looking forward to student teaching this fall.


Wisdom House
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National Catholic Educational Association Meets

 

Twenty-five members of the National Catholic Educational Association, all directors of religious education in parishes on the East Coast, met at Wisdom House for a four day retreat to be renewed in their ministry of religious education. The retreat was facilitated by Mickie Abatemarco, the Associate Executive Director of the Religious Education Department. Visit www.ncea.org.

 

 

Wisdom House

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Where does the energy, the power, come from that allows this to be?

Photo credit: Andrew Ford

The nature of divine Mystery far surpasses our understanding.

(From "Awe-Filled Wonder: The Interface of Science and Spirituality," Barbara Fiand, SND de N)

Wisdom House
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Daughters of Wisdom in Litchfield – Since 1949 – Part IV

In the 65 year history of this center, the present Wisdom House evolved from a “closed society” of semi-cloistered nuns into an “open society” welcoming people of all faith traditions who seek Wisdom.          

 

 “In this woodland

    In these peaceful retreats

       In the shadow of these forests,

          What benefit we find,
 
               What silence….”         

                                       (Louis DeMontfort’s Hymn #15)
   
To learn more about Wisdom House, visit: www.wisdomhouse.org.

You are always welcome!

~ Rosemarie Greco, DW

Daughters of Wisdom in Litchfield – Since 1949 – Part III

Environmental sustainability and energy conservation are evident in the various renovations in the buildings. For example, constructing bedrooms from dormitories and improving the water supply from our wells.  The installation of 80 solar panels on the barn and caring for the 70 acres of land, meadows and forests are further indications of this commitment.  The Northwest Connecticut Conservation District gave an award to Wisdom House in 2012 for these initiatives.

 

 

Since 1990, approximately 6,000 people yearly have come to Wisdom House and experienced the services and hospitality that the center offers.  Ample scholarships enable people of low income to participate in renewal retreats.  Wisdom House also serves the local civic community as a shelter in times of emergency and disaster.   These outreaches are a justice commitment of Wisdom House in living the congregation’s orientation and sharing our resources with those in need.


Wisdom House
www.wisdomhouse.org

Daughters of Wisdom in Litchfield – Since 1949 – Part II

In 1967, the Province informed the Archbishop of Hartford, Connecticut that the ministry of formation was evolving into a ministry of retreats and spiritual renewal for religious as well as for laity.  While this expanded the original inspiration of the center, it also expanded the possibilities for furthering the charism of Wisdom and the inspiration of our Founders by liberating these for new life in the arena of the world. 

The first interfaith retreat was a Buddhist meditation retreat.  The “tent” was widening as the center was evolving. Over the years, the name changed from Mary Immaculate Novitiate to Montfort House of Renewal and, in 1981, the center was renamed Wisdom House.

In 1990 another surge in the retreat center’s evolutionary process began with the collaboration of Sisters Rosemarie Greco, DW and Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP.  Wisdom House benefitted from this intercongregational model along with the lay staff. This included increased interfaith retreats and programs in spirituality, education, and the arts and the opening of the Marie Louise Trichet Art Gallery in 1994. 

Attention to global issues influenced the inclusion of environmental sustainability awareness and conferences on those topics affecting the poor and the cosmos at large.  Icons of 20^th century American martyr Sister Mary Antoinette, DW and of co-founder Marie Louise Trichet were commissioned and are now enshrined in the chapel at Wisdom House.

 

 

Wisdom House

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Wisdom House at 65

2014 marks the 65th Anniversary of the Daughters of Wisdom coming to Litchfield, CT. Rosemarie Greco, DW, wrote a reflection about these years which was published in the international newsletter of the Daughters of Wisdom.

We will be highlighting this reflection in four parts in upcoming blogs on At Wisdom’s Table. Part 1 starts below:

 

  

Wisdom House at 65

“We realize that we are always evolving…”

Everything evolves: people, places, things and even our mission and ministries.  One ministry that evolved in the past 65 years is Wisdom House Retreat Center in Litchfield, Connecticut, USA.  This ministry of the Province of the United States of America evolved from the Canadian novitiate. In 1949, Mary Immaculate Novitiate was founded in Litchfield, Connecticut, USA, to welcome women discerning a vocation to religious life with the Daughters of Wisdom. Beginning with five postulants in a New England Farm House, the novitiate expanded in a few years into a larger, monastic style center.

With the growth in membership, the novitiate evolved to include a Juniorate and Seat of Wisdom College to better prepare sisters for ministry.  The great ecclesial revolution of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s brought about a continued evolution. With the decrease of new members to the formation community, a crisis loomed: What to do with the growing vacancies in the formation buildings and how to move forward in fidelity to the charism?


Part 2 will be featured in the August 11 blog.

Tree Removal

The wear and tear of time and interior decay made it necessary to remove some trees on our property recently.

Some were long-time parts of the profile of our landscape. New trees will be planted in their place.

Wisdom House
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