Sophia Spirituality & Retreat Center
Programmed Retreats

June - December 2009

Sophia Center is a ministry of the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica. All retreats are on the grounds of the monastery, home to over 150 sisters. Spend prayerful time in the inspiring chapels, share in the spiritual and intellectual resources of the sisters and, most importantly, experience worship with a monastic community known for its reverent, beautiful liturgies.


Oblate Institute July 16 to 19, 2009
View the brochure for more information and print off a registration form.
Note: The registration deadline has been extended to July 10.


Silent Directed Retreat
Staff
August 5-10, 2009, Wednesday 4:00 pm to Monday 1:00 pm
Come away for a time and experience the sacred through personal prayer and daily meetings with a spiritual director. Come away to the quiet of a monastic setting. Give yourself time to listen to the deep desires of your heart. You will have opportunities for daily centering prayer and shared lectio. You may choose an experience working with clay, with art, or with Tai Chi.
Fee: $350 (Deposit $50) Register by July 30. Register online.

Certified spiritual directors available for this retreat include: Sheila Carroll, OSF, Evelyn Gregory, OSB, Bernelda Nanneman, OSB, Cecilia Olson, OSB, Micaela Randolph, OSB, and Marcia Ziska, OSB.


Centering Prayer
Micaela Randolph, OSB
September 12-13, 2009, Saturday 10:00 am to Sunday 1:00 pm
Centering prayer is a deep prayer of trust and surrender, involving place, posture, word and silence. Learn this method and dialogue with others as you practice this prayer together.
Fee $100 (Deposit $20) Register by September 1. Register online.

Sister Micaela, a staff member of Sophia Center and director of the Souljourners’ Program, is a spiritual director and retreat leader. For many years the Director of Formation for Mount St. Scholastica, she introduced new members to the contemplative life.


Where in the World Is the Body of Christ?
Mary Collins, OSB
October 3, 2009, Saturday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
It is the faith of the Church that the community of the baptized and the Eucharist are each expressions of a profound mystery, the mystery of the Body of Christ. St. Augustine (4th century) connected them by telling the Church gathered for the Eucharist, “It is your own mystery that you celebrate.” His contemporary, St. Ambrose agreed writing, “You become what you eat.” Spend a quiet day reflecting on this core mystery of your Catholic identity.
Fee: $50 (Deposit $10) Register by September 25. Register online.

Sister Mary has served on the faculties of Benedictine College in Atchison, the University of Kansas in Lawrence, and Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She has written widely in the field of liturgical studies as well as in the theology of religious life. She served as prioress of Mount St Scholastica from 1999-2005.


Everywhere a Blessing: A Celtic Spirituality Retreat
Therese Elias, OSB
October 23-25, 2009, Friday 7:00 to Sunday 1:00 pm
This retreat is not just for the Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Breton, but for all of you who search for God in the ordinary and in the everyday. In true Celtic fashion, we will celebrate the goodness of creation, the nearness of the Saints and the power of the Trinity in our midst. Presentations will utilize ancient poetry, art, song, storytelling, and Celtic Christianity’s beautiful legacy of prayers and blessings. (Bring your journal.)
Fee: $180 (Deposit $35) Register by October 12. Register online.

Sister Therese is a retreat director, spiritual director and advisor as well as a lecturer with specialties in Benedictine spirituality, the mystics, contemplative prayer and Celtic spirituality. She leads pilgrimages to Ireland, Scotland and Wales.


Illuminating the Word: The Gospel of Luke
Irene Nowell, OSB
November 12, 2009, Thursday 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
The Gospel of Luke forms the basis of Cycle C, the approaching lectionary cycle. Sr. Irene, a member of the planning committee for the St. John’s Bible, will use the illuminated texts to lead a reflection on the Gospel and its meaning for our lives today.
Fee: $50 (Deposit $10) Register by October 25. Register online.

Sister Irene teaches Scripture both in the classroom and on the web. She has written two books, Sing a New Song: The Responsorial Psalm in the Sunday Liturgy, and Women in the Old Testament, both published by Liturgical Press. She also writes frequently for The Bible Today and God’s Word Today. She was a member of the committee on illuminations and texts (CIT) for the Saint John’s Bible.


Ministering to the Body, Mind, and Soul
Linda Zahner, OSB
November 14, 2009 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Energy is your life force, animating the body, creating movement and
vitality in your whole person. By participating in this introductory
workshop, you will learn a daily energy routine that can enhance your
over-all health, reducing stress and its effects, adding vitality and
joy, heightening clarity of mind and relieve pain. When we work with the
body’s life-force energy we steward God’s gift of life and enhance the
radiance of our total being.
Fee: $40 (Deposit $10. Register by November 7.) Register online.


Choosing to Love the World: Thomas Merton and Contemplative Living
Jonathan Montaldo
December 4-6, 2009, Friday 7:00 pm to Sunday 2:00 pm
Based on the new book of Thomas Merton selections, entitled Choosing to Love the World: Thomas Merton on Contemplation, this retreat examines Merton’s teaching that we must be fully responsible for our own lives and that of our neighbors—engaged with and for the “world” we are co-producing with everyone else—before we can say that we are truly living for God. Our faith in God and one another requires us to become contemplatives in a world of action.
Fee: $200 (Deposit $40) Register by November 15. Register online.

Jonathan Montaldo is the former director of The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University and served as president of the International Thomas Merton Society. He has edited numerous books of Merton’s writing including The Intimate Merton, Dialogues with Silence and A Year with Thomas Merton. He is resident director of Bethany Spring, the Merton Institute for Contemplative Living’s retreat center located one mile from the Abbey of Gethsemani in New Haven, Kentucky.

NOTE: Fees include cost of workshop, housing and all meals occurring during the duration of the workshop. If overnight space is available, retreatants may arrange to arrive earlier or stay later.

Participants of all denominations are welcome to attend liturgy with the monastic community. Those attending Saturday workshops that begin at 9:00 a.m. are welcome to join the monastic community for morning prayer at 8:30 a.m. Please arrive at the chapel by 8:15a.m.


Offerings For Any Time of the Year

Clay/Fire Retreat
Alberta Hermann, OSB
Create with clay to express your inner awareness of God working in and through you. Call Sister Alberta at 913-360-6200 or e-mail her at ahermann@mountosb.org to schedule dates.
Fee: dependent on length of retreat arranged.

Massage & Reflexology
Agnes Honz, OSB
Fee: Massage: $40; Reflexology $25
Call for appointment: 913-360-6168


Days of Prayer and In-service, Hospitality for Retreats, Workshops for Faculties and Parish/Congregation Organization The Sophia Center Staff will assist you to develop programs according to your needs. Groups and organizations who wish to schedule retreats or workshops at Sophia Center should do so preferably six months ahead of time to insure that housing and other arrangements will be available. Cost arranged. To request further information.


Scholarships

To request an application form for a scholarship to attend the retreats or programs we sponsor, write or call Marcia Ziska, OSB, at 913-367-6161. E-mail your request to mziska@mountosb.org. Donations for scholarships will be gratefully accepted. Cash and checks made payable to Sophia Center Scholarship Fund are always welcome.


Sophia Center Gift Certificates

Gift Certificates are available for a family member, friend, associate to participate in a program(s), to receive a massage, or to come away and rest for awhile. Contact Marcia Ziska, OSB.


Ensuring the Future of Sophia Center

Contributions and gifts-in-kind from persons who want to support the future offerings at Sophia Center are essential to the growth of our spiritual ministry. Your gift will help insure the future of Sophia Center. For more information on how you can include Sophia Center in your will or charitable giving, please contact Mary Agnes Patterson, OSB, Development Director, 801 South Eighth St., Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, KS, 66002-2724, 913-360-6215.

For more information about programs offered by Sophia or to be placed on their mailing list, click here.

Questions?
To contact Sister Eleanor Suther, OSB, Director of Sophia Center
emai:l sophia at mountosb.org
or call: (913) 360-6173
or write:
Sophia Center
751 South 8th St.
Atchison, KS 66002