Contemplative Parenting Retreat
Come ye, exhausted caregivers, and rest
When the Ignatian Spirituality Center asked me to lead a retreat on parenting, the first thing I said was, “Um, you do know that parenting is the most challenging part of my life, right?”
And they said, “Yeah! That’s kind of the point.” I love them for understanding that, for knowing that it’s in the places where we’re least certain that there’s the most potential for real human connection.
This virtual retreat is a space for us to rest, a time for all of us non-experts caught up in the beautiful (and sometimes exasperating) mystery of family life to gather around the bonfire and encourage one another.
We’ll take a contemplative lens to our everyday lives and explore the ways Ignatian spirituality can meet us in our parenting. There will be poems and prayers and guided meditation. There will be time to share and time to think and pray on your own. And I hope you’ll leave feeling seen and heard and renewed, with a whole host of new ideas for praying your way through parenting.
The retreat will be on Saturday November 11th from 9am to 12pm Pacific (12pm to 3pm Eastern), and the ISC has made it so wonderfully accessible: the fee is $20, or $30 for you and a guest. I hope you’ll join us! You can sign up here. (And if you do, please bring a stone, a candle, and a photo of your child(ren) because it’s October, which gives me license to be a bit mysterious.)
A Few Hopeful Things:
-I found hope this week in a God who weeps, a God who grieves, a God who suffers right alongside us. I can’t not think of St. Óscar Romero’s powerful and prophetic homilies when I cling to that suffering God. Will I have a free Advent devotional for you based on those homilies this year? Yes, yes, I will.
-Speaking of grief, my friends Becky Eldredge and Kathy Powell are leading an All Souls’ Day workshop on grief accompaniment. They have so much experience in this arena and are also just lovely people.
-I love passing writing opportunities on to you all, and I have a great one from my also lovely friend Maya Jain at Ignatian Solidarity Network. They are accepting submissions for their Just Parenting Series, and you can get all the info here.
In grief, in hope,
Cameron