Preparation well underway!

After an incredibly life-giving and privileged 3 years as Pastoral Care Officer at Matthew Talbot Hostel, a large men's homeless hostel in Sydney and for 4 years, as Chaplain at MRRC, Silverwater, a remand jail for 1000 men awaiting trial or sentencing, I am taking a 4 month sabbatical for rest, renewal and reorientation. After taking a few days for final preparations, the Sabatical commences with the AECSD Conference in Canberra- Spirutal DIrection in the Borderlands before heading to the USA and the UK during which time I will visit examples of spiritual accompaniment in the margins, explore some labyrinths, indulge in some creative pursuits and connect with family, friends and women of The Grail.


Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 30, 2018 at 4:29 AM

    have a wonderful and life-giving journey, dear Liz, and may you return renewed and refreshed with a grateful heart, whatever the journey will reveal for you... much love Beate

    ReplyDelete
  2. michaelSeptember 2, 2018 at 4:23 PM

    Liz, have been very much with you as you enjoy the AECSD conference and head for the USA.
    Will follow your journey with much interest and fascination. Have printed out your full itinerary and will keep it on my desk for regular 'unions'.
    Love Michael

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I await, allow, accept and attend.

Image
I await, allow, accept and attend. The Blessings of Fallow Time- 12 Months from the Beginning of Sabbatical. I have recently returned from 14 nights away.  Six nights at St Mary’s Towers Douglas Park where I had a challenging and blessed retreat as part of my immersion in the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius.  I started the Spiritual Exercises in Daily life in January and anticipate it will take me the year to complete this 19 th Annotation of the Exercises.  This was closely followed by 8 nights in Melbourne for meetings, the ANSD (Australian Network for Spiritual Direction) Conference on The Dreaming and Dreams and a Professional Development Workshop on working with dreams.  Such an enriching time. While I was in Melbourne, I became aware that 12 months previously I set out on a 14-week sabbatical for rest, renewal and reorientation, hoping to explore ways of offering Spiritual Accompaniment among the fringes.  Following this rich, simulati...
Read more
Image
  https://medium.com/@globalpurposeapproach/silence-is-complicity-holocaust-remembrance-9ad12843d9f5 At times, no frequently, I as a white, middle class woman living in a comfortable apartment in Sydney, feel powerless.   Powerless to act, powerless to make a difference.   I also feel conflicted.   My heart, my conscience, wanted to march in the Black Lives Matters demonstration.   I wanted to join the protests highlighting that there have been more than 430 Aboriginal deaths in custody since the 1991 Royal Commission and add my voice to those raging that despite this atrocious number no one has been held accountable.   Aboriginal people are still dying in custody.   Dying prematurely are disadvantaged by every socio-economic indicator.   Yes, I have had my wings clipped.   And I feel embarrassed.   What is my silence and non-participation saying?   Desmond Tutu says “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have ...
Read more

Week 6: A Dream, A Big Dream!

Image
“Above all, trust in the slow work of God.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ I have an on-going dream, a big dream, a dream I first spoke of in November 2016 when I graduated from the “Listen into Life” Spiritual Direction Formation Program.  During this sabbatical, this dream has been enriched and I hope will become a reality into the future.  In October 2015, I commenced as Pastoral Care Officer at Matthew Talbot Hostel for the homeless.  The weekend before I went for interview I was deeply moved and inspired when Lucy Abbot Tucker shared with “The Listen into Life” Spiritual Direction community the Ignatian Spirituality Project (ISP) http://www.ignatianspiritualityproject.org/ . Subsequently, but before being appointed at Pastoral Care Officer, I began to dream that we (as yet to be defined we) could offer retreat experiences either working with ISP to review and if necessary modify the Ignatian Spirituality Project for our circumstances here in Sydney or de...
Read more