Welcome to
Oregon
Contemplative Outreach


                                       Sunset at Stone’s Throw, Lincoln Beach, OR

Come, Holy Spirit, pour out of the depths of the Trinity a ray of Your Light - that Light which enlightens our minds and, at the same time, strengthens our wills to pursue the Light.
                                                                  Thomas Keating, OCSO

Last update February 2008

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NEWS   EVENTS   CP CIRCLES   SPECIAL INTERESTS   SERVICES

NEWS

Welcome to Oregon Contemplative Outreach's LINKS web page. Our hope is that this site will be both interesting and informative. We will be adapting it according to your needs and desires, so comments are welcome at any time. Please e-mail .

Visioning a Future for OCO

After 20 years of leadership in OCO, I am called to step aside and watch God work as others are called to service the network. I am called to tend to my own inner work. As I felt the loss of my role and responsibilities in OCO

and CO Youth Outreach, my discernment was confirmed. It is a time for me to experience my empty nest not only at home but in other attachments as well. Cynthia Bourgeault gave me a wisdom story on retreat last summer that has guided my recent and lengthy experience of the Dark Night. When feeling that God has “pulled the rug out from under me...think instead there is no rug.” She said this of course, with her characteristic grin and chuckle that simultaneously infused me with inner knowing of truth and trust. I was graced at my first CO retreat about 15 years ago, by having Mary Myrzowski guide me through my first conscious experience of the Dark Night. Her wisdom also cut to the basics: “Do you feel like you are going to die? No? Well then go through it.” Talk about cutting through expectations! This is the Spiritual Journey …this is looking at the false self and the long process of dying to it. It then becomes the gift and the work of the CP groups to support and facilitate the on-going work of the Spirit in us individually and collectively. Yes, there is also group unloading! My prayer group created space for my true self to listen and speak through our shared silence and Lectio. The Spirit-ual Journey Series gave me knowledge, understanding, and courage. Annual retreats and days of prayer deepened my practice and called me to take inventory. National and regional Outreach work brought such richness and expansiveness to my view of the work of the Spirit, that I was filled with hope and anticipation. I’ve been so nourished and supported in my Journey.

With this recent Dark Night, I knew to use the Welcoming Prayer, to go on retreat, and to call for Soul Friending. I knew to find a Spiritual Director rooted in the Journey, as I understand it through Fr Keating. I knew to recommit to attending CP groups. I now think of all those facing the inevitable Dark Nights, and reaffirm the essential value of CO to not only teach CP but to support practitioners on the Journey.

For 20 years, Contemplative Outreach and I have fed each other in the Dance of Discernment as the network grew locally and internationally. I now invite you to enter the Dance by serving others on an OCO Service Team. As with so many others who have served in the past, we are united always in Silence. If there is no rug . . . and there is no nest . . . we know there IS sacred space.

Gini Graham

 

Feel free to download the February 2008  newsletter (a pdf, 120 KB). It contains news and retreat opportunities in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

A CIRCLE OF TRUST

A reading from Parker Palmer's A Hidden Wholeness describes so beautifully what we are trying to do in our prayer circle.

“Like a wild animal, the soul is tough, resilient, resourceful, savvy, and self-sufficient; it knows how to survive in hard places. I learned about these qualities during my bouts with depression. My intellect was useless; my emotions were dead; my will was impotent; my ego was shattered. But from time to time, deep in the thickets of my inner wilderness, I could sense the presence of something that knew how to stay alive even when the rest of me wanted to die.  That something was my tough and tenacious soul.

Yet despite its toughness, the soul is also shy. Just like a wild animal, it seeks safety in the dense underbrush, especially when other people are around. If we want to see a wild animal, we know that the last thing we should do is go crashing through the woods yelling for it to come out.

Unfortunately, community in our culture too often means a group of people who go crashing through the woods together, scaring the soul away. A circle of trust is a group of people who know how to wait quietly "in the woods" with each other and wait for the shy soul to show up. The relationships in such a group are not pushy but patient; they are not confrontational but compassionate; they are filled not with expectations and demands but with abiding faith in the reality of the inner teacher and in each person's capacity to learn from it. The poet Rumi captures the essence of this way of being together: A circle of lovely, quiet people becomes the ring on my finger."

I am feel so blessed to be in community with you - and will wear that blessedness today as a "ring" on the finger of my soul.

Faye Ellingson

 

NEWS   EVENTS   CP CIRCLES   SPECIAL INTERESTS   SERVICES

EVENTS

Click Here for printable Registration Form (opens in new window)

For listings of retreats please see our February 2008  newsletter (a pdf, 120 KB).

Scholarships

Scholarships may be available for workshops and retreats so that finances do not need to be an obstacle to deepening your CP practice.
Follow this link to a printable Scholarship Request Form (opens in new window,  best if printed with all margins at .5")

RETREATS

 

DESCRIPTIONS OF INTENSIVE, POST-INTENSIVE, AND ADVANCED RETREATS

3 and 5-day Intensive Retreats: There are two tracks, one for those who have no experience with Centering Prayer for whom introductory instruction will be offered, and one for those who have Centering Prayer experience for whom extended prayer time will be offered.

8 and 10 day Intensive: Having a CP practice is the pre-requisite of this longer retreat. The Intensive retreat offers the foundational instruction of Fr. Keating’s Spiritual Journey Series on the human condition and an immersion in CP. Except for opening and closing sessions and instructional times, silence will be observed throughout. Soul-friending time is available daily with the retreat leaders.

8 and 10 day Post-Intensive: An 8-10 day Intensive is a prerequisite for this retreat. The Post-Intensive participants enter Grand Silence with no eye contact to deepen the practice of Centering Prayer. Except for opening and closing times, silence will be observed throughout the retreat, including at meals.

Notes: Some retreats are “dual-track” with both the Intensive and Post Intensive Retreat experience available.

 Oregon

October 24–31, 2008

Intensive/Post-Intensive
Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Abbey, Lafayette OR
 541-754-9945

Idaho

May 16–23, 2008
Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat
Monastery of St Gertrude, Cottonwood ID
 208-962-3224

British Columbia

April 20–26, 2008 
Intensive Centering Prayer Retreat
Rivendell Retreat Centre, Bowen Island BC
  

Washington

June 12–19, 2008
Intensive/Post-Intensive
St. Andrews on Hood Canal, WA
Diane Haavik 

 

The Journey Continues . . . through 2008
For three years many of us have gathered on one Saturday morning a month as a way of enhancing and reinforcing our practice of Centering Prayer. We call these gatherings “The Journey Continues. . .” This monthly Saturday morning gathering has become a wonderful way of journeying to a greater depth, to that place where silence is also an encounter with that which is sacred within and among us all. Our usual practice is to begin with Centering Prayer, followed by lectio divina, and then some form of teaching about the spiritual path, via a CD or a DVD, which is followed by a discussion of how this teaching makes sense in our lives. But this year notice that in several sessions the teaching will be done live, including two presentations by Sr. Gertrude Feick, OSB, a Benedictine from Mt. Angel. (The topics listed below are only the ones that have been arranged as of this writing and we hope for more.) 

Except for the closing retreat all sessions begin at 9 am and end by 12:30 pm, this way only part of a Saturday is occupied. We meet at Bethlehem Lutheran Church which is very easily reached at the intersection of SE 39th Ave. and I-84 in Portland. Most of the gatherings are on the third Saturday of the month. 

The cost for the gatherings is $75.00 (which does not include the cost of the optional closing retreat at Shalom Prayer Center in Mt. Angel). Scholarships and payment plans are available.

If you have any questions or want to discuss scholarships or payment options, please contact Tom Kinzie at 503-380-0135 or (w) 503-234-1541 or at .

May 17, 2008 
    Benedictine Teachers and Teachings with 
    Sr. Gertrude Feick, OSB

June 13-14, 2008 
    Closing Retreat at 
    Shalom Prayer Center in Mt. Angel

 

Franciscan Spiritual Center
6902 SE Lake Rd., Suite 300, Milwaukie OR 97267

First Saturday Sits

Our time includes three C P sessions, walking meditation and an optional labyrinth walk. Sharing will occur around some aspect of contemplative prayer.

Franciscan Spiritual Center; 503-794-8542; Sister Carmel Gregg, OSF.

May 3 10:00-3:00 -$20
June 5 10:00-12:30 - $10
July (none)  
August 2 10:00-12:30 - $10
September 6 10:00-12:30 - $10
October 4 10:00-12:30 - $10

Lectio Divina

Sessions will include an overview, brief definition and history of Lectio. There will be time for practice of and discussion of the experience.

Franciscan Spiritual Center; 503-794-8542; Sister Carol Ann Warnke, OSF.

Tuesdays 7:00-8:30 p.m. - $50
June 10 & 17 July 1, 8 & 15
   

Day of Prayer Extended Retreat Day

Facilitator - Carmel Gregg, OSF

May 3, 2008; 10:00-3:00
Franciscan Spiritual Center,  503-79-8542.

 

Forgiveness Is Not a One-Time Event

Is forgiveness a one-time event? Having always believed this, it is what I expected on Nov. 2 as I drove to the Forgiveness Retreat sponsored by Oregon Contemplative Outreach. All my life, I have been in a competitive relationship with a close relative. I was looking for a one-time forgiveness event that would result in never being hurt by her again.

The process of the Forgiveness Retreat is to feel our hurts, and in prayer forgive the one who hurt us and ask them to forgive us. Rather than intellectual comprehension of the psychology or theology of forgiveness, it is emotional engagement with our pain that is caused by the need to forgive and be forgiven. There are four opportunities to pray the Forgiveness Prayer using the visualization prayer narrated by Fr. Carl Arico.

After our first period of silence and solitude to pray the Forgiveness Prayer, I experienced forgiving and forgiveness at a deep level. I realized  that just as God has already forgiven me, I have already forgiven my relative. However, something new keeps coming up requiring me to forgive and be forgiven again. During the last prayer time of the retreat, I became aware that forgiveness is not just a one-time event. My forgiveness of my relative is an on-going process. I have forgiven her. I am forgiving her. I will forgive her.

 Entering a safe and sacred place, being nurtured by the Holy Spirit, and being honest about my feelings with the people who join me in the presence of the Spirit is incredibly powerful. Regrets for what I have done to others and resentments for what others have done to me have plagued me for as long as I can remember. The Forgiveness Prayer is a tool I now have to pray about those things and resolve them. Emotional unloading continues to come up on a regular basis. Praying the Forgiveness Prayer daily is giving me a freedom in Christ for which I have been searching for the past 40 years!

Forgiveness Workshop 

Dates TBA

First Baptist Church, 5755 SW Erickson, Beaverton,
    north of Allen Blvd.
Presenter: Carole Hustead.

Transformation

Once shy, scared and alone;
I felt empty, exposed and vulnerable.
Now gloriously and mysteriously transformed;
I am released at last to soar!
Thank you, Contemplative Outreach, for this Gift.

IN CHRIST, CAROLE HUSTEAD

Our Settings: 

The Trappist Abbey offers opportunities with the monks for daily mass and the divine office.

For listings of retreats please see our February 2008  newsletter (a pdf, 120 KB).

TO SCHEDULE WORKSHOPS AND RETREATS IN YOUR AREA

(Contemplative Outreach, Ltd has trained all OCO presenters and retreat leaders.)

Introduction to Centering Prayer: 
   Kate Le Blanc, 503-675-3529,   have two dates in mind.

Lectio Divina: 
   Tom Kinzie, 503-774-2177,

Forgiveness Prayer Workshops: 
   Carole Hustead, 503-649-8939,  

Intensive, Post-Intensive, and Advanced Retreats: 
   Norman Carlson, 541-754-9945,

 

NEWS   EVENTS   CP CIRCLES   SPECIAL INTERESTS   SERVICES

CENTERING PRAYER CIRCLES

"The heart and soul of contemplative outreach
are the centering prayer circles"
Thomas Keating

Centering Prayer Circles : Each Centering Prayer Circle has as its core the practice of a 20 minute centering prayer session. How the group spends the rest of the hour or hour and a half can vary from the beginning. Suggestions include a check in, reading a passage from scripture or related books; viewing a segment of a Father Thomas Keating video, praying Lectio Divina, discussion on certain texts/books important to participants, and ending with prayer requests.

Starting a New Centering Prayer Circle : We welcome new Circles! Please contact Kate Flanagan, 503-359-0736 or e-mail , if you wish to start one. One of the Facilitators' Committee members could attend the group the first time, if you wish, and we will continue our help as needed.

For information about the following circles, contact .

Centering Prayer Communities Portland/Metro Area

Portland Area Day Circles:
Monday, Second and Fourth, 2 - 3:30 pm 
        St. John the Baptist, 6300 SW Nichol Rd, cross street Scholls Ferry Rd
Monday, 10 - 11:30 am
        The Shack, Christ Church Episcopal, Lake Oswego
Monday, First & Third, 9:30 am
        The Bishop's Close, 11800 SW Military Lane, cross street Macadam
Wednesday, Every, 7 - 8 am
        PSU Campus Ministry, Broadway at SW Montgomery
Wednesday, Every, 7:30 am
        Private Home, Aloha
Friday, Every, 7:15 am
        St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Aloha
Friday, Fourth, 10 - 11:30 am
        Rockwood UMC, 17805 SE Stark
Saturday, Every, 10 - 11:30 
        Guild Room, Christ Church, Lake Oswego
Saturday, First, 10 - 12:30 pm
        Franciscan Spiritual Center, Milwaukie 503-794-8542

Portland Area Evening/Weekend Circles:
Sunday, Every, 9 - 9:50 am
        Trinity Episcopal, NW 19th and Everett
Sunday, First and Third, 8:30 - 10:15 am
         St. John's Episcopal, Milwaukie
Sunday, First, Third and Fifth - 7 - 8:30 pm
        Private Home, Tigard
Monday, Every, 7 - 8:15 pm
        Franciscan Spiritual Center, Milwaukie, 503-794-8542
Monday, First & Third, 6:30 - 8 pm
        Christ the King (next to LaSalle) Milwaukie
Monday, First & Third, 6:30 - 8 pm
        Christ Church, Hillsboro
Monday, First & Third, 7 - 8:30 pm
        St. Michael's House
Monday, First & Third, 7 - 8:30 pm
        Private Home, Aloha
Monday, First & Third, 7 - 8:30 pm
        St. Michael & All Angel Parish Hall, NE 43rd
Monday, Second, Lectio Divina Group; 6:30 - 8 pm
        St. Philip Neri, SE 16th Ave, Faye Ellingson 503-307-4481
Monday, Third, 7 - 8:30 pm
        Emanuel Presbyterian, West Linn
Monday, Forth, 6:30 - 8 pm
        St. Philip Neri, SE 16th Ave, Faye Ellingson 503-307-4481
Tuesday, First & Third, 7 - 8:30 pm
        St. John Fisher,  7007 SW 46th Ave., Portland
Tuesday, First & Third - 6:30 - 8 pm
        Antioch Room, Madeline Parish Center, NE Portland
Tuesday, Second, 7 - 8:30 pm
        St John the Baptist, SW Nicol Rd (by OR Episcopal School)
Tuesday, Second, Spiritual Journey Part 4
        St. Rita Parish, NE Prescott, Portland
Tuesday, Second, 7 - 9 pm
        Hillsboro 
Tuesday, Second and Fourth, 6 - 7 pm
        First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1126 SW Park Ave
Wednesday, Every, 7 - 8 pm
        private home, Northeast Portland
Thursday, First & Third, 7:30 - 8:30 pm
        St Pius Xth Community Room, 1280 NW Saltzman 
Thursday, First, 7 - 8 pm
        St. Andrews Presbyterian, SW Dosch and Sunset Blvd
Thursday, Second and Fourth, 6:30 - 8 pm
        2040 NE 19th Ave; Sr. Shirley, 503-201-4161,  
Saturday, First & Third, 9:30 - 11 am
        Ascension Church, SE 76th and Yamhill
Saturday, Fourth, 8 - 9 am
        St. Andrews Presbyterian, SW Dosch
Saturday, Days Vary, 8:45 am - 12:30 pm
        The Hearth, 7650 SW Stewart, Garden Home

Special Focus Circles

Centering Prayer 12-Step Communities
Tuesday: Every, 7 - 8 am
        Women's 11th Step AA Meditation Meeting, 
        Laurelhurst Presbyterian Church, NE 33rd & Pacific, Portland 
Saturday: Days Vary, 8 - 10 am, 
        8207 NE 94th St., Vancouver, WA, 
        Bud Thoune, 360-921-7274, . 
        Group decides which Saturday for the next month at the meeting.

Prison Circles
        Salem Billie Walter 503-859-3902;

11th Step 
Thursdays, First & Third6:30 - 7:45 pm
          New 11th-Step Centering Prayer Meeting for anyone in any 12-step program. 
        Meeting will start with 20 minutes of Centering Prayer, followed by a regular
        meeting on a spirituality topic from any “big” book.
        Near Lloyd Center 
        Contact Shirley at 503-201-4161 or for more details and meeting site.

Contemplative Outreach Willamette Valley (COWV) Groups
    Corvallis 
        Sunday, 10 am; First Presbyterian Church; Norman Carlson 541-754-9945;
        Monday, 1 pm; St. Mary’s, Siena Room
    Mt. Angel
        Daily, 7:30–8:00 am; St. Mary’s Parish, Siena Room
        Tuesday, 7:30–8:30 am, St. Mary’s Parish
    Salem 
          Monday, 7:00–8:30 pm; Queen of Peace Chapel
        Tuesday, 6:30–8:00 pm; St. Paul Episcopal
        Tuesday, 10:00–11:30 am; Queen of Peace

For information about the prayer circles, contact .

Oregon Centering Prayer Communities Outside Portland Area

Ashland: Renee Marie-Gumpel 541-789-5219
Astoria: Rev. Richard Loop 503-338-0451
Bend:  Contact Rita Weick, 541-382-0086,
        Tuesday, 7 pm, First Presbyterian Church 
        Thursday noon, First Presbyterian Church
Camas, WA: Tuesday, 4 pm
        Camas Friends Quaker Church
Corvallis: Sunday, 9:30 am (10 am summer schedule)
        First Presbyterian Church, 114 SW 8th
        541-754-9945
Corvallis: Monday, 1 pm
        St. Mary's, Siena Room, Pastoral office
Forest Grove: Second & Forth, Monday, 7 pm - 8:30 pm
        Kate Flanagan, 503-359-0736,   
Grants Pass: Kathy Nahannah 541-472-7235 
Lafayette: First Saturday, 9 am - 2:15 pm
        Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Abbey
LaGrande: First & Third Sunday, 7 - 9 on
Lincoln City: Thursday, 7 - 8 pm
        St Augustine Catholic Church, NW 12th & Hwy 101
Longview, WA: Tuesday, 6:45 am and Monday 11:30 am
        St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 1428 22nd Ave
        , 360-423-5600
Manzanita: Monday, 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm
                Tuesday, 8:45 - 9:30 am
                One Saturday each month 9 am - 12 pm,
        Center for Contemplative Arts; sitting and walking meditations
Mt. Angel: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, 7:30 - 8:00 am
        Tuesdays, 7:30 - 8:30 am
            St. Mary Parish
Newport: John Anderson 541-265-4087
Ontario: Rev. Anne Slakey 541-889-6943
Salem: Monday, 7 – 8:30 pm, 
            Queen of Peace Chapel
        Tuesday, 10 am
            St. Paul Episcopal
        Sunday, 6:30 - 8 pm,
            St. Paul Episcopal
Tillamook: Lauren Loos 503-842-5660
Vancouver, WA: Every Tuesday, 6 - 7 pm
            Church of the Good Shepherd, Ellsworth & SE 10th
        Mondays, Second and Forth, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish
        Tuesdays, 3:30 - 4:30 pm
            Messiah Lutheran Church
        Thursdays, 6:30 - 8:00 pm
            Family of Christ Lutheran church

For information about the prayer circles, contact .

NEWS   EVENTS   CP CIRCLES   SPECIAL INTERESTS   SERVICES

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

Prison Ministry : A group of volunteers take Centering Prayer into a federal prison, state prisons and jails in the Portland area. If interested in joining this ministry, contact Billie Walter, 503-859-3902 

NEWS   EVENTS   CP CIRCLES   SPECIAL INTERESTS   SERVICES

SERVICES

OCO Website: www.contemplativeoutreach.org/chapters/oregon.htm
To keep up-to-date on happenings in Oregon and Southwest Washington, visit our website. When other workshops or retreats become available, they are posted here.

OCO Library: OCO has audio and video tapes for rent and over 40 books for sale. Tapes can be rented and books purchased through our librarian, Craig Weigant, 971-219-1698, . Books are also available for sale at workshops and retreats. Small rental donations for tapes cover replacements from loss and damage, as well as new purchases.

OCO Contacts for More Information

For those who live a distance from Portland, we have contacts around Oregon to serve you.

Contact: Phone E-mail
Rev. Richard Loop, Astoria, OR 503-325-4691
Rita Weick, Bend, OR 541-382-0086
Norm Carlson, Corvallis, OR 541-754-9945
Dave Ebel, La Grande, OR 541-963-5684
Gerry Kinneavy, Lincoln City, OR 503-392-5872
Kate Flanagan, Portland, OR 503-359-0736
Kathy Seubert, Salem, OR 503-910-3085
Tom Kinzie, OCO Coordinator 503-380-0135

 

NEWS   EVENTS   CP CIRCLES   SPECIAL INTERESTS   SERVICES

 

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