Our founders and foundresses were social mystics!  Women and men deeply rooted in God and sent on mission!  Time has not dimmed the witness of their lives…lives that testify that authentic prayer leads to care of the most vulnerable and action on behalf of justice. 

Today, women and men responding to the call to Religious Life likewise desire to be rooted in God and sent on mission --- that is, social mystics in our own day!

 Specific areas of exploration will include:

¨Graced Companionship in Community

¨Mentoring: A Near-Occasion of Grace

¨Mystery Ever Nearer: Adult Faith Development 

Presenter: 

Mary Pat Garvin, RSM, Ph.D., is a member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas (Mid-Atlantic Community).  She has ministered as an educator for over thirty years teaching at the primary, secondary and university level. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the Gregorian University in Rome, where she was a faculty member from 1994-2001.  Presently, Mary Pat ministers as a psychologist, teaches psychology at Seton Hall University and provides consultation and education to religious congregations in North America, Europe and Africa in the area of initial and ongoing formation.  Her articles on Religious Life and initial formation have appeared in Human Development, In-Formation, Horizon, Religious Life Review (Ireland), Religious Life Asia, Vita Consecrata (Italy), and Listen (Australia). In 2007 she co-authored “Leadership in Consecrated Life Today” in Formation and the Person: Essays in Theory and Practice with Peeters Press. Integral to all her ministry is the interfacing of spirituality and psychology in a manner which enriches and sustains our lives of faith.

There are  two separate workshops

The first, April 6 - 8 2010, is for Vocation and Formation Ministers, those in leadership, as well as all members wishing to deepen their own commitment.  This conference will be be a companion piece to what the new members will experience in their own conference (April 9 - 11, 2010). The hope is that the Vocation/Formation Ministers, leadership and membership will have a "common experience" to explore the topic with newer members locally, with each group having looked at the topic from their present experience.

The second, April 9 - 11, 2010,  is for those in pre-novitiate, novitiate, and temporary professed. Drawing on the insights of human development, as well as contemporary theology, Rooted in God...Sent on Mission will explore topics pertinent to their journey through vocational discernment and initial formation.

For more information on cost, location and registration, please click on the appropriate date.

April 6 - 8, 2010  (Vocation and Formation Ministers, leadership, community members)

April 9 - 11, 2010 (Pre-novitiate, novitiate, temporary professed)

You may also contact Program Director, Yvonne DeBruin at 301.588.4938 or email ydebruin@relforcon.org