Our two pre-conference sessions are underway!
The Annual General Meeting
Ann, Tony and Jan lead us in opening prayer.
Chair Joe Bezzina welcomes attendees at the AGM.
CARFLEO Elections for 2018-2020
- Chair: Sr. Pat Carter csj
- Secretary: Jan Bentham
- Treasurer: Derek McEachen
Sr. Pat gives the treasurers report.
Stephanie Wells of Pearson Education updates the AGM about the Grade 5 implementation of Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ.
Michael Bator reports on the Catholic Curriculum Corporation.
Paul Mantha reports from the Eastern Ontario Curriculum Corporation.
Joe Sinasac reports on Novalis.
Tara Hurford and Emily Pitman update the AGM about the work of Development and Peace.
Jan leads us in evening prayer.
Peter Crane presents the Archbishop Pocock Award …
…to Deirdre Thomas.
Diane Murgaski, Acting Director of York Catholic DSB, awards the Archbishop McDougall Award for Family Life Education to…
… Kelly Pickard-Lefterys.
Keynote speaker Stan Fontaine begins his first session.
Image credit: Native Reflections
Disturb Us Lord
Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
-attributed to Sir Francis Drake
Addendum to Stan’s talk: The 12 Teachings of the Sacred Tree see also https://iyeshe.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/twelve-teachings-of-the-sacred-tree/
THE 12 TEACHINGS OF THE SACRED TREE
1. All things are interrelated.
2. All things change by:
a. coming together: development
b. coming apart: disintegration
3. Change happens in cycles or patterns
4. There is a physical and spiritual world, each with its own laws. A balanced life honors both worlds.
5. Human beings are physical and spiritual.
6. Human beings acquire new “gifts” with struggle.
7. Human Beings learn through four dimensions. People learn when all four are utilized.
8. There are 4 related capacities in the spiritual dimension of human development:
a. The capacity to have and respond to non-material realities.
b. The capacity to accept those realities as a reflection( in symbolic representation) of unknown or unrealized potential to do or be something more or different than we are now.
c. The capacity to express these non-material realities using symbols.
d. The capacity to use this symbolic expression to guide future action(i.e. making possibility a reality).
9. Human beings must be participants in the unfolding of their own potentialities.
10.The doorway through which all must pass to growth is the doorway of the will(volition). A person must DECIDE to take the journey.
11.Anyone who makes a commitment and acts on a journey of self-development will be aided by guides and teachers.
12. The only source of failure on such a journey will be the traveller’s own failure to follow the teachings of the Sacred Tree.
Friday March 23
Prayer Service based on Laudato Si. See the CCCB resources: Living Out Laudato Si’: A Commentary and Practical Resource for Canadian Catholics
Morning Session with Stan Fontaine: The Medicine Wheel
Teaching by the Medicine Wheel: An Anishinaabe framework for Indigenous education
The first circle.
We don’t see things as they are but rather how we are. – Rabbi Shemuel ben Nachmani, as quoted in the Talmudic tractate Berakhot (55b.)
The second circle.
The third circle.
The Fourth Circle 
Eucharist with Bishop Miehm
Afternoon
Joe Bezzina summarizes the conference.
Note: Stan Fontaine was able to return to Winnipeg after being checked by doctors albeit two days late! Thanks to Derek and John for their ministrations.