Whispers of God in Baddeck: The Cape Breton Women's Ecumenical Weekend

Submitted by:  Peg Madigan, cnd Associate

I took part in a very exciting weekend recently.   It has lingered with me as I continue to recall all the richness of my experience and the wonderful people that I encountered.  So that being said, I would like to briefly share some of the highlights.

The organization that hosted this weekend event was the Cape Breton Women's Ecumenical Conference.   The CBWEC has been gathering together the first weekend in November for the past twenty-nine (29) years and has been held each year in the beautiful surroundings of the Inverary Inn, Beddeck, Nova Scotia Canada.

This years’ guest speaker was Nancy Whitney Latham who touched the hearts of all with her stories and humor as she expanded on the theme of this years weekend, “Whispers of God".   Each of the 121 attendees were assigned to groups (families) at the beginning of the conference on Friday evening. At this point, all the differences which may have existed, seemingly disappeared or melted away. 

Worship, prayer and songs were introduced throughout our time together. 

On Saturday a number of workshops were presented on various topics and themes.  And Saturday evening, a bountiful banquet meal was shared followed by entertainment and fashion show !

Sunday morning started with a ‘sunrise worship service’ at 6:30am which set the tone for the remainder of the morning.  The final event on Sunday morning had us partner with a member of our family group and take an Emmaus Walk together.  The Spirit was so alive throughout the weekend but something very special always seems to happen on the Emmaus Walk.

It was a spectacular weekend experience for me and others ! 

Just as a side note, I have already reserved a room for next year's conference. I will keep you posted.

Moving Forward Together: Reflections on Cape Breton Regional Gathering

Submitted by:  Sandra Schwinghamer - Associate, Sister of Charity

On October 27, 2012, the Atlantic Religious Congregations  Associate Network (ARCAN) met at the MacAulay Conference Centre, Inverary Inn, Baddeck, Nova Scotia.  The theme of this 10^th anniversary gathering was  "Moving Forward Together”.   The members of the ARCAN executive who planned the event were: Sister Claudette Gallant CSM, Sister Margie Gillis SC, Peg Madigan CND-A, and Cora Shebib SC-A. 

Carl Madigan, Sr. Christine Beaton, cnd

Our day began joyfully with members of both the planning team and panel members graciously welcoming everyone.  Sister Claudette led us through prayer-song.  We were 'gathered into the arms of God’.  We heard some of the history, the challenges and the hopes for ARCAN.  We were asked to consider what is our future for ARCAN.

A panel was in place and each member came prepared to answer two questions:

What sustains me in this broken world/society/church?

What does the associate relationship do for me?

The response to the questions came from one sister and one associate from each of the attending congregations:  Sister Christene Beaton CND, Carl Madigan CND-A, Sister Agnes Burrows SC, Anita Nicholson SC-A, Sister Catherine MacFarlane CSM, Nora Bernard CSM-A.  Each member of the panel had a fully developed, carefully formed response.  Every talk was enriched by beautiful Scripture passages and quotes from renowned authors.  For our part we listened attentively and with great appreciation.  Their  insightful words were uplifting  and encouraging,  drawn  from years of a lived faith.

The conference delegates were also given some questions to consider:

• What did you hear this morning?

• How did you feel about what you heard?

• How do we move forward together?

Geraldine Walker, Paula Nearing, Gerry Condon

The lively conversation that followed showed we had indeed left the land of silence and brought our truth to voice! We were reminded there is but one charism, one spirit. That charism is the spirit of Jesus Christ….....the charism of love with its many facets.

In our closing ritual we formed a circle and sang with drum and guitar.  We formed a moving circle and slowly walked to the basket to select one of the braids we had braided earlier.   Each braid was woven of four cloth streamers, the colours of which represented earth, air, fire and  water.  In our song each compass direction was assigned an attribute:  the east – dawning,  the south – growing,  the north – wisdom,  the west – seeing.  While singing I realized that we ourselves had been immersed in a process that day of dawning, growing, wisdom and seeing. We could envision the quote of activist and author Arundhati  Roy:

Another world is not only possible,

She is on her way.

On a quiet day

I can hear her breathing.