Xaverian Missionaries: Preston
“Making the World a Single Family"
News posts other than Sunday Reflections
The Centre is closed for Easter Monday so you can go egg rolling on Avenham Park. Normal activities resume on Tuesday 23rd with Mindfulness Practice. The Singing Group have their monthly session on Friday and on Saturday 27th Donna Worthington is leading a retreat “The Resurrected Christ-Light“
All the details are on the calendar as usual.
From time to time we get feedback on the group sessions. Here are a few words from someone who attended the last session Anne gave on the 12th April.
“I’ve attended several Capacitar mornings, and at each session we’ve been introduced to practices such as tai-chi, breath work, acupressure and tapping. It’s all about promoting self-care and healing. At the same time, the group is very friendly and it’s been fun.
I’ve been using some of the exercises at home, and they make a big difference – I can focus better, I feel more peaceful inside, more free.”
To find out more about these sessions click here.
We have an invitation from Frank McGrath to attend a Rosary Service Tuesday 7th May 2pm at the Carmelite Monastery Church. Frank anticipates that about 80 will attend including 36 year 4 pupils from St Clare’s primary school.
Prayers will be offered for all expectant mothers and their unborn children and there will be a talk by guest speaker Fr. Andrew Allman.
On 9th May 2019 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm the Centre will be hosting a training session aimed at giving parents, carers and professions who work with children and young adults guidance on on-line protection.
The session will be delivered by Safeguarding Today, a training company delivering high quality safeguarding training for organisations that work with vulnerable people.
We are pleased to confirm the following dates for the Capacitar Wellbeing sessions for the rest of the year.
These excellent sessions have become very popular and you need to book. Bookings can be made by following the link and using the form towards the bottom of the event description. The form will send an email to Anne Harrison.
Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on the recent website survey.
Mostly you are content but there are some conflicting opinions relating to the News which we must try to reconcile.
The first attempt has been to modify the Home page so that it now shows the News separately from the Gospel Reflections which we hope adds clarity by allowing each to have its space.
A common theme was to provide more News items focussed on feedback from events. It is an excellent idea although it relies on the willingness of participants and leaders to provide the material and they may have legitimate reservations about that, so lets see how it unfolds.
There are other comments and we need to work on them!
Once again, thanks to everyone who gave their views.
ACTA “A Call to Action” have three new events on the calendar that you may be interested in.
All the details are on the calendar, just click on the dates above.
If you have any problems using the calendar then please contact us using the form on the Enquiries Page and we will see if we can help.
Our thanks those who provided feedback on the website.
If you missed this first time round then please click here to have your say. We really would appreciate your input.
This is your chance to tell us what you think and so help us better serve your needs.
The survey is anonymous.
For Mothering Sunday we have this lovely piece from one of our community.
As I sat beside mum on April 9th last year to ‘officially’ receive her dementia diagnosis, an unusual sense of peace surrounded me. The lovely large gentle Nigerian ‘african mama’ type psychiatrist tried to explain to her that she had Alzheimer’s disease and there were four different tablet options, and mum could try them one at a time to see which one suited her best. She spoke in an easy almost casual tone as though she was offering her four hats, all different colours and each with its own ‘advantages’! Mum wasn’t in the slightest bit phased and just nodded politely and said ‘thank you very much Doctor, thank you for your time’. The two of us left and did what we always did in these situations, got back in the car and headed to the nearest tea shop. A scone and pot of tea and all would be well. In fact, these appointments were as routine to us as they probably were to the psychiatrist. This is because mum is 86, I’m 56 and for more than the last 40 years we’ve attended as many psychiatric appointments, as we’ve had scones…..well almost! Mum has suffered severe depression for most of her life. Now Alzheimer’s has come along and I want to share the ‘friend’ it has been to us in the last year .
For the first time in our lives we are living without her depression simply because as a result of Alzheimer’s, Mum’s FORGOTTEN everything she was depressed about! Namely a terrible childhood, 50 years of a predominantly unhappy marriage, a lifelong battle with no self esteem etc. Whilst she can clearly remember a period of her life from about the age of 17 – 27, her Alzheimer’s symptoms mean that for some reason she chooses to recall mainly only HAPPY memories. It is incredible that she has forgotten where she lived for the last 60 years and the jobs she did too. ALL those years have just disappeared. As her primary carers, this takes some getting used to for myself and my husband who have looked after her for the last 40. But for her it is a total gift. She lives not in the past, nor in the future, but only in the present moment. Often not even in the present day, as by evening she usually can’t recall much if anything of the afternoon, she is only present to the moment by moment clock!
This means that she lives now like at no other time in her previous years. As a workaholic, she had no hobbies, no interest in her world around especially nature, which always saddened me, as I always loved every aspect of the natural world. We never had flowers in our home, as she wouldn’t have dreamt of spending money on them when she hadn’t enough for food. Now, wherever we go, she wants to stop and admire flower, plants, trees, birds, sky, sun, moon anything she can see! Her favourite place to go to is church. She has a deep devotion to Our Lady and in church, whilst she has little engagement with the ‘theology’, she loves the statues, candles, stained glass, flowers and sings along following the readings and joining in the prayers. The vibrance of our liturgy is itself a gift for her, that I too often take for granted.
I don’t want this to sound like Alzheimer’s hasn’t come with its challenges because of course it has. The tablets didn’t ‘suit’ her, and we’ve made all sorts of ‘adaptations’ to her independent living apartment. We have also had to change many things within our family in order to accommodate ‘Nanna’s needs’, but overall I wouldn’t have my last 56 years of her back. As ‘Mum with Alzheimers’ at 86 she’s not in any pain, she knows she’s deeply loved, she laughs a lot and tells me she is looking forward to our next walk and tea shop trip. There’s much to be said for ‘Contented Dementia’!
“Do Not Be Afraid For I Am With You Always”. HE is and we aren’t! Thanks Be To God.
We have a new Event on the Calendar. Mary and Chris Cullen are organising an event called “Mind and Body for Your Wellbeing” on Sunday 14th April.
Would you like to have some time and space for yourself, to relax, refresh and renew a sense of balance in yourself?
Maybe this event is for you!!
Our ‘Mind and Body for your Wellbeing’ morning is designed to give you some time and space to relax and unwind. We hope it will help you become more aware of how your mind and body holds stress and tension and what you can do to restore a sense of calm and balance in yourself.
The ‘Mind and Body for your Wellbeing’ morning will include-
*Introduction to the morning to help participants focus and relax
(no experience necessary but if you have a yoga mat please bring it along with you)
Please note:-
Bring a yoga mat if possible or email mecullen@gmail.com if you need a mat to be available for you.
The ‘Mind and Body for your Wellbeing’ morning is for you and the sessions will not make any demands on you to be interactive with other participants.
The session will end at 1pm. If you would like to bring your own lunch to eat at 1pm then you are very welcome to stay a little longer.
The sessions will be led by very experienced trainers Geoff Lofthouse and Helen Molyneux