If the event is listed as sold out please call us at 661-944-2178 for real time availability and waiting list. Office hours are from 8:30am- 5:00pm (closed for mass & lunch *11:45a.m- 1:30pm) Check in time starts at 3:00pm. Check out time is at 10:00am (exceptions may apply).
Our Sister, Mother Earth: The Wisdom of Laudato Si 2018
Friday, August 31 - Sunday, September 2, 2018
Retreat Description: This retreat will draw from the wisdom of Pope Francis and his encyclical Laudato Si. Deepening our understanding should promote in us an integral ecology that forwards care for the environment, the common good, justice and the dignity if the poor. Our natural world is a 'sacrament of communion' for all people and must become the shared concern and responsibility of more of us. During this retreat other voices of shared wisdom from Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, and Native American sources will also be explored. Pope Francis invites all people of every culture and religious practice to be engaged in preserving the integrity of our world's resources for the common good and for future generations. The oasis of the monastery and the natural beauty of the high desert are a beneficial setting for our reconnecting with out Sister, Mother Earth.
Presenter: Father Francis Benedict has been a monk of Valyermo since 1967. He earned an MA in Philosophy from Loyola-Marymount University and an MS in Theology from Mt. Angel in Oregon. He was ordained a priest in 1976. He served as the Abbey's abbot for 16 years. His special areas of ministry include spiritual director, preaching retreats, and working with 12-step recovery groups. In addition to many responsibilities at the Abbey, he now serves as the Director of Oblates.
Yvonne Comstock Wilber is an academic librarian at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. She has two master's degrees, one in intellectual leadership and one in library science. Yvonne is a Ph.D candidate in philosophy at Faulkner University and her particular research interests are in the study of the modern Subject, Mass Man, human authenticity, and the intersection of theology and philosophy.
