Meditatio are pleased to announce they are partnering with the Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough to offer a very exciting Volunteering opportunity for 3 people from our meditation community to spend some time living and working from the John Paul Centre in the heart of Middlesbrough. The required funding is currently being sourced to provide a small stipend and living costs for the successful applicants.

The vision is to establish a small Contemplative Community that will develop a daily meditation programme whilst also to volunteer within the centre helping to build a compassionate and relational response to its service users, many of whom have entrenched problems with homelessness, addiction, mental health , loneliness and isolation. Indeed many of the town’s most marginalised adults visit the John Paul Centre on a daily basis. The project will be supervised by Terry Doyle who is an Oblate with WCCM and has many years experience of working with the client group.

The vision has the full backing of Fr Laurence Freeman as well as Bishop Terence Drainey and offers the chance to nurture and share our meditation practice as handed down by John Main. Indeed, the John Paul Centre is a flagship for the Diocese combining prayer and social action which complements the work of Meditatio by embodying the symbol of the WCCM of the two doves on the chalice; one representing the inner work of healing through prayer and contemplation; the other representing the natural outpouring of compassionate social action in our communities.

This will be a challenging yet hugely rewarding opportunity for anyone who feels the call to share the gift of meditation as well as the very real and gritty work of getting alongside people living on the very margins of society. You will need to be in a position to commit to 6 to 12 months living in Middlesbrough, and have a daily meditation practice already embedded.

If you feel you would like to know more about this opportunity then please contact Terry Doyle by email on terry-doyle@live.co.uk