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Outreach of The World Community for Christian Meditation

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You are here: Home / Archives for News / Social Justice

Unlocking Freedom and Joy

April 22, 2018 by James Bishop

James Bishop and Daniel Fox both spoke at St. John of the Cross Parish Center in Western Springs, Illinois on 24 February 2018. The talk, titled “Unlocking Freedom and Joy” started with James speaking about his life circumstances that led to a ten-year prison sentence, during which James learned about meditation. James spoke of how that meditation helped him heal.

This is the first part of the talk, with James Bishop’s story.

Unlocking Freedom and Joy with James Bishop from Meditatio on Vimeo.

Morning of Meditation – Unlocking Freedom and Joy – Christian Meditation in Prison
Guest Speaker: James Bishop (International Coordinator for Prison Outreach)
February 24, 2018
St. John of the Cross Parish Center
5005 Wolf Road, Western Springs, IL
Sponsored by the Christian Meditation groups (wccm-usa.org, wccm.org)

Filed Under: News, Social Justice Tagged With: 12 step, addiction, alcoholism, justice, meditation, prison, recovery

Interfaith Meditation For Peace: A day to celebrate unity and pray for peace

February 6, 2018 by Leonardo Correa

This interfaith meditation day (Friday 25 May, in Manchester, UK) will celebrate unity and pray for peace – a peace much needed in our turbulent times. The day will have periods of silent meditation, a talk and reflection by Laurence Freeman OSB, a Peace Flag Ceremony by the World Peace Prayer Society and input from different faith groups. The day will conclude at 4.00pm with a Peace Walk. More information here.

Filed Under: News, Religion, Social Justice Tagged With: frontpage, interfaith, laurence freeman, manchester, meditation, peace, UK

Meditation in Prison

January 28, 2018 by James Bishop

James Bishop
James Bishop, speaking at Georgetown University, March 2013

James Bishop will be speaking about Meditation in Prison on Saturday, 24 February at St. John of the Cross Parish Center in Western Springs, Illinois. James Bishop, an oblate of The World Community for Christian Meditation, spent ten years as an inmate in the California Substance Abuse Treatment Center and State Prison. While there, he discovered Christian meditation. And it changed his life. James, who suffered as an alcoholic with severe obsessive compulsive disorder, tells a compelling story of tragedy and triumph, and how Christian Meditation helped him discover the causes of his problems as well as how to deal with them.

“Few people would be grateful for having spent ten years in prison. But James Bishop was imprisoned for a decade, and hails it as a lifesaver.”
‐Mary O’Regan, Catholic Herald, London

Saturday, February 24, 2018, 9:00 am – 11:30 am, hospitality 8:30 am, at St. John of the Cross Parish Center, 5005 Wolf Road, Western Springs, IL.

For more information, contact: Betsy at +1-708-246-8315 or email to wccmchgo@gmail.com


Filed Under: News, Social Justice Tagged With: addiction, alcoholism, meditation, prison

A Time of Encounter

December 8, 2017 by Leonardo Correa

By Terry Doyle

In his message for the first World Day of the Poor, celebrated on 19 November 2017, Pope Francis asks all of us, whatever our means or background, to unite in love, in acts of service to one another and in genuine encounter.

With this in mind, a retreat was organised for individuals who are helped by the various charities that work in the John Paul Centre in Middlesbrough, namely Depaul Uk’s Positive Pathways Out of Homelessness and Nightstop , along with the NE Refugee Service and IPC, Investing in People and Cultures.

And where better to go for these individuals coming from the margins of our society than to our Diocese’s beautiful retreat centre at Ampleforth where they could receive the full Benedictine warmth of welcome from the monks and students living in a very different world. A time and place where two very different cultures could meet in a real and special Holy Encounter.

And so , on the cold crisp morning of November 23rd , a small convoy of cars carrying 22 nervously excited individuals left the problems of central Middlesbrough behind to make the hours journey to the Abbey where the sun was shining to light up the valley and bring reassurance to the travellers that all was well. And let’s not undermine the significance of this journey as most of the travellers will not have been out of Middlesbrough for a holiday of any description all year if at all for some.

And what a couple of days it was as encounter after encounter unfolded through the wonderful hospitality of Fr Terence and Fr Richard who had helped to organise the itinery, and with Ali Rogerson from the College who had arranged for students from various year groups to sit and listen to these visitors from the John Paul Centre, just 40 miles away geographically yet culturally a universe away.

We should never underestimate the healing power of genuine and authentic listening to a person’s story as it affords  the person being listened to the power of dignity which can go a long way to healing wounds and raising self worth. So, our meal times were spent sharing stories and laughter, and as people began to relax more, defences came down and hearts were opened. People from the streets of an urban town some born in the area, others dispersed there from various countries in Africa and Afghanistan, sharing stories with young people from more privileged backgrounds but all meeting as fellow human beings sharing and learning from each other.

One particularly beautiful session was held in the Crypt underneath the Abbey with the darkness illumined by an array of candles in the shape of a cross as well as the smiles of everyone gathered there. A beautiful meditation followed there proving that when we become simple and enter the silence and stillness of the present moment, none of the outer differences of age, colour, wealth, background matter anymore. In the sacred space of the Crypt it felt as if we all met each other’s Soul there in the silence and what a sacred encounter that was.

So thank you Pope Francis for reminding us what our faith calls us to, to reminding us of how Jesus showed total commitment and solidarity with those on the margins of society. And thank you to all those wonderful staff and students from Ampleforth who made our group feel so very genuinely welcome, that they mattered, that they were worth spending precious time with and listening to. Encounters such as these are what makes us Christian and in our fractured and troubled world, long may they continue to bring hope and healing to all involved.

Update: the students who were involved in the “Encounter with the Poor” decided to forego their lunch for a week to raise funds for us in solidarity!

Filed Under: News, Social Justice Tagged With: encounter, frontpage, meditation, poor, Terry Doyle, UK

Meditation in a recovery program in Canada

November 6, 2017 by Leonardo Correa

By Jack Murta

I have worked for about 6 years with a group of men who are homeless at an organization called The Ottawa Mission. I am presently on the board and have served as President of the board and recently filled in as Chaplin for 5 months. The organization serves approx. 1300 meals a day, every day of the year and sleeps about 300 per night.

I normally meditate with 10 men that are in a program called the “LifeHouse”. This is a recovery program that lasts from 1-3 months. These are individuals that have gone through the various addictions recovery programs and are slowly getting ready to enter back into society.

We do not do strictly a Christian meditation session but a cross between Christian meditation and mindfulness and we do it for between 12-15 minutes per week. Most of the men meditate to their higher power—”whoever that may be”. Those that do not profess to have any faith meditate to their breathing. I believe that part of the benefit is the lively discussion on meditation we have before and after each session.

I must say that the majority of the men I meet have an extraordinary faith.

The men all seem to be very receptive to meditation. I have spoken with those I meet much later and they tell me that they still meditate a few times a week.

Filed Under: Highlight, News, Social Justice

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