Welcome To
St. Mary's Parish
263 Hamilton Street
Southbridge MA
01550-1876
(508) 764-3226
Society of
Saint Vincent de Paul
Saint Mary's Parish Conference
Retreat: June 11, 2005
The work of the Conference is year round and at times challenging.
An important part of the ministry is to stay grounded in the Gospel
and the teachings of our founders. To help us maintain that
grounding, a special retreat was organized and held at Oakhurst
Retreat Center on Saturday, June 11th. We met at the rectory
and left for the center where Fr. Peter led the day's activities.
His theme was "Meeting old Friends - Making New Ones."
The talks centered on the lives of three different individuals
involved in the society's history:
Blessed
Frederic Ozanam,
Saint
Vincent de Paul, and
Blessed
Pier Giogio Frassati. We began with a 'snowball fight.'
Actually they were white sheets of paper crunched into snowballs
that we threw at others we didn't know for them to introduce
themselves. At the end, we learned that inside each snowball
were dates and events that were important to our Society. We
organized them into a timeline.
Then we sat down with bags of food from our food pantry operation
and the details of families in need and were challenged to come up
with a meal planner for a week, using only the food provided - it
was a real challenge and a definite eye opener! Then we work
on triangle squares to be fitted into a quilt that identify the
darkness of sin and poverty we work against and the light that we
bring as disciples of Jesus and workers for the Gospel. Our
last piece was to consider the beatitudes and write one aspect of
the retreat that we would take home with us. Before we knew
it, our time was up and we were packing up to head home - anxious to
repeat the experience again next year!
to see a photo in a larger format, click on a
thumbnail
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| Fr. Peter begins the retreat by inviting us
to a 'snowball fight' - in June?! |
Pastor Mary of Holy Trinity picks out a
'snowball.' |
The team lines up waiting for the next to be
'hit.' |
Another view of the group as each one waits
to be 'hit.' |
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| Fr. Peter invites the members to open their
'snowball' to find pieces of a timeline for SVDP. |
Our second part was to organize a meal chart
from the food pantry. |
Team members work on a chart for different
families from our pantry. |
Another team works out a meal chart for a
different family. |
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| Pastor Mary proclaims one of the readings. |
Lunch. |
A veritable feast. |
Everyone digs in. |
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| Members work on pieces to be used in a quilt. |
Triangular shapes identify the light and
darkness that members work with and against. |
Members review the efforts of others to
appreciate the day's work. |
Taking in the perspective and insight of
others is part of the day's enrichment. |
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