International Catholic Worker Gathering

Creating a New Society in the Shell of the Old

October 7-9, 2016
Las Vegas, Nevada


Session Information

Just Listening

Listening is an act of Justice. JUST Listening fosters personal, organizational, and social change and transformation through the practice of conscious, intentional, compassionate, non-egoic and non-judgmental communication skills.

JUST Listening is premised upon the beliefs that:

• Being heard empowers the speaker.
• People hold the solutions to their own problems within.
• Skilled listening is creative, opening up new possibilities for all involved, and can be a powerful tool for personal and social change.
• Although rarely consulted or listened to, people on the social margins are the best source of information and ideas about the issues facing them.
• Skilled listening is possible only when one is actively cultivating self-awareness and regular habits of reflection.

Presented by Sharon Browning

The Work that Reconnects

What is Mine to Do? If your heart is breaking in the face of the "Great Unraveling" of ecological, economic, political and social systems, come join us for a brave and beautiful journey as we dare to see we are not separate from the suffering of our world. In the time of his own great unraveling, Francis of Assisi chose to turn toward gratitude, singing a song of praise known as the Canticle of Creation. Joanna Macy's Work That Reconnects (www.joannamacy.net) invites us also to choose gratitude and put our attention instead on the "Great Turning;"  the movement to a life sustaining society that she calls "the essential adventure of our time." At the end of his life, Francis of Assisi told his followers: “I have done that which was mine to do, may Christ teach you yours.”

Using a Franciscan perspective and the Work That Reconnects, we invite you to renew your connection to “that which is yours to do” and to discover how your unique and authentic gifts are in service to the Earth in this time of planetary crisis. We will use experiential practices, poetry, ritual, prayer, song, and silence to guide our journey through the four stages of the Spiral of the Work That Reconnects. We understand this Spiral to be archetypal and will explore it through the framework of the Christian liturgical calendar.

Anne Symens-Bucher was first introduced to the work of Joanna Macy in 1984, and has served as her executive assistant since 2006. She is deeply immersed in Macy's work, and has been facilitating Work That Reconnects workshops for many years. In addition to Joanna Macy, Anne has learned directly from Dorothy Day, Richard Rohr, Marshall Rosenberg, and Bill Plotkin. Her teaching is woven from these mentors, from many years immersed in a nonviolent campaign to end nuclear weapons testing in the Nevada desert, and 25 years in the Franciscan Justice, Peace & Integrity Creation Office of the St. Barbara Province. The place of her deepest practice has been in her 30 year marriage and parenting of five children. She is deeply grateful for her Catholic Franciscan upbringing, which set her on the path of her soul work. Anne is a trained spiritual director and enjoys supporting people to embrace what is theirs to do. 

Terry Symens-Bucher has been trained in Council practice through the Center for Council, in Nonviolent Communication with Marshall Rosenberg and BayNVC and has studied extensively with Joanna Macy and Bill Plotkin. He has a Master of Divinity Degree from the Franciscan School of Theology and a Juris Doctor from U.C. Hastings College of Law. Terry’s soul work combines years of experience as a trainer and facilitator with his own journey in vision quest, male rites of passage, and contemplative practice.Terry helped co-found NorCalMALES and serves in a leadership role with Illuman, organizations carrying on the work of Richard Rohr in men’s initiation and the male spiritual journey.  

Anne and Terry are Franciscans and the founders of Canticle Farm Community in Oakland, California, where they are engaged in the practices they bring to this retreat, as well as exploring racial healing through addressing systemic racism and white privilege with the Work That Reconnects.

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