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Awakening: A Rebirth of Enthusiasm in Vocations

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Tentative
Awakening Schedule

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Planning for 2010?

Awakening
will be held
April 13-18, 2010.

Mark your calendars!

April 14-19, 2009

Schedule • Cost • Additional Workshop Information • Presenters • Testimonials

How can your religious community attract new members?

How can you foster a spirit of enthusiasm for vocations in your community?

Find answers that are both practical and hope-filled at the 16th annual workshop sponsored by the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand, Indiana:

• Learn what the Ferdinand Benedictines have done to strengthen and revitalize their own vocation program. (In the last 15 years, they have welcomed 41 new members.)
• Hear frank discussion of what worked and what didn’t.
• Get real, honest answers to the hard questions.
• Explore inventive ideas and creative solutions with other religious communities.
• Begin applying what you’ve learned to your own strategic and tactical planning.

Main presentations address such topics as:

• The multi-faceted role of vocation director
• Involving the total community in vocations
• Collaboration among the vocation office, leadership, development, and communications
• Formulating a vocation program for your community

Break-out sessions provide focused exploration of:

• Maintaining relationships with prospective members
• Admissions and formation
• Leadership's role in vocation ministry
• Dealing with the media
• Web sites and promotional materials

Registration is from 2-4 p.m. EDT Tuesday, followed by dinner at 5 p.m. The program begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and ends with a 6:30 p.m. liturgy and a 7:30 p.m. celebration on Saturday. Sunday is a travel day. Click here for a full tentative schedule.

The $740 per person fee (double occupancy) includes workshop program and materials, meals, socials, and overnight accommodations. (A limited number of private rooms are available; the per person single occupancy fee is $875.) The $579 commuter fee includes workshop program and materials, meals, and socials.

Fees include applicable taxes.

Special Needs

If you have any dietary needs or physical limitations, please let us know. Please realize that, although we will attempt to meet your needs, not all special needs may be met.

Items To Bring

• Walking shoes. The terrain is hilly and walking from the dining area to the conference site and monastery church can involve climbing as many as 119 steps. If you are not able to climb the steps, car transportation will be available.
• Umbrella. Weather in April in southern Indiana is never certain. Up-to-date weather information can be accessed through the weather link on our home page: www.thedome.org.
• Your vocation materials, if you would like to share them with other participants.

Lodging

• Kordes Center. Rooms are double occupancy (Please indicate with whom you wish to share a room.) Bathroom facilities are shared. There will be an additional charge for single occupancy; we cannot guarantee a single room. The center is handicapped accessible.
• Monastery. Rooms in the monastery are single occupancy for women religious. They are limited in number and will be available on a first come, first served basis.
• Comfort Inn, in Ferdinand. Rooms are available at special rates. When you register for the workshop, we will give you a code number that you must use to make reservations at the special rate. A shuttle service between the Comfort Inn and the monastery will be provided each morning and evening of the conference. 

Airport Shuttles

• We will provide shuttle service on Tuesday, April 14.
• From Louisville: The shuttle will leave from the Louisville airport at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Eastern time.
• From Evansville: The shuttle will leave from the Evansville airport at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Central time.

Car Rental

• If you wish to rent a car, you can receive a special rate from Enterprise. You will need a code number, which we will provide when you register for the workshop.
• You can get the car at the airport, and after you arrive in Ferdinand, Enterprise will pick up the car at the monastery if you call the Jasper, Indiana, office at 812-634-6344.
• Enterprise will also deliver a car to the monastery for your return trip to the airport.
• If you’d like to share the cost of a car rental, please let us know! While we can't guarantee that you will be able to share a ride, we will keep a list of individuals who are interested in sharing a ride.

Optional Bus Trip

Enjoy your free afternoon and evening on Friday, April 17, with a bus trip to Kentucky to visit the Abbey of Gethsemani and historic St. Thomas Catholic Church.

• You will board a 56-passenger motor coach at noon. (A sack lunch will be provided.)

• At St. Thomas, just outside Bardstown, you will visit the Flaget Log House. The house served for seven years as the residence of Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget, the first bishop of Bardstown. (The Diocese of Bardstown was established in 1808, one of four carved from the first U.S. diocese of Baltimore. The others were Boston, Philadelphia, and New York.) The log house was also the first home of St. Thomas Seminary, the first seminary west of the Alleghenies, and the founding site of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, established in 1812. It is the earliest structure associated with the Catholic faith that is still standing in the Midwest. 

• You will also visit the Abbey of Gethsemani, founded in 1848 by the Order of Trappists, also known as Cistercians. There you will stop at the welcome center and gift shop, visit the grave of Thomas Merton, and attend vespers with the monks. 

• On the return trip to Ferdinand, the bus will stop for a meal (not included in the cost) and return to Kordes Center by 9 p.m.

The cost is $40 per person. (This amount is not included in your registration fee.) A minimum of 35 people is required. 

Questions

• Call 800-880-2777; international calls: 812-367-1411.
• E-mail kordes@thedome.org.

Please note that all buildings on the monastery grounds are smoke-free.

Anita Louise Lowe, OSB, is director of liturgy for Monastery Immaculate Conception. In December 2007, she completed ten-and-a-half years in vocation ministry. During that time she was a member of the Evansville Diocese Vocation Team and worked in special projects for the Louisville Archdiocese Vocation Office. She served on the board of the National Religious Vocation Conference for six years and has traveled to Australia and Ireland to give presentations on vocations.

Agnes Marie Dauby, OSB, serves as one of two directors of vocation ministries for the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand, Indiana. She has worked in vocation ministry for the past four years. Her previous ministries included serving in parish ministry for 24 years, working as secretary/bookkeeper at a secondary school, and serving in various ministries at the monastery.

Kristine Anne Harpenau, OSB, was elected prioress of Monastery Immaculate Conception in June 2003. She previously was director of ongoing formation for the Ferdinand Benedictines and special programs coordinator for the community’s retreat center. She has also provided counseling and spiritual direction and has presented workshops on various topics.

Rose Mary Rexing, OSB, is in her ninth year as director of mission advancement for the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand. For the 11 previous years, she served as director of vocations ministries for the religious community. She has also taught at the secondary school level and served as a pastoral associate.

Karen Katafiasz is director of communications for the Sisters of St. Benedict. She has worked in newspaper and magazine journalism, public relations, book publishing, and education. She is the author of eight inspirational and self-help books and many articles and brochures.

Joella Kidwell, OSB, currently serves in the Sisters of St. Benedict Spirituality Ministry as a facilitator working with religious communities in discernment processes and chapter and meeting facilitation, and with Church and not-for-profit groups in pastoral planning and meeting facilitation. She has held a number of positions in the religious community, including that of prioress.

Mary Frances Schafer, OSB, is director of community coordination for the Coalition for the Homeless in Louisville, Kentucky. She chairs the Ferdinand Benedictines’ Strategic Planning Committee. She previously was program manager for Transitional Services for Homeless Families at New Directions Housing Corporation in Louisville. She has traveled to Australia and Ireland to give presentations on vocations.