Called and Gifted “II” Workshop at St. Monica

Close to 30 people from numerous Chester and Montgomery County Catholic churches gathered at St. Monica, Berwyn to take part in a “Called and Gifted II” workshop. The materials for the workshop are produced from the St. Catherine of Siena Institute out of Colorado Springs, CO.

After breakfast, during the course of the workshop, participants eventually chose one charism upon which they would like to focus and discern over the next several months, together with members of a smaller group who will prayerfully support and discern the charism with them.

St. Monica was honored to be able to host both the “Called and Gifted I” and “II” sessions and we look forward to see how the Lord will move in the lives of such fine people for the benefit of the Church.

On a positive note, participants commented on:

• The warmth of the welcome,
• The breakfast buffet,
• The chance to meet Catholic people of faith from other parishes,
• The ability to grow in their individual faith with new, exciting, relevant Catholic materials,
• The positive energy,
• A good pace for the workshop and the appropriate amount of time for the day’s events (not too long; not too short),
• The general structure of the presentation (First offering background information, moving to a bigger “Catholic Church” picture to the parish perspective to the importance of the specific tasks that each of us need to do in terms of our charisms),
• The heart-felt sharing and experiences among the people who attended.

The St. Monica “Mission Team” who coordinated both events were grateful for the following suggestions on how to make a similar experience more meaningful in the future, specifically:

• Announce that you have an 8:30 AM Mass immediately before the workshop. The people who attended are a “Eucharistic people” and would have enjoyed celebrating the Eucharist together,
• As the sun came up, the lack of shades on the windows cast a glare on the screen making it difficult to read the information on the slides,
• The general set-up of the screen needs to be revamped,
• Send the agenda to participants ahead of time or place it prominently in the email response.

Finally, as requested, the slides from this presentation are provided here below:

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