As Director of Weber Retreat and Conference Center, Sister Janet Doyle, OP, reached out during the pandemic to bring peace to the various groups that she serves. “We try to create an atmosphere that is peaceful,” Sister Janet said. She and her staff helped to plan a variety of activities designed to “lighten up a difficult time” for both Sisters and Co-workers at the Motherhouse Campus. “We worked really hard this past year to bring to the Sisters and the public meaningful, stimulating, inspiring programs and speakers,” Sister Janet said. The Holy Week Retreat alone reached 162 people from throughout the United States and beyond – far more than the normal 40-50 participants who attended the in-person retreat, Sister Janet said.
Sister Esther Kennedy, OP, cultivates peace in participants of her monthly Day of Mindfulness program, offered through Weber Center. Through mindfulness meditation, we “come into the present moment and to our breath, become mindful of all that is happening, and learn to hold it all lightly, with an open heart,” Sister Esther said. “Mindfulness can help us be with the suffering and open our hearts enough to experience it with others, to do our part to be kind, to be less harsh and judging of others.” Many participants have told Sister Esther that mindfulness helped them to quiet their minds of judgment, bringing them a deeper peace. In turn, Sister Esther said, we can all cultivate peace in the world. “We were created to be channels of peace to each other,” she said. “God doesn’t have to make us that – that’s who we are. We just have to wake up to that.”