Beyond Fear: Helping Communities Choose Welcome

The foundation of welcome is the inherent dignity of the human person, as created in the image and likeness of God.

We are called to welcome others with a presence that is more than just polite and that extends beyond our reservations. We are called to the kind of hospitality that is communal, revolutionary, and transforming. But there have always been challenges to such hospitality, like unknown travelers stopping for assistance and newcomers who come with their own ideas about community life. All the more reason for Benedict to insist that we “Welcome all guests as Christ.”

Come as individuals or teams to improve your readiness for moving beyond discomfort toward truly human welcome. Together with S. Kathleen Atkinson OSB, founder of Ministry on the Margins, and Rev. Zanne Ness, chaplain, we will explore questions like these:

How do we practice real hospitality with those we live and work with every day?

What are the practices that form authentic community with people we find difficult to love/those who are too often left out?

How can small acts of radical love become a movement of God’s Spirit within a broken world?

This event is part of a series of weekend events that Sr. Kathleen and Rev. Ness will also be leading.

On Friday, February 28 from 7-9p, Sr. Kathleen will offer a Public Presentation, Radical Hospitality: Social Change in the Key of Benedict. Register here to attend the Public Presentation.

That Public Presentation kicks off the weekend retreat, Everyday Prophets: How Small Acts of Courage and Compassion Change the World (Friday evening through Sunday, March 1 at 1p) Register Here for the entire weekend retreat.