Learn By Doing
Our retreats and programs go beyond good teaching. When you join us, you will be invited to enter into experiences to discover or deepen your spiritual practice—and bring it into your daily life.
Registration is now open
A Year of Prayer
Join us as we accept Pope Francis' invitation to make 2024 a Year of Prayer. We will meet monthly via Zoom to rediscover how to pray, and to explore the many different styles of prayer: Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina, the Rosary -- are just a few examples. This is a wonderful opportunity for everyone, whether you struggle in how to communicate with God, or if prayer is a fixture in your daily life.
Facilitated by: MSC Team
Date: third Tuesday of each month of 2024:
April 16
May 21
June 18
July 16
August 20
September 17
October 15
November 19
December 17
Time: 6:00 - 6:45 p.m.
Place: Zoom
Fee: FREE!
Mug Up
Join us this May for Mug Up, where we will meet via zoom to celebrate Mary, the mother of Jesus. What could be more fitting this Mother's Day than celebrating the mother of our Lord and Savior? We will utilize the book, "Birthing the Holy" by Christine Valters Paintner to discuss the various names of Mary. There is no need to purchase the book.
Facilitator: Allison Murphy
Dates: Tuesdays, May 7, 14, 21, and 28, June 4 and 11
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Location: Zoom
Fee: $90
Men's Spirituality Group
Amazing things happen when people gather to grow in their faith and encourage each other. We are envisioning a new opportunity for men as another part of the ministry of Mercy Spirituality Center. We invite you to join us as we gather together in community. Our meetings will offer an opportunity to share a meal or refreshments together. There usually will be a speaker or other presentation and then an opportunity to reflect and share insights about what we have heard. Our goal is to experience God’s grace and guidance together and deepen our connection to God and to other men in our daily lives.
Coordinated by: Ed Redmond and Rev. Harry Heintz
Dates: Third Saturday of the month:
April 20
May 18
June 15
Location: MSC
Time: 8:30 - 10:00 a.m.
Cost: $100 for series; $15 per individual session
Walking in Their Footsteps: The Journey to Sainthood
Each session of this monthly program will take a more in-depth look at the life and work of one of these holy role models. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about a lesser recognized saint, or a different perspective on someone you thought you knew. Every month will be enlightening. More information on the subject of the month will be featured as each session approaches.
May: St. Martin de Porres
Martin was of mixed race and born in poverty. He worked his way up in the Dominican order and was eventually allowed to profess religious vows, although he never became a priest. He was canonized in 1962 and is the patron saint of mixed-race people, barbers, innkeepers, etc.
Facilitated by: Deacon Patrick and Jeanne Shanley.
Deacon Shanley is currently serving the community at St. Martin de Porres Parish, in Caledonia, Scottsville, and Churchville.
June: Sophia Wisdom
Often in our preaching and teaching, the female figure Sophia, Wisdom, is ignored. But she holds an important place in the Old Testament and needs to be elevated in our contemporary hearts.
Facilitated by: Sr. Barbara Moore, RSM, D. MIN.
Date: Second Tuesday of each month in 2024
May 14
June 11
July 9
August 13
September 10
October 8
November 12
December 10
Time: 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Mercy Spirituality Center
Fee: $25 per individual session or $240 for the series.
Contemporary Conversations Book Club
We are delighted that our Contemporary Conversations Book Club is expanding!
Beginning in September, facilitation of the book club will alternate between Jane Sutter Brandt and Mary Anne Shew. Conversations will still be on Zoom; the time will move to evening.
Mary Anne Shew is a retired writer for web sites and other media and has started and facilitated over a dozen book clubs.
Jane Sutter Brandt is a former editor with the Democrat and Chronicle and has participated in a variety of book groups.
Location: Via Zoom
Cost: $25 per session
Time: 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
The Next Sessions:
Date: May 1, 2024
Time: 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Facilitator: Jane Sutter Brandt
Church of the Wild:
How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred
by Victoria Loorz
Once upon a time, humans lived in intimate relationship with nature. Like many who feel unfulfilled by traditional faith expressions, Loorz went in search of a spirituality strong enough to reckon with the unraveling of her vocation, identity and planet and found herself in the wilderness. With an ecospiritual lens on biblical narratives and a fresh look at a community larger than our own species, Church of the Wild uncovers the wild roots of faith and helps us deepen our commitment to a suffering earth by falling in love with it—and calling it church. Springtime is the perfect season in which to read this book as we venture outdoors to see new life unfold.
Date: June 12, 2024
Time: 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Facilitator: Mary Anne Shew
Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living
by Krista Tippett
In Becoming Wise, Krista Tippett has created a master class in living for a fractured world. Fracture, she says, is not the whole story of our time. The enduring question of what it means to be human has become inextricable from the challenge of who we are to one another. She insists on the possibility of personal depth and common life for this century, nurtured by science and “spiritual technologies,” with civility and love as muscular public practice. The book is a master class in living, curated by Tippett and accompanied by a delightfully ecumenical dream team of a teaching faculty.
Day To Call Your Own
Come and enjoy a day to yourself in your own, private, comfortable room at Mercy Spirituality Center. You will be able to pray, contemplate, read and relax without being disturbed. A simple lunch of soup and bread is included. Morning prayer is optional.
Facilitator: Sr. Gert Erb, RSM
Dates: 2nd Thursday of each month:
May 9
June 13
July 11
August 8
September 12
Saturday Options:
May 11
August 10
November 9
Time: 9:00 am-4:00 pm; 9:30 am: Morning Prayer (optional)
Fee: $25
Spiritual Directors/ Prayer Guides Gathering
Spiritual Direction and Social Consciousness:
Is there a connection between spirituality and justice? In the midst of so much suffering, injustice, and polarization in our world what is God trying to call forth from us as people of prayer and more specifically as spiritual directors and prayer guides?
What is our role as directors/guides in assisting directees to become attentive to fostering an awareness of a movement beyond a “me and Jesus” theology to a theology more in keeping with biblical spirituality? How did Jesus, as well as ancient and modern-day prophets and saints respond to the initiatives of a God whose desire is to accompany the poor and change unjust and oppressive structures?
Come together with other spiritual directors and prayer guides to reflect on how we might raise our own social consciousness so we in turn may assist the prayer of our directees with the God who has an option for the poor.
Facilitated by: Fr. John Rose
Date: Saturday, April 27th, 2024
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Location: MSC
While our gathering is geared towards Spiritual Directors and Prayer Guides, we encourage all to join us.
You do not need to be a Spiritual Director or Prayer Guide for Mercy Spirituality Center to join. We encourage all current and past directors and guides to attend!
Fr. John Rose trained in spiritual direction at The Center for Religious Development, Cambridge, Mass. He presently assists in training spiritual directors at The Spiritual Renewal Center in Syracuse.
Ignatian Spirituality
Exercises of St. Ignatius In All Of It's Forms
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in all of its forms, create an awareness of God in all things—all people, all creation, every human experience, and especially in the person of Jesus. We offer a model of the Spiritual Exercises designed by St. Ignatius for use in daily life which takes place over 30 weeks, rather than 30 days. This program is currently being offered virtually.