Star Gazer W40

Join us in gratitude and celebration for The Star of the North Retreat House 70th Anniversary!

Anniversary Celebration & Winter Fundraiser
Thursday, December 7th at 6:00 pm

Family Style Dinner & Entertainment

Registration at www.starofthenorth.ca/70
Cost: $100 ($25 tax receipt available)

We look forward to celebrating with you The Star’s 70 years of retreat and renewal ministry!

How Are You at Setting Healthy Boundaries?

Boundaries are essential to living a healthy and full life. It’s not too late to sign up for this women’s weekend reflecting on what boundaries we need to be wholly alive as God intends us to be. Come discover healthy boundaries as a spiritual practice and an act of self-care. Join presenters Sandy Prather and Glenda Sartore, next weekend—October 13-15—for a rich time of ritual, reflection, and celebration. Limited space remaining; registration ends this Tuesday. Cost: Commuter $345 / Live-In $395. Register at 780-459-5511 or at www.starofthenorth.ca/heart 

Meet the Speaker: Reconciliation Through Justice

Noah MacDonald is a Canon Lawyer with the Archdiocese of Toronto, a proud Anishinaabe member of Michipicoten First Nation, and an advocate for the rights and leadership of Indigenous Catholics. Upon completing undergraduate education in Theology, he went on to study Canon Law at Saint Paul University, receiving his JCL (Licentiate in Canon Law) in 2020 with a specialization in the protection of minors and vulnerable adults. He was a delegate of the Archdiocese of Toronto during the Papal visit in Quebec, and he is also a member of the Reconciliation Fund Committee for the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie. In September, he will begin PhD studies in Theology at Regis College to explore paths towards an Indigenized Ecclesiology.

Our Reconciliation Through Justice Series continues this program year with a number of gifted Indigenous presenters. Join us online or in-person as we welcome Noah MacDonald to speak on the topic of Rite Relations: Developments in Indigenous Catholic Leadership and Unity. Tuesday evening, October 17 at 7:00 pm. Suggested donation: $10. Register at 780-459-5511 or at www.starofthenorth.ca./reconciliation

Art Evening: An Intergenerational Experience 

Come with a few friends or even a grandchild! Creativity can be a way to foster community and channel our connection to the Divine. Fall Artful Reflection Evenings are a great way to unwind and rediscover the joy of creating. This month, Bev Bunker and Émilie Bélanger will provide step-by-step instructions to guide you into creating your own fall lantern: all materials and supplies included. Wednesday, October 25 from 6:30-8:30 pm. Registration: $30. Register at 780-459-5511 or at www.starofthenorth.ca/artful

Meet the Speaker: Spirituality of the Cosmos

"With the strength of her intellectual synthesis and the depth of her scholarship, Dr. Linda Gibler, OP, is at the cutting edge of the transformation [from]... modern Christianity’s focus on human-to-human relationships to a cosmological Catholicism keenly aware of nature as the primary revelation of God." - Brian Swimme

Linda Gibler, OP, PhD, is a Dominican Sister of Houston. She has served as vicaress to her congregation since June 2022.  Before her return to Houston, Linda was the Associate Academic Dean and Associate Professor of Science and Religion at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio.

Linda studied with Brian Swimme at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and completed her PhD in Philosophy and Religion in 2007. In addition to the PhD, she earned a MA in Philosophy and Religion at CIIS, a MAPS at Aquinas Institute of Theology, and a BA in Sociology and Life Science Ethics at the William Paterson College of New Jersey.

Before her San Francisco studies, Linda was the director of social ministry for a parish in Houston where she coordinated direct services, social outreach, and social justice programs. She worked for a Texas agency to insure health care for indigent women, and served on a hospital medical ethics board.

Linda delights in telling the 14 billion-year story of the Universe, stars, and Earth, as well as the stories of the common things that surround us. Her book, From the Beginning to Baptism: Scientific and Sacred Stories of Water, Oil, and Fire (Liturgical Press, 2010), tells the cosmic stories of the primary sacramentals of baptism and considers the difference it would make if we allowed Nature to teach us about God, ourselves, and right relationship with all members of the Earth community. 

Join us for the Spirituality of the Cosmos Public Lecture ($20) or the Friday/Saturday Retreat ($210) at the end of October. 

The Friday public lecture plays with the idea that the Cosmos itself has something to teach us about how to live well with ourselves, other people, and other beings. By considering the spirituality of the Cosmos (or patterns in how the Cosmos behaves and expresses itself at various levels), we may be able to experience ourselves within the Whole. Our joys and struggles are not alien from the Cosmos but part of its very fabric.

The retreat–as part of our Aurora Living speaker series–develops Brain Swimme’s Powers of the Universe and applies them to a Cosmic spirituality we all share. It is also a step toward creating a non-anthropocentric theology in which we see Creation as Companion and Teacher.

October 27 & 28. Public Lecture: $20 / Retreat: Online/Commuter $145 | Live-In $210. Register at 780-459-5511 or at www.starofthenorth.ca/cosmos

Addiction, Trauma, & The Family Workshop

Addiction - cunning, baffling and powerful, and almost always rooted in trauma, often leaves the families and friends of addicts feeling powerless, frustrated and defeated. That is frequently compounded by the denial or refusal of the addict to accept help. How can those who care about the addicted person(s) help them to hit bottom, and also find help for themselves in sometimes desperate situations? This workshop, including a Remembrance Day ceremony, and in memory of those we have lost to addiction, will provide information on the addictive process and recovery from it and trauma, opportunity for sharing, support for all participants, resources for moving forward and hope for a brighter future.

The facilitators for the workshop are Richard N., Mary Ann M., and Sylvain L., author of Walk A New Path on addictions awareness. 

November 10-12. Cost: Live-In $300 / Commuter $130 / Online $90. Register at 780-459-5511 or at www.starofthenorth.ca/addiction