Our Presbytery will be hosting an international peacemaker in October. Stillwater Presbyterian will be making the arrangements, and would love to coordinate other events throughout the Presbytery. Contact Stillwater at 651.439.4388 or Ann Rock at 651.439.0192.

Pastor Younan G. Shiba grew up in a traditional Assyrian church with his family in Iraq. He has served in Jordan and Syria with Iraqi expatriates, in Baghdad with the Assyrian Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and as the Director of Operations in Iraq with the SALT Foundation, a non-governmental organization affiliated with the Open Doors organization. In 2005, as a result of threats, Pastor Shiba and his family came to the United States as religious refugees. Currently they are serving in the northern suburbs of Chicago among the Assyrian and Arab communities.

Barbara Ann Keely, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church and an associate professor of Christian Education at United Theological Seminary, is leading a series of workshops at the Benedictine Center in Maplewood.  These workshops, called “Benedictine Spirituality as Ecumenical Resource” will help Christians of all denominations find inspiration and guidance in the values of St. Benedict, a mystic and monk who lived in the Fifth Century.

They will be held on Saturday mornings, from 9 a.m. to noon, and cost $35 each.

“With her expertise in Christian education, spiritual formation and pastoral ministry,” says Sam Rahberg, associate director of the Center, “she will provide fresh insights on what it means to be a Christian.”

 Dates and topics are as follows:

• September 24: “Benedictine Spirituality as an Ecumenical Resource”
• October 29: “Awareness of God”
• December 3: “Humility, Hospitality and Conversation”
• January 14: “Nurturing the Common Good”

Dr. Keely is also a parish associate at Presbyterian Church of the Way in Shoreview and a Benedictine Oblate affiliated with St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville.  She authored Faith of Our Foremothers: Women Reshaping Religious Education, writes a column for The Clergy Journal and is a popular keynote speaker and workshop leader in the areas of adult education and spiritual formation in the Congregation.  

According to Dr. Keely, “Benedictine values can help shape the spiritual life of any person or community of faith desiring to draw nearer to God.  Each of these sessions will show how Benedict rooted his ‘rule of life’ in the Gospel.”

            To register for one or all of her workshops, or to get more information, go to www.stpaulsmonastery.org and follow the Benedictine Center link, call 651-777-7251 or email: benedictinecenter@stpaulsmonastery.org.  The Benedictine Center, a ministry of the Benedictine Sisters at St. Paul’s Monastery, is located at 2675 Benet Road in Maplewood.