Woman-to-Woman Workshop ~ by Mildred Green

Theme: "Women of Faith in the Modern World"

The workshop was planned by the Women's Commission in response to the 2006 survey of women in the diocese.

Women from all over the Virginia Region came together at the new Pastoral Center. It was a full day, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Registration got off well until 9:30 a.m.

The morning Spiritual Program was led by Dolores Groat. She is a person who conducts lots of Retreats throughout the diocese and is well qualified. The Prayer Bracelet Kit was given to each woman who came to the workshop. Dolores instructed us how to put the bracelet together.

Part of the morning Spiritual Program was a talk on "Women in the Bible" and was led by Pat Slater, who received lots of feedback.

A lunch break was from 12:30 p.m. to 1:20 p.m.

The afternoon seminars ran concurrently with four sessions repeated. They were:

1. "Women and Depression" ~ Carrie Hartwell of Foster Care for Commonwealth Catholic Charities...

2. "Marital Communication" ~ Lynda Leslie...

3. "Parenting" ~ Kathleen Levenston and Diane Mitchell; both work at Commonwealth Catholic Charities with the Therapeutic Foster Care Program...

4. "Lectio Divina"- Many ways to listen to God ~ Dolores Groat, founder of The Praying Hands Ministry...

Each session was just outstanding. All included time for questions. It was a full day of spiritual growth.