Our presenter will be the Reverend Carol Howard Merritt, author of Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation and of the forthcoming Reframing Hope: Vital Ministry in a New Generation, both publications of the Alban Institute. Carol is a member of our webring and blogs at Tribal Church. You may have also seen her columns at Huffington Post, or listened to her podcasts at God Complex Radio.
BE 4.0 will be another cruise. Because of the late dates for Lent and Easter in 2011, we will offer this event prior to Lent. We'll depart Tampa, FL, Saturday, February 26, on the Carnival Inspiration for a five-day Western Carribbean cruise, returning Thursday, March 3. There will be two days spent at sea and two opportunities for day excursions, at Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Cost details will follow very soon.
We hope you will save the dates!!!
Looking forward to a BE 5.0 European tour perhaps? I'm already preparing a suitably attired Knox statue to greet y'all with in Edinburgh and showing you around St Giles Cathedral ;)
ReplyDelete*grins cheekily and wonders if UK/ Europe-based Revgals might get together to plot and conspire sommat for this side of the 'pond'?*
Woo hoo! I can't wait. Thank you so much for the invitation.
ReplyDeleteYay! I'll be there for sure, and maybe I'll dance in public again for you all. Only for you!
ReplyDeleteSounds like great fun, but I'd encourage folks to consider a more sustainable option next time around. Cruise ship companies are not known for being good stewards of Creation.
ReplyDelete(Sorry. This FarmGrrl/Circuit Rider will now retreat to the farm and hush her mouth.)
I hope I can go! I have it on my calendar!!!
ReplyDeleteBE 2 was held at a Franciscan conference center. You never know where we will end up.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited!
I don't think I'll be able to attend, though I love Carol and her work.
ReplyDeleteI would consider this an amazing thing if I could go... Might be in the middle of unit #3 of CPE so... sigh... I don't know.
ReplyDeleteFor the slightly sea phobic - - can you tell me about the roll and pitch of the boat? i.e. -- did you feel the waves? or am I the only person over 50 who struggles with motion sickness?
:/
No seasickness at all for me. I took all sorts of wrist bands and meds with me "just in case" on my first cruise and have since given them away. YMMV of course...!
ReplyDeleteDeb, I first cruise was last year at age 55, and it was also a Carnival. I had no problem with the motion even though boats, in general, can sometimes make me yucky. My younger sis and my 23 year old daughter were most affected but not debilitated. Go figure. I am excited about my next cruise.
ReplyDeleteUm ... "MY" first cruise ... (blush)
ReplyDeleteI totally get seasick. For BE3 I packed Bonine, Dramamine, and wristbands...and used them not at all in the daytime and NEVER ONCE felt sick.
ReplyDeleteI confess that my first cruise, several years ago now, was a Carnival cruise on a very similar itinerary to ours, during spring-break time (so about a month later than what we're planning) and I spent half the cruise sick, mostly because of the rolling at night when I was laying down. For BE3 I took a Bonine at bedtime and had no problems whatsoever, with the added bonus that I slept better than I usually do in strange places!
I also recommend an oceanview room, as being able to look out helps immensely.
MaineCelt,
ReplyDeleteI have been around those planning conversations and your concerns are ones that have been touched on every year. The problem is that sustainability rarely co-exists with affordability. That includes not just the retreat space itself, but the cost for folks to get there. The goal is to make it at a place where folks can land at a hub (less expensive) since so many of the revgals are not a non-stop flight away from anywhere.
The amenities and ability to be cut off from the world (sorry, I can't come back for that funeral, I'm on a cruise) are other plusses to the cruise, but the cost and desire not to blow up everyone's continuing education budgets is the driving one.
Knowing these women like I do, I know the search will continue for a viable and sustainable option.