Our Lady of the Round Table Marianist Retreat

From Isabella R. Moyer:

“I belong to a ‘cyber’ Marianist Lay Community called Our Lady of the Round Table. The original members met online in May 2005, during the North American Center for Marianist Studies (NACMS) online course on Marianist Community, facilitated by Carol Ramey. We felt a strong bond of community through our online discussions and wanted to build on the experience…We wondered if this format would work for our new community. Well, almost five years later, we can say that it’s working rather well!

Tomorrow I’m travelling to Ireland for our first OLRT retreat! Some of us have met before, but this will be the first time we will all be together. (Pati is unable to be with us, but we’re planning to have a Skype call on Wednesday.) It’s going to be a grand reunion!

…What do you call the first ” in person” gathering of a community that has been meeting daily online for five years? Is it a reunion? But, technically, don’t we have to meet first to have a reunion? We already know each other face’s from photos, voices from phone calls, and spirits from the daily sharing of our prayers and life. But this was our first ‘in the flesh’ visit….an incarnational moment. And what a moment it was! Maybe one day I’ll be able to put this moment into words, but all I can do right now is savor it.

We were given an incredible welcome by the the Marianist Brothers of Ballybrack. They have wined us, and dined us, and even provided us with some local Irish talent, Sean Frayne, for an evening of song and laughter. Sean is an alumnus of St. Laurence school. And, thanks to Susan, our days are packed with sight-seeing and fun.”

International Organization of Marianist Lay Communities
- NEWS AND VIEWS by Isabella R. Moyer – MLC President