The Franciscan Spiritual Center will be closed for events in June, July, and August.  All retreats and hosting events have been canceled.  This includes any activities at Clare House and the Hermitages.  Like you, we wish we could go back to what is normal but your safety, ours and that of all our employees and those who work on the front line need to come first.  As we look at the COVID-19 numbers in Delaware County it is clear that we are still in the red zone and numbers continue to increase.  But, even if that should change, what will not change in the very near future is the wisdom of not gathering in groups larger than 10, wearing masks and social distancing of at least 6 feet.  This would be very difficult to do when we have retreatants in the house.  Together we obey these restrictions because we know it protects those with weakened immune systems, eases the burdens on our health care providers and moves us closer to the emergence of a normal life.  More than ever it is imperative that we look out for one another.  We are all in this together and whenever someone doesn’t obey the rules it puts all of us at risk.

WE MISS YOU

Our prayer for you is our key ministry these days.  We pray that you and your loved ones are safe and that your “stay at home” has at least provided a slower pace for you.   A little virus-induced distance is making us all more appreciative of one another.  Your affirming and welcoming love has been sustaining for us throughout these years and not seeing you around has been difficult.  It’s the little things we miss most:  welcoming you at the door, seeing you get comfortable in all the little niches of our Center, watching the intensity of your listening during presentations and being able to be a part of all of that.  We’re longing for the time when we get to hug each of you again.

2020-2021 PROGRAMS AND REGISTRATION

Our prayer and hope is that we can begin our 2020-2021 Programs as usual.  We have prepared our preview sheet for 2020-2021 and you can access it online ( https://a.mpcdn.io/fscaston/2020/05/Preview-Sheet-2020-2021.pdf ) and all 2020-2021 events are on the website but in order to give everyone a fair chance to review the events prior to registration we ask that you not register before July 1, 2020.  By that DATE everyone should have had an equal chance to look over the offerings and be ready to register for programs/retreats.  Since we don’t have registration staff onsite and our building is closed we ask that you not try to drop off registration forms.  After July 1 you can register by any of the following:  1)the website, 2) mail in your registration (registration forms are available on line at https://a.mpcdn.io/fscaston/Registration-Form-for-the-Web.pdf) or 3) call in your registration at 610-558-6152 (leave a message).