Reverend Shelly Davis shares a recent discussion with GATE about the state of affairs where immigration and America's policies are concerned. In it, she asks some very simple but important questions of the reader: Are you where you were born? Have you moved, and if so, for what reason? How many times have you moved? Many of us move by choice, others by necessity and others by force.

 

These questions move straight to the heart of immigration, for “humankind’s story is a migration story. We all are, or have been, migrants, immigrants, refugees or asylum seekers” ( Davis ) within the span of our family’s history. While America is in the midst of a raging and volatile debate concerning immigration, what part does the individual play in this saga? The history of our country has always been that of a land open to all who seek refuge here. With recent developments and the many changes in world politics and policies, however, can America maintain its ideals? What part does the individual play in such a debate?

 

Click here to read Reverend Shelly Davis’ take on the issue - a bold and humane outlook that charges each individual with embracing a spirituality of solidarity with their human neighbors.

 

 

 

Our cultural immersion programs encompass the best part of humanity. Hope, compassion, spirituality and broadening your mind and heart to new experiences. Join GATE in 2010 in visiting El Salvador in August for our last trip of 2010, or join us in 2011...

  

 

Our mission is to create an awareness of other cultures and their realities

through people-to-people connections. We offer the opportunity to learn

from the poor, as well as from social analysts, teachers, theologians

and economists. The program connects participants with marginalized

who, despite struggle, find hope in their reality.

christinecenter@ceas.coop  

 

Level 1 and Level 2:

Week long retreat experience at the Christine Center, located in Willard, Wisconsin, led by the Spirit, facilitated by Theresa O’Connor.
  

What if there were a time and a place where we could go to personally experience our own inner highest Essence and brightest Light? What if we each house within us the light of the Transfiguration, a light that like witnessed by three disciples in the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration? Quantum physics, energy psychology, and spiritual traditions are now all converging and agreeing that we are essentially non-local, non-temporal beings of light and hope. One definition of “enlightenment” is the remembering of and reconnection with one’s own inner light-being, and serving the world from a place of conscious connection with the light within.
  

Connecting with your own higher self and learning the skills to live and serve from this higher vibration, is the focus for our retreat week. Our coming to deeper consciousness is facilitated by Theresa in relaxing and enjoyable ways, which include guided meditation, silence, experiential growth, group guidance and pertinent multi-media learning.
  

The following are some post-retreat reflections from participants who attended the 2008 Global Awareness Through Enlightenment Retreat with Theresa:

• This was new and deeper; this week was one of those large steps forward. I feel so much bigger than this little body. I can trust this Source and light within; I’m grounded in trust and fearlessness.
• I can now walk and live in loving Presence. I crawled in it before.
• It only takes a moment to be healed or transformed. The light bulb has gone on for me. Spirit is all around, as well as supportive spirit guides.
• Everything has its aura; the plants are my family. I have a widening of consciousness of other energies; not all is physical.
• This was a renewal of my sabbatical of 10 years ago. I know now that energy follows intention and how to move my energies for healing others. I have a broader experience of my own guides and of ways to get in touch with and balance my own energy centers.
• This week has intensified my passion for the earth and sustainability. I can bring more deeply conscious energy into my life and work. I have received what I hoped to receive.
• Information has moved from my head to my heart. Connecting with my own inner light brings overwhelming emotion and clearer purpose. In leaving here, I bring divine love with me.
• For myself and my work, I wanted to deepen my connection with my higher wisdom and expand my experience of mystical levels. One can trust one’s own guides; it’s the difference of walking in the light instead of darkness.
  

Participation in this Enlightenment Retreat is not limited to those who have traveled with GATE. Anyone who is serious about personal growth and making a real difference in the world is invited to come and be counted.  For registration information, please see the Christine Center at: www.christinecenter.org or christinecenter@ceas.coop or contact Theresa at Theresa@oconnor-associates.net.

 

 

The Christine Center offers an exquisite hilltop facility overlooking a meadow of wildflowers, a still pond, and a tranquil forest setting of 120 secluded acres. Nestled in the quiet woods, you'll be reminded to slow down, to know the limitless opportunities of life, to simply be. Here you can leave behind your usual routines, refresh your senses and allow the luxury of silence to renew your body, mind, heart and spirit.

The Center has served the spiritual needs of thousands of people from all over the world for almost thirty years. Since 1980, people from all spiritual paths and walks of life have come here with a desire to move inward to a place of quiet reflection, and outward to a place of timeless connection in search of their deeper spiritual identities. All are welcome to enjoy our natural sanctuary and to partake of its quiet beauty.

 

To contact the Christine Center: www.christinecenter.org 

and go to the "Contact Us" link...

Visit our Links Section which provides current articles and links to alternative news sites and current information.  

In a recent publication Marie Des Jarlais, FSPA, has written on the immigration debate. She shares her experience on the economic and political realities of immigration. 

Click here to read the article.   

Journey to El Salvador, without ever leaving your desk! Simply click here to experience the El Salvador GATE trip with traveler Charish Badzinski in a day-by-day account of her experiences.

 

A freelance writer and editor, Charish Badzinski posted regular updates throughout her trip in June of 2007. Check out her experiences and welcome a small piece of El Salvador into your busy day...

 

If you would like to support the indigenous effort to produce and sell their own coffee, we suggest you buy from Juan Ana.  100% of the proceeds go to the growers, you can't get any more fair trade than that!  For those of you travelers that have visited the San Lucas Toliman Mission with us, you know what a difference it makes for the people--and how good it is!  Here is the link to order and learn more: http://www.juananacoffee.com/

Rufina Amaya, human rights activist and survivor of the El Mozote Massacre passed on Tuesday March 6, 2007 due to heart failure. She was a mother, grandmother, friend and hero to many.

 

In 1981 an SOA-trained Salvadoran army battalion known as the Atlacatl Battalion swept through the region of Morazon in a campaign to root out guerillas and their sympathizers. In a shocking turn of events, nearly one thousand peasants were slaughtered in the village of El Mozote.

 

As the sole survivor, Rufina's brave testimony of the massacre shed light on the atrocities committed by the Salvadoran military and uncovered the Reagan administration's role in providing training and millions of dollars in military aid to a government with a complete disregard for human rights.

 

The Atlacatl Battalion continued to commit atrocities in El Salvador, including the murder of six Jesuit priests and two Salvadoran women at the University of Central America on November 16, 1989.

 

"God saved me because he needed someone to tell the story of what happened." Rufina Amaya continued to be an outspoken and compelling witness to what may have been the largest massacre in modern Latin American history until the day of her death.

 

Rufina's legacy will live on in the hearts of the people of Latin America and the world.