experiencewellbeing, Author at Your Faith is Powerful

3 Crucial Elements for Effective Catholic Retreats

by experiencewellbeingCatholic Ethos, Theology and Philosophy Resources 19 November, 20214 March, 2022Comments are Disabled

These 3 vital elements combine to ensure your people ‘Experience Wellbeing’ on your faith formation retreat. Firstly, begin with the pastoral needs of the participants. Secondly, match their pastoral needs with Catholic theological anthropology and Catholic spiritual practices. Thirdly, match their pastoral needs with evidence-based wellbeing strategies for individuals and groups. Retreat participants thrive when …

Kindergarten student John and his mum Flonnie in Katundu one of Project Kindy kindergartens in rural Malawi, Africa

Jesus Provokes us to Love His LIVING Relatives, the Poor

by experiencewellbeingCatholic Ethos, Theology and Philosophy Resources 10 July, 202110 July, 2021Comments are Disabled

To draw closer to Jesus, get to know and offer support to His living relatives, the poor, who are walking the earth in our time! Hi, my name is Donna Power and I’m from the Brisbane-based charity, Project Kindy. We fundraise for kindergarten children in extreme poverty in rural Malawi, Africa, providing them with daily …

11 Halloween Children’s Activities to put the Holy back into Secular Halloween

by experiencewellbeingCatholic Ethos, Theology and Philosophy Resources, Free Resources 28 October, 202020 May, 2021Comments are Disabled

What are your feelings about Halloween? It’s been a dilemma for me to work out how to adjust to the relatively new and mostly secularised Halloween culture in Australia. As kids we always went to Mass for All Saints and All Souls Days but here in Brisbane, Australia, in the 80s and 90s we never …

praying the rosary stimulates the vagus nerve to relax the body

Rosary Exhales Hold Key to Health – Research Finds Vagus Nerve Most Calm when Praying Hail Marys

by experiencewellbeingRosary 6 November, 20197 March, 2022Comments are Disabled

This is fascinating to those of us who love empowering others with evidence-based wellbeing strategies. Here is scientific evidence to show why we FEEL so grounded, relaxed and calmer when we pray the Rosary. When we pray the Hail Mary out loud with our long, slow exhales, we are breathing at the most ideal rate …

leading the mission in catholic schools religious life of the school faith development essay lonergan ACU shadows of leadership

Leading the Mission: To Be One Who Casts Light and Confronts Shadows in Leadership

by experiencewellbeingCatholic Ethos, Theology and Philosophy Resources 6 November, 20199 April, 2020Comments are Disabled

This is one of my final assignments for the ACU course in Leading Mission in Catholic Organisations. It gives you some insight into my ongoing development as an authentic person, retreat facilitator and follower of Jesus. I share this to offer you some fellowship and confidence as we all grow in understanding and skills as …

Free Animation for Faith Formation

by experiencewellbeingFree Resources 17 October, 201910 May, 2020Comments are Disabled

Below is one of my original ‘Videoscribe’ animations. Please feel free to share it with your students, staff and families. Videos make great prayer resources to add to your faith formation tool kit as you build a Catholic Ethos in your community. “Jesus Brings Those on the Outside to the Inside” In just over 4 …

Guided Meditations

by experiencewellbeingFree Resources 11 October, 201910 May, 2020Comments are Disabled

Noble Gospel Values Meditation (8 minutes 32 seconds) This guided meditation for whole-person wellbeing takes the listener through the following 4 steps: Bringing to mind your Noble Gospel value that you have prioritised for yourself Cultivate a practice of gratitude Pray for others with compassion Visualise yourself living out your immediate goals in line with …

How the 4 Main Principles of Catholic Social Teaching are Demonstrated by Project Kindy

by experiencewellbeingCatholic Ethos, Theology and Philosophy Resources, Free Resources 25 August, 201911 May, 2020Comments are Disabled

The partnership between the local village communities, the Canossian Sisters and Project Kindy demonstrates the Catholic Social Teaching principles of Human Dignity, the Common Good, Solidarity and Subsidiarity.

10 Reasons the Rosary is a Great Prayer for School or Home

by experiencewellbeingRosary 16 August, 20193 July, 2020Comments are Disabled

Praying the Rosary is a chance to slow down, appreciate, find your anchor point and become aware of God’s love for you. This is a particularly powerful prayer for individuals, families and communities during hard times. It is one way to build an integrative spirituality, where our soul is energised and well-directed. The Rosary engages our senses and is excellent and engaging classroom prayer activity.

how to know your retreat is catholic for your catholic school students or staff

Cultivating a Catholic Ethos in Retreats

by experiencewellbeingAbout Donna, Catholic Ethos, Theology and Philosophy Resources 15 August, 20199 April, 2020Comments are Disabled

You know your retreat is Catholic when it offers life-giving, empowering Catholic faith formation for a broad range of participants. In this article, I will discuss three overarching hallmarks of the Catholic ethos of faith formation, “Catholic Theological Anthropology”, “Whole-Person Engagement” and “Formation Capacities” and how faith formation retreats can be developed and evaluated accordingly by either internal or external facilitators. By the way, this article serves to inform and develop me as much as those I am hoping to encourage as I am still learning the art of faith formation facilitation.

Why Virtue Ethics is so Empowering in Retreats

by experiencewellbeingCatholic Ethos, Theology and Philosophy Resources 7 June, 20193 July, 2020Comments are Disabled

The goal of Christian faith formation retreat is to assist the participant to grow in discipleship with Jesus and in community with others so she/he is closer to living a fulfilling life of love. Virtue Ethics with a Christian perspective is a very helpful in my work as a retreats facilitator because it engages retreat …

How to Make Spiritual Language Inclusive for a Broad Range of People

by experiencewellbeingCatholic Ethos, Theology and Philosophy Resources 7 June, 20199 April, 2020Comments are Disabled

How do you define and describe the soul and spirituality for a broad range of people? The human soul is the life force within each of us, animated by God[1], our spirituality is how we cultivate and express that energy in either healthy or unhealthy ways[2] and the ultimate fulfillment of a healthy spirituality is …