Recent News

Dr Christine Gobius, National Director of Interserve Australia:

"I invited Patrick to facilitate a workshop at our first leadership team retreat. It was a humbling, growing and joyful experience. As a team we are grateful for the foundation this has given us to build on, and a shared language that we can use as our working relationship continues to develop ..."

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Patrick led the Saturday reflection at a weekend retreat of St John's Anglican Cathedral community, at the Santa Teresa Spirituality Centre, Ormiston. The focus was on "Prayerfulness and the Mystery of the Cross".

The Pastoral Care Service in Toowoomba asked Patrick to lead their retreat day on Friday 24th August. It was held at St Bart's Church, and Patrick presented his approach to re-seeing the wealth of meaning in The Apostles' Creed.

St Paul's Anglican parish at Ashgrove invited Patrick to host a day looking at what the enneagram can teach us about relationships. Twenty-five people attended the day on 18th August.

Patrick journeyed to Hervey Bay on the Exhibition show holiday in August, to present a retreat day to the Ministry of Consolation.

The Villa Maria Spirituality Centre was the setting during August 2018 for a series of three mornings that Patrick led on "Praying Your Dreams". Fourteen people attended the series.

Patrick was privileged to lead a series of three weekend retreats in Rockhampton for the Sisters of Mercy. These were spread out over a period of months, and focused on "The Harvest of the Years".

The Merthyr Road Uniting Church at New Farm invited Patrick to speak about "Praying Your Dreams" on Tuesday morning 12th June.

Patrick led a group from the Aspley-Albany Creek Anglican Church, on their weekend retreat at Santa Teresa retreat centre at Ormiston, from Friday 9th March - Sunday 11th March.

The topic of "prayerfulness and dreams" was the focus for a gathering of prison chaplains, at the North Coast last Thursday, 1st March. Patrick led the one-and-a-half hour presentation.

The third-year students at St Francis' College at Milton hosted a workshop with Patrick on Friday 16th February and Saturday 17th February, on his "Infinite Circle of Grace".

Brigidine College Indooroopilly invited Patrick to give the keynote address at their Staff Day on Friday 19th January 2018. His topic was "Continuously choosing the land of hope".

Patrick has recorded a talk using the material he presented at the Australian Network for Spiritual Direction gathering in August 2017. This is available as an mp3 or as a 2-CD set, and is entitled "The Beauty of Healthy Religion". See the "Books" page for details.

St Peter's Parish Caboolture hosted a morning's reflection with Patrick, on the topic "Spirituality for Seniors" on Monday 23rd October. Twenty-five people came to the gathering.

A two-day workshop on "The role of dreams in spiritual direction" was conducted by Patrick on Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th October. This was part of the St Francis spiritual direction formation programme at Milton, Brisbane.

Patrick conducted a day retreat with clergy and pastoral workers from the Lutheran Church Queensland, at Highfields, Toowoomba, on Wednesday 11th October. He also gave a retreat the following Saturday to the Edmund Rice Community at Taringa, Brisbane.

The Sisters of Mercy in Rockhampton hosted a weekend retreat led by Patrick on 8-10th September, for the sisters and residents at the Retirement Village at The Range, Agnes St Rockhampton. Twelve participants took part.

Point Vernon at Hervey Bay was the location for an all-day retreat day for the parish carers and bereavement teams, on Wednesday 6th September. Patrick led the day, that was based upon the verse from St John's Gospel, "Love one another".

Patrick gave a talk for the Australian Network for Spiritual Direction, on Wednesday evening 30th August, at St Clement's Church, Stafford. The title of the evening was "Healthy Religion and Unhealthy Religion".

The Tugun-Coolangatta Catholic parish spirituality network invited Patrick to lead them in a day's reflection on dreams, at the Eco-Village in the Currumbin Valley, on 29th May.

The Mercy Spirituality Centre at Toronto NSW flew Patrick down to conduct a weekend workshop on "Praying Your Dreams", on the weekend of May 19-21.

A five-part series on "Doorways into Deep Simplicity" commenced on Saturday 6th May in Toowoomba. Anne-Marie Doecke co-ordinated the day which was held at St Paul's Lutheran Church hall, Phillip St Toowoomba. In this series of five Saturdays spread throughout the year, Patrick will be presenting opportunities to reflect upon prayerfulness, the Scriptures, the Infinite Circle of Grace (Patrick's contemplative approach to the enneagram), and dreams. The day is limited to around twelve participants.

Patrick facilitated a weekend retreat in Wellington, New Zealand on 21-23 April, based around his "Infinite Circle of Grace" (which is his contemplative adaptation of the enneagram). Forty people attended the retreat, which was held at the Home of Compassion, Island Bay. Another Infinite Circle retreat is planned for later in the year.

The first of three days of reflection and community building was held at Beenleigh Uniting Church, at the invitation of the pastor, Lu Senituli, on Saturday 18th February 2017. Patrick conducted the day session as the first of a series aimed at healing and growth in parish prayerfulness. The second and third days (on 18th and 25th March) looked at how members of a parish can so easily hurt each other and not know it. How can we come to recognize the ways that we can do this?

The year opened with Patrick conducting a session on the helpfulness of dreams, to staff at Mt Alvernia College, Kedron, in late January 2017.