June, June, June…I can hardly believe it’s June already! It already feels like summer in Ludington with the bustle of activity and extra traffic.

My trip to Ireland was exhilarating, challenging, healing, and inspirational. I was away for two weeks, sightseeing for a few days and a week-long retreat at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery on the Beara Peninsula in the southwest region of Ireland. The monastery was located in Castletownbere, a charming village that seems to be the home place of the Harrington clan. It was quite a surprise! I will tell you more about this starting with the June 3 service.

Terry Murphy and I will be traveling to Portland, Oregon on the 18th to attend the UUA General Assembly. Terry will be participating in the UU University for the first couple of days while I meet with the UU ministers from all over the country. And then, thousands of UU’s, young and old, gather for worship, celebration, education, and fellowship. It will be a busy but enriching time and I’m sure we will come home with lots of inspiration and new ideas.

We are concluding our Living the Questions class in Manistee this month and the Evensong for Families. Both have provided an opportunity for learning and getting to know new people in our community. I am pleased with the ongoing relationship building resulting from the Evensong class, the Living by Heart workshop, and the Living the Questions class. All three include non-members and they are active participants. When I was greeted by 4 year-old Jonas at the grocery store with a huge hug and a hearty “Hi, Cathy!” my heart melted. I view this as planting the seeds of our future.

The “Summer of Seuss” program should be a lot of fun for our children and youth, and we have some interesting guest speakers planned as well as our resident scholar, Dr. Lou Yock.

I would love to spend more time with you this summer. I was thinking it might be fun to plan some Sunday afternoon outings, such as picnics, bike-riding, field trips, etc. If you are interested in joining the fun, let me know.

Let’s enjoy the summer and have some fun!

In faith, Cathy