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Telling Our Stories: Blessings and Trials
March 16 @ 3:00 pm – March 18 @ 10:00 am
Location: Avila Center for Community Leadership, 711 Mason Road, Durham NC 27712
You are invited to Telling Our Stories: Blessings and Trials, a time of retreat and reunion, honoring the 50th anniversary of founding the Women’s Center at Duke Divinity School and the herstories embedded in that ministry!
Several alums are preparing a time and a space for stories of our lives to be told and heard, for alums and students to meet, and for renewing ties with classmates and with the institution we share.
We will focus on…
- REFLECTING – how women-centered thought and action took place 50 years ago in DDS and in the five decades since.
- CONNECTING – renewing ties of friendship, meeting new friends and colleagues, engaging DDS alums from diverse generations.
- HONORING – Women’s Center student coordinators and their faithful work, as well as faculty and staff who have mentored and advised them.
- ARCHIVING – gathering stories of our lives as students and as graduates, in written and oral forms, to add to the historical record of women at Duke Divinity School.
Welcome to Peace Hill at Avila!
Our host for the gathering is Peace Hill at Avila, a 25-year-old community whose mission is to nurture people working toward a more compassionate and just society. With original buildings dating from a mid-20th century Carmelite monastic group and lodgings added to enable Avila Retreat Center to operate in the 1980s, the setting is conducive to group meetings, walks in the surrounding forest, convivial meals, and quiet contemplation.
Accessible rooms are adjacent to the central gathering spaces. Meals will be coordinated through local caterers, with attention to dietary preferences. Plenty of “grazing” options will be available at all times.
The cost of this event is partially underwritten by the Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South.
Ticket options:
- Full tickets include overnight lodging, food, and program: $195
- Commuter tickets include food and program (no lodging): $125
- Student tickets include meal and program (no lodging): $25
Starting time: 3 pm on Sunday, March 16
Ending time: 10 am on Tuesday, March 18
Tentative Schedule
Sunday, March 16, 2025
3 pm-6 pm Welcome, move in/set up supplies, orient to spaces and natural setting at Avila
4-6 pm Welcome and introduce yourself to Minoka Yonts, Director of Alumni Relations!
4:30 pm Recording session times available
5:30 pm Happy Hour, followed by 6pm Evening meal in Dining Room
7:30 pm Talk with Susan Thistlethwaite about 50+-year history of women in seminaries in historical
and cultural context
9 pm Evening prayer, quiet time
Monday, March 17, 2025
7 am-8 am Morning silence (chapel, library, outdoors)
8 am Breakfast in dining room. Welcome Chinwe Edeani and Mia Lee, current WC coordinators!
9 am-12 noon Circle of story-telling and listening (may record)
12:30 pm Lunch, walk, recording session times available
2-4 pm Café table conversations reflecting on what we’ve heard and what we want to share with
others (such as hopes and recommendations for action) arising from the time together
4:00 pm Welcome Dr. Jerusha Neal, faculty advisor for the Women’s Center!
4:30 pm Recording session times available
5:30 pm Happy Hour, followed by 6pm Evening meal in Dining Room
7:30 pm Liturgy of thanksgiving, lament, restoration
9 pm Quiet time
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
7 am-8 am Morning silence
8 am Breakfast in dining room, with blessings on the time together
9 am Prepare to leave (check-out time is 10 am).
Car-pool to campus/Divinity School for 11:45 worship at Goodson Chapel, followed by lunch with
Minoka Yonts (MDiv’17), Director of Alumni Relations.
YOUR PARTICIPATION is sought even if you are not able to attend the March 16-18 gathering! Our goal is to gather stories from our time as divinity students and after, and to share these stories with a wider audience by placing them in the University Archives. You are invited to write or record stories that respond to prompts – or to use whatever focus you wish.
Here are some possible prompts:
- How did you decide to attend Duke Divinity? Did the decision fit the existing contour of your life or represent a new direction?
- As you reflect on your life story and the social, political, cultural settings of your life, what place does your time as a Duke Divinity student occupy in your story?
- In what ways did the Women’s Center at Duke Divinity influence your life and studies?
- Tell about Women’s Center colleagues, faculty, staff/administrators or others who influenced your faith and vocation at Duke Divinity.
- What other stories would you like to tell?
We invite you to bring your stories to the gathering or email them to planners.
We hope to be able to make video and/or audio recordings of your stories during the gathering. Stay tuned for further information about this.
Contact: nrosebaugh@hotmail.com or bettylwolfe@gmail.com