This is a 2-hour live online program via Zoom with Benedictine Oblate and retreat leader Judith Valente.
Italy is known the world over for its storied art, significant history, superb food and exquisite wines. But beyond what tourists normally see when they visit this country is an attitude of the heart known to all Italians that allows them to see and experience the sacred and poetic in simple, mundane elements of daily living.
In this retreat, spirituality author and journalist Judith Valente, who has spent considerable time living in Italy in recent years, distills what it is about the Italian lifestyle that fosters living more mindfully and joyfully, and how we can incorporate many of those attitudes and practices into our hectic American lifestyle. We will explore the sanctity with which Italians approach the dinner table, the way they prize quality over quantity, pride themselves on personal relationships as much as professional achievements and venerate the age-old practice of chiacchiera — chatting with others — as a way of staying connected and cultivating a sense of belonging and community. They are not afraid of taking time to simply do nothing. As Judith notes, “My Italian friends taught me to pay as much attention to my self-care as I do to my work.” We invite you to take this journey to Italy and come away with ideas for how to live la dolce vita, the sweet life.
This online program will be recorded. The recording will only be available for a few weeks, and only available to registrants.
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR:
Judith Valente covered faith and values for many years on the national PBS-TV news program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. She is also a former staff writer for The Wall Street Journal, having worked in that paper’s Chicago and London bureaus, and is a former reporter for the National Public Radio affiliates in both Chicago and central Illinois, where she currently lives.
Judith is the author of several spirituality titles including, “How To Live: What the Rule St. Benedict Teaches Us About Happiness, Meaning and Community” and “The Art of Pausing: Meditations for the Overworked and Overwhelmed” as well as two collections of poetry, and a memoir about her time with the Benedictine sisters in Atchison Kansas, titled, “Atchison Blue: A Search for Silence, A Spiritual Home and A Living Faith.”
She is a popular speaker and retreat leader on the theme of living a more contemplative life in the secular world, and is the creator of an annual contemplative, cultural, culinary retreat for those wishing to experience small-town life in Italy. She is president of the International Thomas Merton Society and served previously on the board of the Chicago Cenacle. Judith is at work on a manuscript about her stays in Italy, titled The Italian Soul: What Italians Can Teach Us About Living More Mindfully, Meaningfully and Joyfully.
She served previously on the board of the Chicago Cenacle.
