A Ministry of Reconciliation from the Paulist Fathers Home ||| About ||| Contact ||| Paulists Contact Joan Horn - Phone: 979-690-7953 E-mail: joanlandings@aol.com James Moran, CSP - phone: 718-291-5995 EMail: Jmorancsp@aol.com

The Preamble

Welcome to the beginning of your Landings journey. Hopefully, you will find here the help, peace and enjoyment thousands of others have found in Landings.

Landings is a uniquely contemporary approach to reconciliation ministry. Landings gives someone who is considering returning an insight into the actual faith lives of a few other Catholics. Landings is not a discussion group. Landings is not a class. It is an experience of faith sharing.

More than anything else Landings is ministry of compassionate listening. Some call listening the language of God. Over the course of the weeks each person, the welcoming Catholic and the returnee, will have ample and equal opportunity to both speak and be heard.

Few of us are listened to enough, so we may not know how to limit ourselves when we encounter a receptive audience. The timekeeper plays an important role in helping the group maintain the necessary limits, so that everyone can be heard.

Welcoming members are part of the faith-sharing process and are not here to cure, teach, "fix," or in any way to sit in judgment of anyone else's opinions or faith stance. Compassionate listening works best when there is no interrupting, arguing, questioning one another or commenting on what another said.

If you respect the guidelines, enough of your Catholic identity will emerge to provide returning members with a genuine, balanced look into the mind and heart of the Catholic faith as it is lived and expressed in your parish.

Those who feel comfortable returning to Communion with the Church discover during the process that they are just as holy, just as smart,

just as beloved by God, just as Catholic, as the rest of us.

Confidentiality is essential in Landings. This applies especially to our spiritual autobiographies. Only in an atmosphere of trust will people speak openly and honestly of their lived beliefs.

For those who have questions and want answers, a portable library dealing with spiritual and theological issues is available for ready reference.

In addition, a parish theologian, or resource person, is available for you. Other professional resources for issues beyond the competency of the group, such as annulments, grief work, addictions, and spiritual direction, are listed on a referral sheet in the library basket.

Remember, Landings has a highly successful track record. We urge you to follow the program as it is written. Its Unique structure has been tested and proven effective by hundreds of groups over the past decade. Resist reverting to familiar ways of running a group, or making changes and adaptations as you go along.

Each person's journey is special and sacred in the eyes of God. If you will trust the Holy Spirit and the process, we are confident you will grow in faith and understanding with the passing weeks and be for each other a clear sign of God's ongoing acceptance and unconditional love.

Happy Landings,

Rev. Jac Campbell, C.S.P.

Founder and Director