by Tammy Townsend Denny, TI Executive Director
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October 1 is the feast day of our patroness, St. Thérèse of Lisieux. As we pause to honor the ways St. Thérèse inspires and guides us in our communities and throughout our lives, I invite you to use one or more of these activities as a guide to reflect on what being a Theresian means to you:
Read (or re-read) our “Holy Newness and the Five Dimensions: A Theresian Way of Life” booklet;
Reading
Explore the Theresian prayers on the Theresians International website; 
Prayers
 Visit St. Thérèse’s poetry on the Archives du Carmel de Lisieux website; 
Poetry
Watch the “Invitation” and “Be My All” videos by Rick Lee James and think about all the ways you have been invited and supported in your Theresian community.
Music: Invitation
Music: Be My All
St. Thérèse, pray for us.

by Tammy Townsend Denny, TI Executive Director
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The Theresians International Board of Directors met for their annual meeting on September 15 – 18 at the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth’s convent in Des Plaines, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Six of the board members attended in person, including Afi Tagboto and Rosemary Sackey who flew in from Ghana. Four board members participated by Zoom.
While in the Chicago area, the board members toured and attended Mass at the National Shrine and Museum of St. Therese of Lisieux. They also had an opportunity to see the new TI offices.
Please join with me in congratulating our board members who were called to serve for 2022-23:
President – Cheryl Billmyer, Dubuque, Iowa
1st Vice President – Claire Mueller, Houston, Texas
2nd Vice President – Mildred Catajay, Manila, Philippines
Secretary – Cindy Fontenot, Youngsville, Louisiana
Treasurer – Trudy Blevins, Parker, Colorado
1st Member at Large - Camila C.D. Nowakowski, Toronto, Canada
2nd Member at Large – Rosemary Sackey, Accra, Ghana
Spiritual Guides – Afi Tagboto, Kumasi, Ghana and Rosemary Simek, Scottsdale, Arizona
We also welcome our newest board members:
Connie Welp, Phoenix, Arizona
Augustina Annorhene, Kumasi, Ghana.
Additionally, Sheryl Lyons, Lafayette, Louisiana, will continue her service on the board.
More details about the board meeting will be sent out soon.
For those who may not be familiar with the TI Board:
The Theresians International Board of Directors is the legal governing body responsible for the direction and guidance of our organization and ministry. Their responsibilities include the development, financial responsibilities, leadership structure, and community growth of TI. The TI Board’s purpose is to hear and address the concerns of the regions, districts, and local communities; to serve as a resource for communities; and to encourage national and international gatherings, local and district retreats, and programs for each level of membership.
As women in support of women, let’s join hands across the global and offer our prayerful support to the new board of directors for the upcoming year!

by Tammy Townsend Denny, TI Executive Director

On the second Friday of each month, I pause to attend a Centering Prayer group at the Healing Gardens at Stone Hill Farm. Nestled among private gardens curated and maintained by Deborah Marqui, an author, speaker, and cancer survivor, the group gathers to connect with the Divine, with nature, with ourselves, and with each other.

This month, as our time together ended, one of the attendees shared a poem by William Stafford, entitled “The Way It is.”

The short poem begins, “There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change.”

The poem goes on to say that others may not understand your path, so you must tell them about the thread. “Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die; and you suffer and get old,” Stafford writes, but as long as you hold onto the thread “you can’t get lost.”

The poem reminded me of all the times I have felt like I was only “holding on by a thread,” when the ups and downs and rounds and rounds of life left me dizzy and disoriented. I thought of all the times when there did not seem to be enough money, enough time, enough energy to carry me through life’s moments. I thought, too, of the times I have been questioned about my choices. “Why are you doing that? That’s crazy.” Often the question is said by me to me.

I answer: “I don’t know.” There never seems to be the right words to describe the sometimes barely detectable Divine-Guidance-System threading through my life.

Author and educator Parker Palmer wrote about Stafford’s thread in a 2015 reflection “A Thread to Guide Us.” Palmer shares, “Knowing we can find our way home with that thread in hand, we’re more likely to explore the darkness and learn what it has to teach us.” He admits that at times he loses track of the thread, just as all of us do. 

Where is your thread? And where is it leading you today?

by Tammy Townsend Denny, TI Executive Director

Last week in Sacred Touchstones, we shared "What would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?" along with Pope Francis’ March 5, 2017 Angelus where he reflected on the same thing.

This week I would like for us to contemplate becoming “Bluetooth Christians” by connecting wirelessly and hands-free to God all day, every day. “Bluetooth Christians” is a term used by dr. timone davis* in a reflection on the Gospel readings from Sunday, September 4. *(“dr. davis uses lowercase letters in the spelling of her name to indicate her willingness to embody the creedal assertion in John 3:30 in her everyday living”).

dr. davis is a cradle Catholic who formerly served in the Reclaiming Christ in Life Young Adult Ministry with the Archdiocese of Chicago. She is currently an assistant professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University Chicago where I am working on my Master of Divinity degree.
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Scroll down to watch dr. davis’ video. The text of her message is available here.
I hope you find some inspiration in “Bluetooth Christianity.”