Sidelights

Take a look at our new page called Sidelights. For reference, we will move some older items from What's New to the Sidelights page. This especially includes news items with links to other St. Placid Priory web pages or to other websites. Then we'll have more room on What's New for the most current news of the Priory.

Our Newsletter Online

St. Placid Priory's newsletter is now available in PDF form on this website. You can find it here. To view PDF files, you will need a PDF reader like Adobe Reader or Foxit Reader. If you use the free Firefox web browser, when you click on the link you will also be given the option of viewing it in HTML.

International Medieval Congress Sister Laura Swan presented her paper, “Dame Gertrude More’s Search for God” on May 8 at the International Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo, Michigan. Dame Gertrude was a direct descendant of Sir Thomas More.	Sister Angela Makes a Difference Sister Angela Hoffman was promoted to full Professor at the University of Portland June 1. Congratulations, Professor Hoffman! Sister Angela also won the American Chemical Society’s National Chemistry Week Award for “making a positive difference in the community.”

Come to a Book Signing

Have you heard that Sister Lucy Wynkoop and Christine Paintner have a book coming out this fall? They finally wrote that book on Lectio that we here have known for years was waiting to be written!

Come meet the authors and help us celebrate the publication of Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness on Sunday, November 9, 2008 at the Priory. The book signing will be from 12:00 Noon to 1:00 PM in the Priory lobby with refreshments in our dining room.

Talking Trash--Going Green

Here at St. Placid Priory we have been recycling for some years, but until July 1 of this year we were still sending a lot to the landfill. Back in the spring, we heard about the Certified Green Program offered through LeMay Inc./Pacific Disposal. The Certified Green Program involves reducing the amount of trash that goes to the landfill by recycling everything possible, plus sending all our organic waste (food, paper, cardboard, yard waste) for composting. Silver Springs Organics does the composting of organic materials picked up by Pacific Disposal; materials are routed via Thurston County's transfer station.

At first it seemed exciting but a bit daunting--learning yet a new way to separate our so-called trash or garbage. So we talked about it a lot, and for a week before we received our new outdoor containers, we practiced indoors by separating our compost (paper and food) from trash (plastic, metal, foil, etc.) in our house containers. During that week, it all went into the big trash dumpster anyway--but we had the experience of increasing our awareness. It helped us get ready for "the real thing" on July 1.

We found out that the dryer sheets we use in the laundry and our used dental floss have to go in the trash--they are not made of organic materials (i.e., things that will break down or rot in the compost pile). It's a whole new way of looking at "trash," that's for sure.

Of course, we still do commingled recycling, plus recycling of glass, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans, and now we are also recycling plastic bags and film--very thin plastic that "you can put your finger through" easily. We are separating out our plastic bottles and aluminum cans since Pacific Disposal will give us a credit for that.

And now our biggest outdoor container is for compost! And a much smaller one is for trash. This made us a little nervous at first, but now as we walk around the monastery, we see very little in the "trash" containers; most everything goes into compost--and stays out of the landfill! We really appreciate the work Thurston County, Pacific Disposal and Silver Springs Organics do to make this program possible.

Programs of Interest
at The Priory Spirituality Center

OASIS is a retreat program for clergy. It begins and ends with several days of retreat time, and continues in the interim with one day a month of renewal time at the Spirituality Center. Find out more about OASIS.

TRANSFORMING FIRE: Christian Spirituality and Prayer is the next step for those who enjoyed Tending the Fire and want to deepen their exploration of Christian values and prayer practices. Follow the links to learn more about these programs.

St. Placid is Now Smoke-Free

The buildings at St. Placid Priory have always been smoke-free. We are pleased to announce that as of January 1, 2007 our entire monastic grounds are also smoke-free. We hope you will enjoy our peaceful, green environment.

Volunteer at St. Placid

Many volunteers help us at St. Placid--doing a wide variety of helpful tasks. If you'd like to know more about occasional volunteering, or about our live-in volunteer program for women, please see our new Volunteer page

The Priory Store

To find out "what's new" at the Priory Store, see our Priory Store page. We have many new books, religious articles and gifts for special occasions.