Terry has been on a life long journey. One aspect of that journey has been from Peterborough to Victoria. In her story “Peterborough Seeds in Victoria” she writes about her vibrant ministry in Victoria
Peterborough Seeds in Victoria
by Terry Dance-Bennink
January 2010
Four years ago today, I left Peterborough to move to Victoria, B.C. with my husband, Theo. With some tears, I left behind dear friends like Rev. Leo Coughlin, the sisters at Mount St. Joseph, the Friday morning prayer group and former colleagues at Fleming College. Theo and I didn’t know a soul in Victoria when we arrived, but his needs came first for a change, and a warmer climate was at the top of his list!
I let go of one trapeze to catch another, and the Spirit caught me, yet again. I’ve built a new life with seeds transplanted from Peterborough. What are those seeds?
As the former program director at the Spirituality Centre in Peterborough, I continue to “educate” adults in Victoria. I’m a member of First Metropolitan United Church and helped launch a series of lunch and learn forums for seniors two years ago called New Vistas, modelled after our Sunday afternoon forums at Mount St. Joseph. Remember those? With Rev. Leo Coughlin as our chair keeping the peace?!
New Vistas has borrowed some of the same Peterborough themes like forgiveness, myth and metaphor in the Bible, life after death, accepting loss, and friendship – a cure for loneliness. More than 60 people come out for some great sharing and food at Queenswood Retreat Centre (the local counterpart to the Mount’s former Spirituality Centre.)
Around the same time, I secured a grant from the United Church of Canada to create the Spiritual Companions program at First Met, modelled loosely after a similar initiative by Leo Coughlin for staff in Peterborough’s separate school board. After a needs assessment, we recruited and trained a dozen lay volunteers to record the life stories of 15 church elders and then published a book called Stories United ¾ Harvesting Elders’ Wisdom.
We’ve sold around 1,200 copies now across Canada. The book is built around such themes as early memories, love and friendship, a life’s call, the joys and challenges of growing older, accepting loss and death, building a faith community, and the many faces of God. Reflection questions at the end of each chapter help readers follow in our elders’ footsteps. For more info or to order a copy, visit our website: www.firstmetvictoria.com.
I’m now co-teaching a Writing & Sharing Your Life Story program at the church using Stories United as our textbook. One seed leads to another. We’ll share our work at a national conference of the United Church of Canada this June in Toronto.
I love “saving lives one story at a time” so I’ve evolved into a free-lance personal historian and editor. I’ve helped 10 people publish their life stories or memoirs in the last three years and am an associate editor with First Choice Books, a self-publishing firm in Victoria (www.firstchoicebooks.ca/book-editing-services.php).
Spiritual direction or guidance is another Peterborough seed. With encouragement from Sisters Margaret Shannon and Jean Smith at the Mount, I completed a diploma program in spiritual direction at Regis College, U. of T. before I migrated westward.
Now I offer individual spiritual guidance to several members of my church, along with another trained director. I also co-facilitate a monthly orientation to group spiritual guidance for our spiritual companions, who continue to visit their elders regularly. We focus on such issues as:
I’ve been leading our spiritual companions group for three years now. It’s the closest thing I’ve found to Peterborough’s Friday morning prayer group. But nothing can beat that group!
In the midst of this life of service, I find time to:
I’ve made some good friends here, including a woman from Peterborough who moved here shortly after I did. My husband’s open-heart surgery 18 months ago was successful and he’s in good health at age 73, for which I’m most grateful.
My New Year’s resolution, however, is to slow the pace down and become more “mindful.” I still experience moments of anxiety and long for greater inner peace ¾ a felt sense of my oneness with God. Mary still struggles with Martha. I turn 62 this April and increasingly Mary calls.
Thank you, again, my dear Peterborough friends for all your gifts. The beauty of seeds is that they can fly through the air, even across the Rockies! Now, if we could just get Leo to commit his life story to paper….
I’ll be back in Toronto this June and hope to see some of you then. I look forward to hearing all your news and returning with yet another few seeds to Victoria when I leave!
Love and blessings,
Terry Dance-Bennink