A Weekend at Grailville

I just got back from a long weekend at Grailville, in Loveland, Ohio northeast of Cincinnati. I was there for the annual national conference to explore membership with the Grail, an international women's organization. Attending were eighty other women from around the United States and from as far away as Australia, Italy and South Africa; black, white, Latina and Native American, in their thirties through their nineties, of various religious and spiritual backgrounds. We danced, created art, sang together, ate great food--much of it locally grown--and attended planning sessions, talks and spiritual practice groups together. This is a group of women I could find myself at home with. 

The mission of the Grail and many of its core values are near and dear to my heart. Their mission is to empower women to work for world transformation by:

--building bridges among diverse faith traditions and spiritual paths

--advancing peace, justice and a world free from military dominance

--fostering international exchange and solidarity

--challenging economic systems that put at risk the most vulnerable, especially women and children

--creating communities for a sustainable future and

--celebrating the arts as a means for personal and societal transformation.

Any of this sound familiar?

Their core values include spirituality, women's empowerment, dignity of persons, justice, community, care of the earth, creativity, bridge building and a living integration of spiritual search, social transformation, ecological sustainability and a release of women's creative energy throughout the world. 

Check them out yourself at www.grail-us.org .