Ursuline Sisters, board to dedicate labyrinth

The labyrinth is intended to be a metaphor for the life journey of spiritual seekers.

the vindicator

CANFIELD — The Ursuline Sisters and board of directors will dedicate the recently-completed labyrinth at the Ursuline Center, 4280 Shields Road, with prayer and a blessing ritual followed by refreshments in the auditorium.

The public is invited to the event, which will be at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 1.

For many years, when Sister Theresa Ann Rich looked across the parking lot of the Ursuline Center toward the west, she would see not the site of the sisters’ former tennis courts but her dream of a lovely labyrinth.

The labyrinth is intended to be a metaphor for the life journey of spiritual seekers.

Each year, the center’s board of directors would consider the project, but it always got “kicked down the road,” as board member Jack Donadee expressed it, until one day, Donadee said, “Enough. I am going to do it.”

Donadee has memories of walking a labyrinth while on vacation in Puerto Rico several years ago, and says he found the experience “peaceful.”

He put his engineering degree, artistic eye and the expertise of his employees at DOT Construction Corp. in Canfield to work, and the vision took on form.

The new labyrinth at the Ursuline Center is based on the design found in Chartres Cathedral in France, with some adjustments to make it both wheelchair accessible and nestle into the site. The labyrinth’s path is made of concrete with areas of stone in between.

The labyrinth is designed to at first give a desert feeling, the sense of leaving the world with all its clutter for a bit and going into someplace clear, a place where visitors can focus on what is important and put answers to the questions.

Walking the labyrinth leads to a sacred place deep within us that engages us in the process of healing and transformation.

The labyrinth is not a maze but a path that follows a route into and out from the center.

“One Christian approach to the labyrinth is based on the three-fold path of “Purgation, Illumination, and Union,” explains Sister Theresa Pavilonis, who designed the labyrinth at the Villa Maria Education & Spirituality Center, Villa Maria, Pa., and provided input for the Ursuline Center labyrinth.

“There are three stages but one path, and it is different for everyone. Purgation is releasing or letting go of worries or concerns. Upon reaching the center, there is Illumination, insight, clarity and focus. The path out is that of becoming grounded and integrating the insights received.”

Starting in the spring, there will be regularly-scheduled walks. If visitors wish to schedule a group to walk the labyrinth and/or have a facilitator to direct the experience, contact the Ursuline Center at (330) 799-4941 or e-mail sjfosu@yahoo.com.