The Apostolic Johannite Church is pleased to announce the fifteenth AJC Conclave – 21-27 May, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois, nestled in the beautiful neighbourhood of Lincoln Park
Each year the people of the AJC, friends and family gather together to socialize, learn, build our skills and deepen our community.
Conclave offers lectures, workshops and panel discussions selected to develop ministry skills, support the work of church leaders both lay and ordained and deepen and enrich the spiritual lives of attendees. Conclave is also rich in social time, time to eat, talk, pray and practice together. It’s like a retreat and a conference all rolled into one.
As always, we welcome you, no matter who you are or what your spiritual path, to join us for this unique week together. You can come for all or part and participate as much or as little as you’d like. However you choose, we welcome you into our household.
Our featured lecture and speaker this year is none other than Dr. Zlatko Pleše.
Dr. Pleše is the author of Poetics of the Gnostic Universe, co-editor and translator (with Bart Ehrman) for The Other Gospels: Accounts of Jesus from outside the New Testament, and The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations. He is associate Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Religions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Completing his Doctorate at Yale University, Dr. Pleše specialized in early Christianity, ancient Philosophy and the Coptic language, among others.
Continuing what is becoming a Conclave tradition of examining the Apocryphon of John- Dr. Pleše will be spending time with us on the text with his talk entitled Poetics of the Gnostic Myth. In previous years, we have looked at the Apocryphon of John, first with an excellent talk by Dr. Birger Pearson and then with an open discussion with the Patriarch in Chicago.
This year, we are very proud to present to you an exciting and engaging list of speakers and activities to go with our featured speaker- and equally proud to note that our list is not actually complete, as more are coming on board at the time of this writing. We will be making small announcements as more are added.
Without further preamble- here are some of the talks and workshops we have at the time of this announcement:
- Dr. Zlatko Pleše – Poetics of the Gnostic Myth
- Dr. William Behun, Primate of the United States – Two Lectures: The Sacrament of Confession, and Time and Ritual
- Dr. Timothy Mansfield, Bishop of New South Wales – Spiritual Exercises for Groups
- Dr. Jeffrey Kupperman – The Anagogic Role of Sunthemata in the Sacramental Liturgy of Pseudo-Dionysius
- Bishop Lainie Petersen – Divination as a Spiritual Practice
- Monsignor Scott Rassbach – The Johannite Rosary
- Monsignor Jordan Stratford – Psychological First Aid
- The Very Rev. Father Tony Silvia – Johannite Spirituality
- The Rev. Father Donald Donato – A Journey into the Mind of God
- Father Bray Weaver – Lay Ministry and Counseling
- Father Joseph McCauslin – Parish and Narthex Education
- The Rev. Deacon John DiGilio – Damning the Flesh
- Alan Salmi – Astrology for Beginners
We have several different options and packages to choose from for registration – all of which are a fantastic value.
Individual Full Week registration is $900 USD and includes all workshops/lectures, meals and lodgings for the duration of Conclave.
Couples Full Week registration is $1500 USD and includes all workshops/lectures, meals and lodgings for the duration of Conclave.
Single Weekend Retreat – Meals, Lodging and workshops from Friday (Supper) to Sunday (Lunch) inclusive. $350
Couple Weekend Retreat – Meals, Lodging and workshops from Friday (Supper) to Sunday (Lunch) inclusive, for two! $550
If you’re in the Chicago area, and prefer to stay off site, we have the ‘Commuter’ option which is $50 per day for students or $70 per day for non-students and includes all workshops and lectures for the selected day as well as all meals. Please note that this does not include lodging.
Finally, individual full day registration is $100 per day and includes all workshops and lectures and meals for the selected day, as well as lodging for the evening of the same day.
As you can see, this promises to be an event to be remembered, and we hope you will join us!
Registration will open soon, so stay tuned.