Workshop · March 14, 2026
The Eleventh Step
Prayer and meditation, taken plainly and practically. Our first workshop at St. Bede, and the first to close in silence rather than discussion.
Date
Saturday, March 14, 2026
Time
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Location
St. Bede the Venerable Catholic Church
9114 Lakeshore Blvd, Mentor, OH 44060Cost
Free · a basket is passed
The Step, and the pages
The Eleventh Step asks us to improve our conscious contact through prayer and meditation. Pages 85 to 88 of our basic text are unusually specific about how — and that specificity was the subject of the morning.
The passage lays out three practices. At night, a constructive review: were we resentful, selfish, dishonest, or afraid? On waking, a request that our thinking be divorced from self-pity and self-seeking motives. And through the day, a pause when agitated or doubtful, asking for the right thought or action.
“We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day Thy will be done. We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions.”
What we did
A panel worked through the passage, followed by questions from the floor. After lunch we split into breakout sessions — smaller rooms, more room to talk — and then came back together for a guided meditation to close.
Ending in practice rather than conversation was deliberate. The Step is not a topic; it is something you do. We wanted people to leave having done it once.
How the morning ran
- 9:00 AMDoors open — coffee and donuts
- 10:00 AMOpening prayer and introduction
- 10:15 AMPanel discussion
- 11:30 AMPanel interaction and questions
- 11:45 AMLunch
- 12:00 PMBreakout sessions
- 12:40 PMGuided meditation
- 1:00 PMClosing and fellowship
The three practices
- The nightly review. Constructive, not morbid — the text warns explicitly against drifting into worry or remorse, which would only diminish our usefulness to others.
- The morning ask. Consider the day ahead, and ask that our thinking be freed of wrong motives before we begin.
- The pause. When agitated or doubtful, stop and ask for the right thought or action. The text is honest that this takes practice, and that inspiration will not arrive on demand.