© 2021 Gaétan Charland, Claude Flibotte, Line St-Pierre
© 2021 Urantia Association of Quebec
¶ Word from the President October 2021
Gaetan Charland
president@urantiaqc.org
Here we are already in the fall and with it the resumption of several Urantian activities. The Urantia Association of Quebec has already planned some virtual presentations on Zoom, which will be easy for you to attend and in some, participate in discussions with the person presenting. There are also study groups and what the pandemic has taught us is the friendliness and ease of organizing these study sessions via a virtual platform such as Zoom, Team, Skype or other means.
For those who would like to convert their study group meetings into virtual meetings, the association can provide you with a Zoom link and the necessary instructions to organize and manage this type of meeting. It will take some time before the situation caused by the pandemic normalizes, so do not wait and contact us, we are here to help you.
As I mentioned in my previous messages, the Urantia Association of Quebec will focus its attention on education and virtual presentation activities. In this orientation, the association does not forget its commitments, such as promoting study groups, helping readers in Haiti by sending Urantia books and supporting the PIRT (Book Sending to Prisons) program.
For the education component, as president of the association I participate in discussions and approaches with African students of the fifth revelation, members of the Urantia Association of Senegal, in order to create a school based on the Teaching of Progressive Divine Wisdom, teaching that I received from Mr. Moussa Ndiaye the designer, now deceased. These educators, numbering five, soon seven, trained for a long time in this method, have also been providing these courses for more than 30 years, both in person and today virtually.
So far, the school is in the organizational phase in order to set up the structure that will allow it to offer courses in French to students from all over the world through Zoom. As a first step, a board of directors has been created and is composed of five members; the statutes, regulations and mission of the school are being drafted. The website that will host the school is now under construction.
So far, the Urantia Association of Quebec has provided four Zoom subscriptions and is offering to help with hosting the website and purchasing the domain name. Some expenses incurred in creating and maintaining this school may be funded by the association. Several pages on our website promoting this school and the courses offered to Quebec readers will justify the costs allocated to this school. In fact, the Urantia Association of Quebec becomes a partner in creating and maintaining this school.
We encourage friends of the association to financially support this important initiative to promote the training of teachers and the dissemination of the teachings of the Urantia Book in Quebec and throughout the world.
Further information regarding this project will be published soon on the association’s website under the Education section.
Happy fall season and happy reading.
¶ History of the Réflectivité Newsletter (Part 2)
Claude Flibotte
Sainte-Julie
In the first part of this history, we saw the beginnings of our newsletter and the artisans who carried out the responsibility of producing more than three hundred publications in order to inform Quebec readers of the events concerning the revelation contained in The Urantia Book.
With the help of this second part, I would like to introduce you to the people who make up the team responsible for your publication and the role that each person plays in carrying out their tasks.
The first person to dial a number is Line St-Pierre. She is responsible for communications for the Urantia Association of Quebec (AUQ). Here is what she has to say about her participation:
"My vision is to ensure with Claude the smooth running of the publication by having the necessary adequate texts to fill the monthly, and since 2006, I am always on the lookout to stimulate readers for the production of texts, reflections or testimonies to share with the fraternity._
During virtual or in-person events, I prepare publications for this purpose. ”
The second person to join the dance is our proofreader, corrector Robert Cadieux. All the texts that I receive from Line or from readers of our publication are forwarded to him. Let’s see what Robert tells us about his role:
"I happily accepted to be part of the team._
My role is proofreading.
I receive the texts to be published, revise them, arrange them as needed by looking at the grammar, find the typos and return them to Claude who edits the pages.
I reread the final copy to approve it and make the final corrections.
It’s a team effort, everyone does their best! ”
The newsletter Réflectivité is the official information organ of the AUQ, whose president is Gaétan Charland. In each issue, Gaétan addresses his thoughts and reflections on a host of subjects, whether philosophical, related to events in the world or concerning the revelation of the time. Here is what Gaétan tells us about his function:
"I ensure that requests and withdrawals from the list for Réflectivité are maintained.
“With each publication, I export from the database the updated list of recipients of the paper version of Réflectivité, which I send by email to Gilles Bertrand.”
When all the texts, photos and announcements are gathered, this is where my role as a graphic designer 'comes into play. Since January 2021, I have had the immense pleasure of formatting our publication. Normand Laperle used Word software for editing, but not being very comfortable with this computer program, and working with a Mac, I preferred to use Pages, a program similar to Word in the Apple world.
My job is to coordinate the tasks of the entire production team. Then, to lay out the various elements to make a publication that is pleasant to read and visually interesting.
As Robert said, when I have finished editing, I send him a proof for a final check. I then make any final corrections if necessary. The next step is to upload the newsletter to the AUQ website in its own section where you can retrieve it at your leisure. The next step is to use the e-mail function to send the announcement of the publication of the current month’s issue to each of your readers’ mailboxes.
For those who cannot receive the Réflectivité newsletter electronically, a paper version is produced for them. This is where our friend Gilles Bertrand comes in. Let him explain what he has to accomplish:
“My task is to print the Réflectivité and send it in paper format to the members who want it. So, I receive from Claude the Réflectivité of the month in PDF format on the one hand, and on the other hand, I receive from Gaétan the list of members (± 175) interested in this mailing. I personally take care of printing the address labels, but the printing of the Réflectivité is done by a commercial company near my home. To complete the mailing, you have to affix the shipping and return labels, the stamps, fold the sheets properly then insert them in the envelope and seal everything ready for postal distribution. I am also responsible for purchasing all this material (labels, envelopes, stamps and printed matter). Sometimes, generous hands come to me and help me with the monthly mailing, because the deadlines are short. There is a lot of satisfaction in working as a team and the lightness of these operations greatly facilitates our sociability. All that is missing is your talents as writers to provide us with more beautiful material. ”
You see the effort the team puts into getting this newsletter of news and articles out each month. Now, you, dear readers, must also participate. We ask for your writing; you can express your ideas with the help of this publication. These writings can take different forms on a subject related to reading The Urantia Book. It is by sharing our points of view with each other that we serve each other on our long road to Paradise!
This, my friends, is the team that works more or less in the shadows to produce your monthly newsletter Réflectivité. I hope it adequately meets your expectations and proves to be a useful link between us!
It’s up to all of us to participate; us, for the production and publication and you, to produce articles related to this revelation!
¶ Online conferences by Zoom
Line St-Pierre
Sainte-Sophie
Communications Committee Manager communication@urantiaqc.org
As the spiritual progression activities promoted by the association in Quebec will soon resume, and after having asked students to present an online conference, which today replaces our many in-person themes, I invite you to mark your calendar and plan your participation in these events.
These enriching activities via ZOOM encourage the meeting of unique people who, through their interpretation of the teachings, contribute to sharing and increasing our understanding of the subject.
The Zoom link for each of these conferences will be published as time progresses.
Looking forward to meeting you there.
Sunday October 17th 1 p.m.
Title of the Presentation: The Beatitudes or how to obtain a cosmic identity.
Helene Boisvenue, Quebec
Sunday December 12th 1 p.m.
Presentation Title: Biological Elevators
Marc Belleau, Quebec
Sunday November 7th at noon
Title of the Presentation: The spiritual quest: God in question(s)
Mamadou Doudou Diagne, Senegal
¶ Study groups
This activity allows several readers of different levels of understanding to exchange and study together the teachings of The Urantia Book. It promotes spiritual progress by allowing its participants to find practical applications to the teachings of The Urantia Book in their daily lives. This important step helps to maintain a broad perspective on concepts of truth.
You wish to participate or form a study group; we will be happy to assist you. If you wish to have your study group appear in this list, contact the person in charge, via email association.urantia.quebec@gmail.com or at 450-565-3323.
Outaouais Group
Region: Gatineau
Wednesday, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Maurice Migneault (613) 789-6833
Group: “Uni-Terre”
Region: Joliette
Sundays from 9:00 am to 11:00 am, (virtual Zoom)
Contact :
Eric Martel (450) 756-9387
Group: “At Maisonnia”
Region: Quebec
Every 2 weeks: Sundays, from 1:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Gilles Bertrand & Louise Renaud (418) 871-4564
Group: “The United Family of Urantia”
Region: Montreal — Downtown
Thursdays, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Mrs. Diane Labrecque (514) 277-2308
Group : “Le Pont”
Region: Montérégie
(Sainte-Julie, south of Montreal)
Tuesdays, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Claude Flibotte (438) 404-6399
NEW
Group: “Urantian Universalists”
Every Monday from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Eastern Time (Montreal)
Responsible:
Claude Flibotte (438) 404-6399
Subject: Appendices of W. S. Sadler Jr.
Zoom Virtual Group. (Get informed)
Group: “Découverte”
Region: Laurentians — St-Jérôme
Mondays, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Gaétan Charland and Line St-Pierre Tel.: (450) 565-3323
Possibility to participate via Internet (Zoom)
Sherbrooke Group
Region: Sherbrooke
Every 2 weeks: Tuesday or Wednesday, (to be confirmed) from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Helene Boisvenue and Denis Gravelle
Tel.: (819) 569-6416
To see the official list of study groups:
Click directly on the following link: http://urantia-quebec.ca/activites_liste_des_groupes.php
¶ Réflectivité
| Responsible: | Claude Flibotte |
| Assisted by: | Robert Cadieux Gilles Bertrand |
(438) 404-6399 Claude Flibotte
(514) 237-3616 Robert Cadieux
(418) 871-4564 Gilles Bertrand
Publication (monthly)
Last week of the previous month.
To submit your articles:
Send them to: c_flibotte@videotron.ca
Add: Your name, city of residence, a photo of you, thank you!
Warning:
Any submission of articles or otherwise becomes the property of Réflectivité and none will be returned.
We do not guarantee that all articles in our possession will be published in the next Réflectivité.