May Day! May Day! Around the world and across traditions, spiritual directors are responding to the distress call with heartfelt compassion, contemplative action, and peacemaking.

During the extraordinary educational events in San Francisco, keynoter Brian Swimme passionately put in plain words, “The task of spiritual direction is to deconstruct the maladaptive story that humans are living out of. The central task of spiritual direction is to create a culture that amplifies life’s hum … to learn that Earth is not a collection of resources but a community of life that the human is invited to join.”

 

 

Other keynoters, workshop presenters, and pilgrimage leaders, including Mary Ann Scofield, RSM; Jane Vennard; Alexander Shaia; Brother David Steindl Rast, OSB; Mary Ann Clifford, RSM; and Catherine Regan encouraged us to “amplify life’s hum” in a variety of ways: by listening to the plight of workers, of prisoners, of people needing hospice care, as well as listening to the birds and trees of Muir Woods.

Gratefulness and prayer were presented as an ancient-yet-new way of living, of being in the world, of “amplifying life’s hum.” According to Jane Vennard, “Our task here is to continually attend to the experience of Oneness, realizing again and again that nothing truly separates us from God, from each other, and from all creation. I am not only to love my neighbor, I am my neighbor. I am not only to care for this created world, I am the created world. All is one and All is holy.”

During the educational events, we honored elders in the spiritual direction community and welcomed newcomers.

We acknowledged in ritual and song that "the function of one generation is to make change possible for the next. The real function of each generation is to sow the seeds that will make a better world possible in the future" (Joan Chittester).

As a global learning community, we walk in solidarity with elders and newcomers, and with many in between who tend to the radical journey of our lifetime, a passage that Brian Swimme describes in this way: “The journey is from seeing Earth as Resources to Relatives.”

What a blessing to be related to YOU! As brothers and sisters, how might we “amplify life’s hum” together through the ministry and service of spiritual direction?

In an April 29, 2010 National Catholic Reporter article, "Connecting With God While At Work," Tom Gallagher questions, "... is it possible to foster an employee’s spiritual life during work hours? And is this a good thing? Or is it better for employees to compartmentalize their spiritual life to weekend services and to keep that part of their person out of the workplace?"

An important question to ask, to value, and to potentially implement, read how Ascension Health System is responding. Teasers from the full article include:

Ascension Health System is the largest Catholic health system in the United States, with 72 hospitals in 20 states, over $14 billion in operating revenue, 113,000 employees (called “associates”), almost $900 million in care for the poor and community benefit in 2009, and a $6 billion endowment.

“Everyone has a spirit and we want people to bring their whole person, including their spirit, to work,” said [Lynn] Tate. “We tell new employees at orientation to bring their whole spirit to work.” 

If employees cannot get to the spirituality center, [Jack] Logue takes programming to the hospital staff and departments on topics like de-stressing, meditation and contemplation. Lunch is often an opportune time for staff to find peacefulness, quietude and rest at the center.

“It’s our view that patients get better care if the employees have a better relationship with God,” said Logue. The religious makeup of the employees reflects the local community, heavily Protestant, specifically Baptist, with Catholics making up approximately 20 percent of the staff. While authentically Catholic, the spirituality center serves the entire hospital staff.

Click to read the entire article, "Connecting With God While At Work," by Tom Gallagher.

Please make a comment to share your experience and thoughts about integrating health care and spirituality into your organizational culture.

SDI educational events in San Francisco, California, April 8, 2010:
The “Artist and Musician Celebration” following “Thomas Merton: Pilgrim and Prophet of Peace – A Reader’s Theater” performance by David Hoover was juicy and full of life!

With more than twenty-five authors and musicians visiting and signing books, our international learning community flings gifts into the world. SDI Authors and musicians signing books and CDs included: 

Dr. Wilkie W. Au, PhD; Dr. Jeannette A. Bakke; Rev. Canon Peter W. Ball; Rev. William A. Barry, SJ, PhD; Betsey Desloge Beckman; Ms. Pegge Bernecker; Mary Ann Brussat; Richard Bruxvoort Colligan; Ms. Trish Bruxvoort Colligan; The Rev. Mary C.  Earle; Dr. Wil Hernandez; Mrs. Kristen J. Hobby, MASD; Rev. Dr. Anne M. Ierardi; Ms. Diane G. H.  Kilmer; Ms. Colette G. Lafia; Dr. Megan McKenna; Mary P. Millerd, MATS; Dr. Susan S.  Phillips, PhD; Ms. Sheila M. Pritchard; Susan Rakoczy, IHM; Patricia V. Roberts, MA, MRE; Hillevi Ruumet, PhD; Alexander J. Shaia, PhD; Christine V. Paintner, PhD; Rev. Jane E. Vennard, MDiv; Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit.

Delight in these images!

Perusing hundreds of resources in the SDI conference bookstore.

Authors ring the room to greet and meet everyone!

 

Dr. Wilkie Au personalizes a book; authors visit and connect.

Sharing stories with Spiritual Directors International staff (And receiving copies of Presence journal and Listen: A Seeker's Resource for Spiritual Direction.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spiritual Directors International editor, Pegge Bernecker, announces the new SDI imprint book, Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing The Arts to Spiritual Direction to 600 attendees, inviting everyone to celebrate the amazing SDI learning community as the evening continues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Liz Ellmann, SDI executive director, thanks David Hoover for his stunning perfomance of “Thomas Merton: Pilgrim and Prophet of Peace – A Reader’s Theater.”

Thank you to "Spirituality & Practice," our Thursday evening sponsor, the phenomenal conference bookstore, David Hoover, authors and musicians, and everyone who participated!

Walking the Peace Path near the Spiritual Directors International home office, Jan Thurston told her story of being in the second formation class for spiritual directors in training at Mercy Center in Burlingame, California, USA. Jan explained that Donald Schell, who served on the founding Coordinating Council of SDI, was her spiritual director more than twenty years ago. Twenty-some-odd-years-later, Jan now serves as a spiritual director and creative retreat center director for Stillpoint Lodge and Retreat Center in Halibut Cove, Alaska.

Jan is pictured here admiring the service berry tree that Spiritual Directors International planted in 2007, after the educational events in Vancouver, British Columbia. Spiritual Directors International loves it when members visit! Especially during this 20th anniversary year, stop by and walk the Peace Path with us. We want to show you the service berry tree that SDI gave the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace with a grateful heart. 

On the same weekend that Karen Armstong came to Washington state to celebrate Seattle as the first United States city to sign the Charter for Compassion, Spiritual Directors International participated in the new commitment by Bastyr University to cultivate compassion in medical students through teaching contemplative practices.

Professors Joel and Michelle Levey, Brad Lichtenstein, and Leanna Standish taught neuroscience, meditation, and contemplative disciplines by sharing their research and experiences with eager and engaged medical students. The course was oversubscribed, demonstrating an awe-inspiring interest in integrating Western medicine, neuroscience, naturopathy, and contemplative practices in the service of health and healing.

Please join me in praying for and blessing the next generation of contemplative healers as they continue to learn meditation, contemplation, and neuroscience.

Below is a picture of Karen Armstrong and Sky (aka David Enron) who participated in the Seattle signing of the Charter for Compassion. The signing coincides with the two year anniversary of the Seeds of Compassion conference which included  visits by the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and many others. Hundreds of Spiritual Directors International volunteers were involved in the Seeds of Compassion programs, and SDI hosted a contemplative listening space during the Seeds of Compassion, in April 2008, providing a multifaith, compassionate, listening presence. Karen Armstrong launched the Charter for Compassion just before attending via videoconferencing, the Parliament of the World's Religions where dozens of spiritual directors taught contemplative practices and provided a compassionate listening presence in Melbourne, Australia, December 2009. 

Add your comments about how you are cultivating compassion through contemplative practices...

Interested in how spiritual direction might be helpful with health care? Follow this link to a Boston Globe article.

The international learning community of Spiritual Directors International believes that the practice of spiritual direction should lead to ways of being and acting in favor of justice, peace, and the integrity of creation.
As spiritual companions, we are concerned with peace, justice, and integrity of all creation. Because we are all interconnected, Spiritual Directors International hopes to be a model for good stewardship and awareness that every action ripples into the greater universe.

Earth Day, 2010
Spiritual Directors International shares our commitment to continually going green. Ways we embrace this responsibility include:

• Reflect on the implications of a cosmological perspective for the practice of spiritual direction, encouraging and encourage this reflection in Spiritual Directors International programs (e.g. Educational events, Leadership Institutes, teleconferences) and publications (e.g. Web site, Presence, Connections, Listen and books published under the Spiritual Directors International imprint). Some recent examples:

• Educational events: provide stainless steel water bottles to participants, ecologically responsible tote bags, workshop presenter handouts online, events brochure only available online.
• Offer teleconferences, online learning opportunities and resources
• Print publications with a Forest Stewardship Council certified press
• Shift Connections, the official newsletter of SDI to an online only version
• Encourage a working team that can telecommute and meet in a "virtual conference room" using the telephone, e-mail, and Internet
• Plant trees where educational events and pilgrimages occur

• Include the natural world, both in its beauty and in its diminishment, in our practices of prayer and meditation on a personal level and in Spiritual Directors International meetings and programs.

• Be conscious of the environmental impact of the services and goods which Spiritual Directors International uses and the events which it sponsors.

The SDI Coordinating Council commits to these values, and conducts a periodic environmental audit of Spiritual Directors International practices and activities and the impact they have on the environment.

Click to read the SDI Coordinating Council pledge
Click to learn about SDI "Going Blue and Green!"

Twenty years ago, Mary Ann Scofield, RSM, and four other spiritual directors founded Spiritual Directors International.

During the "Gratefulness: The Heart of Spiritual Direction" 2010 educational events, participants listened to her humorous memories from the founding story, together with the real experience of saying "yes" to something ... and the unexpected events that subsequently occur! The video shares the story, in her words.

 

 

Do you remember the early days? When did you become a member of Spiritual Directors International?

Thirty-six contemplative retreatants wandered the serene landscape of Mercy Center in Burlingame, California, allowing the SDI educational events to slowly seep into their souls. Joe McHugh, SJ encouraged the contemplatives on retreat to metophorically meander through their experience of the conference, men's institute, health care institute, and leadership institute. Catherine Regan led meditations, encouraging silence and contemplation. Mary Ann Scofield, RSM offered questions and scripture texts to support retreatants in identifying ways to grow closer to God by reflecting on their experience. On Wednesday evening, retreatants lit candles and meditatively walked through the chapel, over a threshold, toward a new beginning. The beautiful evening ritual, pictured above, concluded by singing one of the songs from the conference while giving and receiving candlelight from one another.  

You are the heart.
You are the hands.
You are the voice of Spirit on Earth.
And who you are,
and all you do,
Is a blessing to the world.

Thank you Richard and Trish Bruxvoort Colligan for sharing Karen Drucker's contemplative music with the SDI community during and after the conference. Your music lives on...

Thank you Catherine Regan, PhD; Mary Ann Scofield, RSM; and Joe McHugh, SJ for facilitating a beautiful and contemplative retreat. Many thanks to the gracious staff at Mercy Center in Burlingame for collaborating with SDI for the retreat, especially Colleen Shannon Soracco, and Suzanne Buckley, Director of Mercy Center. 

Spiritual Directors International returns to its roots for the April 2010 Coordinating Council meeting.

 
The Coordinating Council of Spiritual Directors International is the governing body of the Spiritual Directors International not-for-profit, charitable organization. With the role comes fiduciary, visionary, strategic planning, policy-setting, and personnel oversight responsibilities.
 
Planting Trees
The Spiritual Directors International Coordinating Council blessed an oak tree during the SDI twentieth anniversary celebration at "Gratefulness: The Heart of Spiritual Care" in San Francisco, California, USA.

The oak tree will be planted on Thursday during the educational events Spiritual Directors International contemplative retreat at Mercy Center, where Spiritual Directors International began twenty years ago.

To learn who serves on the current Coordinating Council, visit the "Servant Leaders" pages of the SDI Web site. Click here to read Coordinating Council.

My grateful heart beats with a worldwide rhythm of thanks for thousands of people – including YOU - who dreamed, formed, and fostered Spiritual Directors International. Be still and listen to your heartbeat as six hundred kinfolk from six continents gather in San Francisco to celebrate twenty years of kinship during Gratefulness: the Heart of Spiritual Care.

Tune into the rhythm expressed eloquently by Rev. Tilden Edwards, “At the first gathering that led to the formation of Spiritual Directors International twenty years ago, I could not have envisioned the explosive growth and breadth of membership and vision that Spiritual Directors International has experienced. It has become one of the most significant and forward-looking ecumenical and multi-faith spiritual organizations in the world today. Not only does it serve the ongoing education and mutual support of spiritual directors, but it has been connected with the explosive growth of contemplative re-awakening over the same period of time, which offers a unifying ground for the spiritual life beneath many lines of theological interpretation. I’m deeply grateful to God and to the wonderful staff and councils of Spiritual Directors International over the years for the many gifts that have flowed through Spiritual Directors International for the world’s spiritual well being.”

Place your hand on your tender and strong heart, and listen to these words from Sister Joyce Rupp, OSM, “Just as a plant cannot thrive without sunlight, water, and good soil, so I could not thrive without the kinship and support I receive from other spiritual guides. Spiritual Directors International has provided many opportunities for this kinship and is a marvelous help for those of us privileged to accompany others on their journey with the Holy One.”

My grateful heart beats with a worldwide rhythm of thanks for YOU. Humbled and ecstatic, we gather in April prayerfully, virtually, and in person to celebrate YOU, the heart of Spiritual Directors International.

If you would like to send a Gratefulness-gram, expressing your grateful heart for the ministry and service of spiritual direction and for Spiritual Directors International during its twentieth anniversary, simply e-mail 30 words and a digital picture of your radiant, grateful face to membership@sdiworld.org. You may also add comments to this blog entry by choosing to Reply. Your comments are always welcome!

Are you the type of guy who is curious about a men's retreat? Or, maybe you have a husband, son, father, or male friend who seeks reflective time to explore deeper significance and meaning in life.

Describing a recent men's retreat led by Spiritual Directors International member, James Neppl, The St. Cloud Times offers a glimpse into the leadership and thoughts of participants through the article, "Retreat Gives Men Time for Reflection" by Frank Lee, March 28, 2010.

 

Neppl, who designed a reflective retreat aimed at life "balance" is interviewed along with participants. Lee writes:

"Neppl said that when men usually get together, they make small talk about hunting, fishing, weather, sports and other “safe” topics. "We normally, as men, don’t do a lot of self-care, and we, as men, don’t normally sit around and talk about the softer things of love and relationships and our spirituality, and so for them just to get there is a major step,” said Neppl, retreat facilitator. ...The first thing I tell the guys is that nobody is going to make you do anything that you don’t want to do, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, that there is a level of trust here, and that what’s said here stays here. ...And you can just feel the guys relax.”"

"Neppl said finding one’s “spiritual center” is an essential part of the balance in a person’s life. He implored the men at the retreat on St. John’s campus to find God “in the midst of the chaos.”"

One participant says, "I learned that we need to make decisions, we need a time for discernment, we need to take pause, think about it and measure our reaction, and those are things that I think will help me in both my personal life and my business."

Another shares, “I guess I was somewhat reserved, having never done a retreat of any kind before,” he said. “What I was attracted to about the retreat was it was for ‘overly busy men’ — they mentioned the word ‘chaotic’ — and those words spoke to me.”

Neppl plans to offer additional retreats, and for the past several years has worked with other SDI members to provide leadership for the men's retreats offered as a part of the annual educational events.

Links

• To read the complete article by Frank Lee, click: "Retreat Gives Men Time for Reflection"
  
  
• A Men's Institute will be offered April 11-12, 2010 in San Francisco, California, USA during the SDI educational events. Click to learn about "Becoming Soulful Men: Learn to be Grateful and Live with the Questions" with Don Bisson, FMS, DMin.

Photo credit: Kimm Anderson, kanderson [at] stcloudtimes.com

When we travel to a conference or educational event, we invest our time, energy, and resources into the experience. We want to enter as fully as possible into new learning, insights, connections, and engagement with our deepest self and those who gather in an international learning community. We want to grow in gratefulness for the people and places we encounter. The reality is, when we attend something, we really tend our life.
We will each do this in our own way—as introverts, extroverts, with our age, abilities, current life responsibilities, commitments, and dreams. When we show up and tend to the present time, we cultivate gratefulness.

To prepare for "Gratefulness: The Heart of Spiritual Direction" educational events, review these tips, and please, add your thoughts and ideas to the comments section.

Preparation

• Dress for comfort: Layer clothing so you can adapt to room temperatures that may be too warm, or too cool. Comfortable shoes make exploration fun!
• Let people at home know that you may not be as available as usual. Ask for their support so you can tend your time well.
• Set an away message on your cellular phone or an auto-reply on your e-mail. This will let people know they may not receive an immediate response from you.
• Bring your business cards or brochures for the community share tables, and to share with people you meet.
• Consider bringing your own snacks—trail mix, fruit, etc.
• Add ibuprofen, Vitamin C, or other items that restore you after travel and potential fatigue.
• Check out the area where the conference is located—is there somewhere you want to make sure to visit?
• Who are the people or groups you may want to meet with face-to-face? Contact them and schedule a time before you arrive at the event. When the actual event begins, time moves swiftly.
• Bring a pair of earplugs. A good night sleep is restorative, and often our dreams speak to us. When we are in a hotel room or unfamiliar home, with different sounds, or a roommate, a simple pair of earplugs can make all the difference in a good night of sleep.
• Reflect on your inner intention for attending, and give yourself permission to be surprised, challenged, and inspired.

Arrival

• Orientate yourself, and review the map in your event folder. Learn where you can easily find the washrooms, your workshops, bookstore, meditation room (for a quiet moment or more), and the coffee, tea, water…
• Be willing to meet new people, and stretch beyond your usual comfort zone.
• If--or when--you discover you forgot something at home, notice how you respond. Is there a learning of gentleness and being grateful for the willingness to live without it for a few days. Of course if it is an essential medication, that’s one thing. But if it’s left behind, what does the absence invite in you?
• Say “yes” to tend to your life in a new place.

Conference Time — includes plenary sessions, workshops, exhibits, meals, etc.

• Each morning (or prior evening) review your schedule for the day. Notice what grabs your attention, and if you are inspired to make any adaptations to honor your own learning and ability to be present.
• Bring your favorite pen, journal, paper.
• Wear your nametag.
• Turn your cellular phone off, or set it to vibrate during plenary sessions and workshops.
• Tend to the present as fully as possible—this means to people, presenters, prayer, yourself.
• Be willing to introduce yourself to others—in workshops, waiting lines, in plenary sessions.
• Attend the plenary sessions—this will be common ground for conversations and integration of the overall event theme.
• Arrive to your sessions a little early if you want a good seat.
• Make ongoing notes about who you meet, and how to connect. By the time you return home, you will not remember.
• Create an ongoing list of follow-up actions for yourself.
• Talk to exhibitors—leave your business card if you want to connect. Make notes on the cards or brochures you gather.
• Take breaks—you know yourself. You do not have to do everything.
• Be kind to yourself, and everyone around you.
• Meet and connect with at least one new person each day.
• Learn something new.
• Say thank you.

Return

• Reflect on your time. What did you cultivate—with people, ideas, organizations, learning, within yourself?
• What key thoughts, experiences, insights, or actions ripple within you? Write them in your journal or conference notes.
• Are there action items that need follow-up upon your return to your home or workplace? Make a list, and plan to follow-through.
• What do you want to share with your colleagues, local community, family or friends? Create a plan to do this.
• Complete the conference evaluation—your voice is important, and will contribute to future events.

March 24, 2010: A Ministry of Listening: Mercy Sister reflects on her 30 Years in the Art of Spiritual Direction by Liz Dossa, published by Catholic San Francisco online edition.

 

SDI celebrates this powerful testimonial to the ministry of spiritual direction, and Spiritual Directors International founding member Mary Ann Scofield, RSM.

 

Please read the entire online article. It's excellent. A few seeds to picque your interest:

"One of the graces Sister Scofield brings to her work is intense listening and gentle questioning. This focused and delicate work is the art of spiritual direction, or spiritual companioning, an art which she has practiced and taught for 30 years at Mercy Center and all over the world."

“Tell me about the experience,” Sister Scofield responded. “What exactly happens?” “I just feel that God is very near and loving me,” the man responded. “But, in the middle of the night? Am I supposed to do something?”

"The heart of the spiritual accompaniment is listening to the story,” she has said. “Everyone has a story to tell. It takes patience, discipline, and can make us feel vulnerable, to listen to the whole story.” A person needs to feel a call from God to become a spiritual director, but also needs a solid theological and intellectual foundation. Spiritual directors in training also have intensive formation which includes supervised practice with directees.

"[In 1990] Sister Scofield became the executive director of the fledgling Spiritual Directors International, and Sister Ruffing was on the first coordinating council. The group drew together people from training programs all over the world. Sister Scofield felt the international dimension was especially important. “We wanted to be of service to spiritual directors wherever they were,” she said."

Links
Article: A Ministry of Listening: Mercy Sister reflects on her 30 Years in the Art of Spiritual Direction by Liz Dossa

Watch SDI YouTube video: "Spiritual Directors International learns from Mary Ann Scofield, RSM"

Video: "Mercy Sister on her 60th jubilee: "The thirst for God is palpable"

Book: Sacred Is the Call: The Transformational Work of Spiritual Direction Programs for Personal and Professional Growth

Plenary keynote, Mary Ann Scofield, RSM, during San Francisco educational events: Gratefulness: The Heart of Spiritual Care, April 8-12, 2010

March 2010
A valuable contribution to spirituality and health care with new book, Making Health Care Whole: Integrating Spirituality into Patient Care by Christina Puchalski, MD and Betty Ferrell, RN, PhD.

The field of palliative care has experienced a surge in interest in spirituality as an important aspect of caring for seriously ill and dying patients. While spirituality has been generally recognized as an essential dimension of palliative care, uniformity of spiritual care practice has been lacking across health care settings.

In 2009, more than forty spiritual and palliative care experts served on a national consensus conference committee to improve the quality of spiritual care at the end-of-life. Those who gathered included Spiritual Directors International executive director Liz Budd Ellmann, MDiv; and members Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD; Carolyn Jacobs, MSW, PhD; Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN, FAAN; and Sharon Stanton, MS, BSN, RN, Together they discussed guidelines for incorporating spirituality into palliative care. Their consensus findings form the basis of Making Health Care Whole.

This important new resource provides much-needed definitions and charts a common language for addressing spiritual care across the disciplines of medicine, nursing, social work, chaplaincy, psychology, and other groups. It presents models of spiritual care that are broad and inclusive, and provides tools for screening, assessment, care planning, and interventions.

Both a scholarly review and a practical resource with specific recommendations to improve spiritual care in clinical practice, Making Health Care Whole will benefit hospices and palliative care programs in hospitals, home care services, and long-term care services. It will be a valuable addition to the curriculum at seminaries, schools of theology, spiritual direction programs, and medical and nursing schools.

Praise
"This book is an important advance in understanding the relevance of spirituality in health care, particularly in palliative care. It is a lucid exposition into how we bring respect, wisdom, and compassion into caring for those who are seriously ill and those who are facing death."
-Joan Halifax, founder, the Upaya Institute
 
Links

• Click to see additional resources for "Spiritual Direction and Health Care"
• Read the October 9, 2009, blog post describing the national concensus conference, "New guidelines include value of spirituality at the end-of-life"
• April 12, 2010: SDI Spirituality and Health Care Institute in San Francisco, California, USA, with keynote Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN
• Order the new book, Making Health Care Whole: Integrating Spirituality into Patient Care