Member Suzanne Dunbar writes from Australia:

The fires have been truly horrific, and it is a national tragedy. The Prime Minister has declared a national day of mourning. At the same time as the fires, there have been devastating floods in Queensland! So the bottom half of the country is inflames and the top half under water. We live in a wild land. It is a constant reminder of the fragilty of life and how we must attend it with care.

Please keep the people of Australia in your prayers.

The new chair of the North American Spiritual Care Collaborative, David A. Lichter, DMin, stopped by the Spiritual Directors International exhibition booth during the Spiritual Care Summit in Orlando, Florida, USA. David is a champion for spiritual direction. Carol Ludwig and David shared ideas and mutual encouragement for integrating spiritual direction into health care.

Spiritual Directors International participated in the Spiritual Care Summit gathering of North American chaplains. The chair of the summit, George Grant, PhD, visited the Spiritual Directors International booth and is pictured with Lisa Irish (in the background, Bobbi Breitman and Carol Ludwig). Member Bobbi Wright, a spiritual director and a chaplain, writes about the thread that links spiritual direction and chaplaincy in the Christian tradition:

The connection between chaplaincy and spiritual direction is that of holy listening. Listening is one of the most important gifts that we can give the each other. Holy listening entails silencing all noise and interruptions around us and centering in on the other. It involves also bringing the Holy One into the moment. We listen and talk differently when someone else is listening. In our holy silence, we not only listen to ourselves, but also to the Other. As we practice this in our daily lives, we can listen this way with anyone we encounter. What a powerful message this sends. We are indeed blessed with God-given goodness and beauty of the gift of listening.

Earl Johnson, director of the Red Cross Spiritual Care Response Team, and Debi Hall offered training for people interested in serving in the event of disasters. Spiritual direction is one way of offering self-care to the spiritual care providers and possibly with families of disaster victims. Spiritual Directors International is exploring ways to offer spiritual care as part of the collaborative Red Cross network.