In 2008, several participants in the annual Spiritual Directors International events in Washington, DC, convened the first meeting of the Spiritual Directors of Color Network. The network has continued to grow, and now includes people of color from throughout the African diaspora, including the United States, Nigeria, Cameroon, and South Africa, as well as Latin America, India, and Korea. The network is hosting its first international teleconference on Saturday, July 11, 2009, at 10 AM EDST. If you are a person of color in the ministry and practice of spiritual direction and would like to be on the call, contact Therese Taylor-Stinson at taylorstinson[at]earthlink[dot]net.

 

The Rev. Dr. Rebecca Smith Ritchey wrote in response to the June Membership Moments:

My dissertation is finished and approved! Graduation was held at San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, California, USA, on May 23, 2009 and it helped make the completion of the Doctor of Ministry Degree officially real! Also there was a graduate receiving his PhD in Spirituality at SFTS, who is from Korea. We discovered that we were together and chatted at the Spiritual Directors International annual events in Washington, DC last year. Talk about "syncronicity"

Congratulations to Rebecca and to all the people graduating from ministry programs and receiving certificates of completion from spiritual director formation programs.

“Are you laughing enough?” my doctor asked me during my annual physical exam. After feeling my pulse and listening to my lungs, she continued, “People in helping roles need to laugh a lot, especially ministers.” She looked me straight in the eyes, “So I am giving you a prescription to laugh at least fifteen minutes every day. It’s what you need to stay healthy.” I smiled in agreement before opening my mouth to say, “Ahhh.”

When I told Sister Anna Rourke, CSJP my doctor’s prescription, Anna laughed aloud with delight. In her cheerful Irish brogue Anna said, “It is God’s greatest blessing to laugh. It’s a way of giving it all to God, a way of trusting deeply.” As spiritual directors, we need to nurture a light heartedness in ourselves and in each other, particularly during difficult times. Perhaps we also need to encourage the people we spiritually companion to laugh more often. 

Knock, knock. Who’s there? Anna. Anna who? Anna body know some more jokes?