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

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

 

 

Spiritual Directors International is proud to announce the newest book in the SDI Imprint series:

Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction (A Spiritual Directors International Book by Betsey Beckman and Christine Valters Paintner, 2010.

Book Description
This new resource is designed to help spiritual directors and others use expressive arts in the context of spiritual direction. It is the latest book in the unique SDI series, designed for spiritual directors, but also useful for clergy, therapists, and spiritual formation and religious education specialists.

Reviews

• "... [A]n inspiring and regenerating piece of work that teaches the intrinsic significance of the arts and the value of engaging body, mind and spirit in creative pursuit of awakening the Holy that resides within." --Rebecca Bradburn Langer, D Min, Adjunct Faculty, San Francisco Theological Seminary Program in Christian Spirituality, spiritual director, pastor, and teacher of supervisors in "Together In The Mystery" with Dr. Maria Tattu Bowen.

• "Christine Valters Paintner and Betsey Beckman showcase the gifts of storytelling, imagination, dance, visual art, music, movement, poetry and presence. Through a gentle weaving of their insightful work, with reflections from workshop participants and the community of spiritual directors, the authors prepare a dazzling palette for discovery and deepening." -- Marianne Hieb, RSM, ATR, MFA, DMin, Director of Lourdes Wellness Spirituality Program, and author of Inner Journeying through Art-Journaling.

• "I put this at the top of the list as required reading for spiritual directors and spiritual formation classes. The clear, foundational writing introduces 'art in service to the soul.' Brimming with multiple art forms, we get to hear the voices of [spiritual] directors and [spiritual] directees who are profoundly affected by the arts. This book is the next best thing to learning directly from such wise, inspiring teachers." -- Cynthia Winton-Henry, cofounder of InterPlay®, author of Dance--A Sacred Art, and What the Body Wants.

• "Replete with exercises, examples, stories, and resources, Awakening the Creative Spirit offers the most comprehensive guide to date on how to develop the `spark of divine creativity' embedded in us all. Those of us engaged in teaching the art of spiritual direction will find in it a beautiful introduction to the arts as the `language of the soul.'" --Mary Rose Bumpus, RSM, PhD, Assistant Professor of Spirituality, School of Theology and Ministry Seattle University.

• "We have been far too left-brained, verbal, and linear in our attempts to transform and mature actual people--intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. Here we have two women filling the tragic gap--and beautifully so! Spiritual direction is the growing edge of ministry today and this excellent book will surely direct that growth." -- Father Richard Rohr, OFM

• "Word, image, music, dance: this book provides a rich vocabulary for entering more deeply into conversation and communion with the One who gives us the arts as path to knowing God." -- Jan Richardson, artist and author, In Wisdom's Path: Discovering the Sacred in Every Season.

Please share your review about Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction (A Spiritual Directors International Book) by adding a comment to this blog.

Click here to learn about additional titles in the SDI imprint series.

 

 Would you like to...

• Learn and meditate in places holy to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
• Walk in the steps of our past to discover fuller dimensions of our present
• Honor Place, Celebrate Presence, Become More Fully Alive

Join Guides: Pastor Don Mackenzie, Rabbi Ted Falcon, Sheikh Jamal Rahman (The Interfaith Amigos)
Spiritual Directors International Host: Rev. Terry Moran
Local Host: Canon Iyad Qumri, Christian Palestinian Guide

Opportunity to Walk as Interfaith Spiritual Companions
Whether this is your first time to Israel and Palestine or you have visited many times, this pilgrimage is unique. Our pilgrimage guides and hosts bring sacred gifts for telling stories about spiritual companionship, and we are blessed with their abilities to speak many languages (The pilgrimage will be conducted in English, and our guides also speak Arabic, French, Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish). We will walk slowly through the streets of Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Safed, the home of Jewish mystics. We will journey to the Dead Sea and have the option to swim — or really float — and benefit from the healing properties of Dead Sea mud. We will journey to the Mount of Beatitudes and Korazim for meditation and prayer.

Click here for full details, costs, FAQ, schedule, registration details, and more. 

 

 

“I see you,” Jake says to the tall, blue-skinned, native woman, Neytiri, in the futuristic, sci-fi epic movie Avatar. The greeting implies a connection beyond seeing with only the eyes. Much like the Indian Sanskrit greeting, “Namasté” which means “I bow reverentially to you,” the phrase “I see you” is used throughout the film to communicate a deep respect for the whole being. Not only does Jake learn to truly see Neytiri, but he also learns that deep-seeing leads to revering the interconnectedness in all of life.

My favorite scene involves Jake visiting the Tree of Souls. As a former Marine who is a wheelchair user, Jake becomes more and more involved with Neytiri and the plight of her people. He receives encouragement from Grace, a scientist who works on the “Avatar” project. In the film, he is forced to choose between following corporate orders to destroy a forest or helping the native Na'vi people. At a loss for how to help, he visits the Tree of Souls in the faraway world of Pandora, seeking connection and to be seen as his true self. It’s such an uncharacteristically Marine and corporate male thing to do: Jake the hero pleads for spiritual guidance from a tree and from a strong native woman, Neytiri. I loved it! 

Australia member Jack Stuart recently sent me his thoughts about the film, “In light of Marysville and Black Saturday, I found Avatar a fascinating movie that has a strong element of caring for our planet and at times calls for a contemplative approach to our living. I'm not too sure if the makers realised this. [Carl] Jung said that often we are not aware initially of the import of what we say or do.”

In spiritual direction, we listen with more than our ears. We listen with our hearts for the whole being of the people we companion. We offer the opportunity to be seen and to be heard.

What a privilege to live in a time when the ministry of spiritual direction is “being seen” by more and more people, thanks to helpful media coverage like the brand new PBS Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly television program. Like Jake, people want to learn about spirituality and be truly seen and heard. Thank you for helping people awaken to the connections among seeing, listening, and tending the sacred in all of life.