Friday Conference Workshops

Note: The percent (%) figures following workshop descriptions indicate the relative percentage of presentation, discussion, and experiential activity.

FRIDAY, MARCH 28, WORKSHOPS
1.5 HOURS (CHOOSE TWO AND ONE ALTERNATIVE)

F1. Being Present to Silence

Explore the spiritual director’s role as a directee moves into the early stages of silence and contemplative prayer. Study and experience the ways people pray and the role of a spiritual director in accompanying the inevitable changes that occur. A generous provision for personal silence and shared reflection will be included. 33%, 33%, 33%.

Peter Ball, from Ramsbury, England, is a spiritual director, retreat leader, and author of Introducing Spiritual Direction and Anglican Spiritual Direction. Following work at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London, he now ministers in local Anglican parishes.

F2. Spiritual Rx: How to Find Your Spiritual Practice

Good spiritual practices address what is happening in our lives. Learn how to select practices based on the qualities you want to enhance and the tendencies you want to counter or balance. Put together a set of practices—simple activities you make up as you go along—gleaned from the world’s religions and the Indiana Jones School of Spirituality. 40%, 40%, 20%.

Mary Ann Brussat is an interfaith minister, co-director of SpiritualityandPractice.com and the Spiritual Literacy Project for multi-faith practice groups. She is co-author of Spiritual Literacy and Spiritual Rx and a reviewer of books, audios, and films. She lives in New York, USA.

F3. Discernment: Key to the Art of Supervision

Does the art of supervision emerge from a contemplative stance? Discover how supervision fosters ongoing co-discernment within the spiritual director, honors God’s movement within the spiritual director and directee, and supports the development of the spiritual director’s unique gifts and skills. Bring spiritual direction or supervision experiences to use in our reflective group process and discussion. 50%, 25%, 25%.

Carolynne Ervin, MA, coordinates the spiritual direction practicum in the holistic spirituality master’s program at Chestnut Hill College in Pennsylvania, USA. She has ministered for 25 years in spiritual direction, training, and supervision of spiritual directors.

F4. Presence in our Body: The Felt Sense and Sacredness of Body Wisdom

Is bringing a sense of the sacred fully into our body a valuable practice? Yes! Learn to ground spiritual experience by accessing your body’s wisdom. Practice applications you can use personally and with your directees as we embody the presence of the sacred through tools from focusing, neurobiology, and somatic psychology. 25%, 25%, 50%.

Suzanne Fageol, MDiv, spiritual director, teaches in the Lorian Center for Incarnational Spirituality spiritual direction program, Washington, USA, and serves on the adjunct faculty for the Claritas Institute for Interspiritual Mentoring. She also is a craniosacral bodywork therapist and Episcopal priest.

Elizabeth Fowler, MD, is a teacher and spiritual director in the Lorian Center for Incarnational Spirituality spiritual direction program, Washington, USA. She also is a physician, life coach, and workshop leader.

F5. Hospitality: The Heart of Spiritual Direction

“The Lord appeared to Abraham, and he looked up and saw three men” (Genesis 18:1-2). Abraham and Sarah extended hospitality to God’s emissaries. How do we welcome God into our lives and into our spiritual direction relationships? We will explore ways to invite God, directees, and the material they bring into the home of our hearts. 40%, 30%, 30%.

Leslie A. Hay, DMin, is a spiritual director, teacher, writer, and active supporter of ongoing education and nourishment of other spiritual directors. She is the author of Hospitality: The Heart of Spiritual Direction and lives in Texas, USA.

F6. Receptivity and Presence: Creative Movement between Contemplative and Clinical Attentiveness

Presence is deepened by our own ease in shifting attention from the clinical to contemplative dimensions during a spiritual direction session. Hear personal accounts of the transition from clinician to spiritual director and case scenarios that demonstrate the convergence—and divergence—of clinical and contemplative dimensions. Everyone will be invited to share experiences of this creative interplay. 70%, 30%, 0%.

Vivienne Joyce, SC, NCPsyA, is a psychoanalyst and a spiritual director, clinical consultant, supervisor, and instructor in the spiritual direction program at Fordham University Graduate School of Religion, New York, USA.

Robert J. Giugliano, PhD, is a psychologist, spiritual director, and adjunct faculty member at Fordham University Graduate School of Religion, New York, USA.

F7. Being Present to the Cosmos

Want to deepen your presence to the cosmos? Discover the three cosmic principles of differentiation, autopoesis (self-organization), and communion within and around you. Engage in exploring how these principles are meant to be embodied in each of us as human earthlings and cosmic beings. Learn how they enhance the spiritual companionship dynamic. 40%, 30%, 30%.

Dr. Alexandra Kovats, CSJP, is an adjunct professor in spirituality at The School of Theology and Ministry, Seattle University, USA, spiritual director, and “prayershop” and retreat facilitator in the United States, Canada, and beyond.

F8. Being Present with Generation X

Everyone holds the potential for a spiritually driven life, and Generation X is no exception. Many in this age demographic are attracted to spiritual direction, seeking spiritual experience, meaning, nonhierarchical relationships, and sacred space. Are you prepared to be present with Generation X? 40%, 40%, 20%.

Karen Kuchan, PhD, lives in California, USA, teaches at Pecos Benedictine School for Spiritual Direction, and authored Visio Divina: A New Prayer Practice for Encounters with God.

F9. Put On Your Own Oxygen Mask First!

How are you doing? Self-care for the spiritual director or companion is crucial. Together we will encourage honest self-reflection, explore the symptoms and path leading to burnout, and make useful suggestions for the repair and recovery of a good, healthy life. 40%, 35%, 25%.

Sallie Latkovich, CSJ, is professor at the Blessed Edmund Rice School for Pastoral Ministry and codirector of its training for spiritual directors program in Florida, USA.

F10. Discovering Daily the Life in Our Life

For what today am I grateful? For what today am I not so grateful? Ask yourself these two questions, and experience how this daily examen can help you fully receive the life from each day. With practice, it can heal hurts, aid in discerning the pattern of God’s will, help support others (especially family and children), and focus key movements in the spiritual direction relationship. 50%, 20%, 30%.

Matthew Linn, SJ, MDiv, MA, is the author (with Dennis and Sheila Linn) of 21 books and a teacher in Sacred Ground spiritual direction program, Minnesota, USA.

F11. Presence to Experiences of Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse is a deep spiritual wound. Being present to this experience in another is painful, difficult, and often avoided. In order to be contemplatively and effectively present to directees, we need to learn strategies, support, and self-care. Learn how you can be present with this painful wound in those you companion. 40%, 30%, 30%.

Carol Mitchell, PhD, is a spiritual director with a background in clinical psychology. She works at the Franciscan Center in Florida, USA, and has extensive experience with sexual abuse survivors.

F12. Retreats in Daily Life: A Proven Path to Presence

Presence starts with being grounded in being. A directed retreat in daily life is a practical way for a spiritual director to seed a lifelong, life-giving encounter with the Sacred. Learn why this type of retreat has appealed to more than 1000 people in the Washington, DC, area, and experience how you can adapt it to your particular setting, congregation, institution, or faith community. 50%, 10%, 40%.

Natalie Ganley and Marilyn Merikangas are spiritual directors at the Jesuit Center for Spirituality at Holy Trinity Church in Washington, DC, USA. Each has given directed retreats in daily life for eighteen years.

F13. Spiritual Awareness and Wisdom in Zen: Exploring the Nexus of Paradox and Harmony

Can the simplicity and spirituality of the “Arts of Zen” help us be more present in the multi-faith and multi-cultural contexts of the West and the East? Yes. Together we will explore and experience the paradox and harmony in Zen and learn ways to grow beyond old cultural barriers into new areas of understanding. 33%, 30%, 37%.

Rev. Dr. Masaaki F. Shibano, MTh, DMin, DASD, is pastor of the United Church of Christ in Japan, teacher of spirituality in the West and East, and spiritual director of the Institute of Spiritual Direction, Japan.

F14. The Transforming Presence on the Margins

How can our relationships with people on the margins help form us? How does our time with them foster contemplative awareness and interior freedom? We will explore what happens when we truly listen to their stories and receive their gift of transformation. 33%, 33%, 33%.

Sharon Browning, JD, spiritual director, works with Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA-based Just Listening Project, which concentrates on simply being present to people on the social margins. She is an attorney and former executive director of Philadelphia VIP Pro Bono Legal Services.

Vie Thorgren, DMin, is the executive director of the Center for Spirituality at Work and its formation program for spiritual directors focusing on the spiritual-care needs of marginalized people. A spiritual director for 29 years, she lives in Colorado, USA.

F15. Welcoming the Stranger Within

As spiritual directors, we need to be welcoming and present to the stranger within as well as the stranger who knocks on our door. We all have parts of ourselves that we have rejected, neglected, or ignored. Through poetry, storytelling, and guided imagery, we will delve into our neglected parts and discover ways of honoring and welcoming them into our lives. 40%, 20%, 40%.

Rev. Jane E. Vennard (United Church of Christ) is a spiritual director, retreat leader, and author of six books on prayer, most recently, The Way of Prayer. She lives and teaches in Colorado, USA.

F16. The Simple Presence of Forgiveness

Why not look at forgiveness as a possibility for new life available through simple, nonattached presence to what is, rather than primarily as a moral or psychological concern? We’ll listen to stories, engage in simple forgiveness-related practices from various traditions, and reflect from interpersonal, social, and ecological perspectives. 33%, 33%, 33%.

Dorothy Whiston, DMin, a spiritual director for more than 20 years, currently works with Soul Friends in Iowa, USA, volunteers in several prisons, and is writing a spiritual memoir largely about forgiveness.