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What is CatholicSpiritualDirectors.com?​

 

A Registry

• Listing of individual Catholic spiritual directors, supervisors and formators

 

Directory  

• Listing of Programs for initial training, ongoing  formational, and continuing education

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A Resource

• To serve directors with content related to the ministry along with materials on best practices

• To serve organizations and individuals  to list their services and ongoing formation programs for spiritual directors​

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Why Start with a Registry?

The Story

This site grew out of my own need and desire to locate Catholic-based ministry training and ongoing formation related to spiritual direction  for skills building, supervision, and tools and other resources for ministry.

 

As a result of my experience as a member and in leadership of several national and international associations, and co-founder of an international 'association of the faithful’ for chiropractor physicians under Canon Law with the support of our local bishop and the then Pontifical Council for Healthcare Workers, I have been looking for a way Catholic spiritual directors could gather, as other ministry and professional associations do.

 

The idea is to have back-end support such as for networking and ministry resources; along with an optional public directory to announce services for each other and to the public. And to insure those of us in private practice of spiritual direction would be able to locate ongoing formation programs that follows the USCCB-Approved Standards for Ministry Formation by the Subcommittee on Certification for Ecclesial Ministry and Service. 

 

The Need

It seems today that the majority of spiritual directors are lay, and with many new programs popping up, with or without prerequisites, along with new layers of accompaniment terms and services in the ministry of direction and accompaniment has become increasingly multi-layered. With all that is out there, I still find it difficult to locate reliable information for ongoing training, or available Catholic directors who are offering supervision or mentoring.​​  With the growing interest in spiritual accompaniment and the proliferation of new type of programs, new terms and roles, and without over explicit over arching guidelines or a local or national organization dedicated to spiritual direction, the potential for confusion or dilution of the Catholic tradition is becoming evident. 

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What is Catholic Spiritual Direction?

Catholic spiritual direction is a Trinitarian, Marian, and Sacramentally magisterial based pastoral care with a 2000 year history consisting of multiple spiritual traditions (such as the Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, Carmelites, Redemptorists, Passionists etc)  offered by specifically trained clergy, religious and the laity practitioners working in various settings.

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Spiritual direction, as a particular ministry, it is a form of pastoral care that is individualized for the person offered in a one-on-one encounter. In this setting, a trained mentor, guided by the Holy Spirit, helps direct the individual within the context of their everyday life, fostering growth in holiness through teaching, co-discernment, and ongoing accompaniment for one’s deeper discovery through  prayer, listening and discerning on who they are, how they are, and what and where they are called.

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The Changing Landscape of Spiritual Accompaniment

 Offshoots from the Tradition Abound

Catholic spiritual direction services in the USA and abroad have moved out into the laity since the mid-20th century, which has been very much needed based upon the demand. Yet, we now have a variety of offshoots from the historical tradition of one-on-one Christ-centered encounters to one with a multiplicity of neo-hyphenated spiritualities ( ex: bio-spirituality, eco-spirituality) without the structure of a doctrine of a religion, with its based theological roots torn away, leaving a 'god' made in one's own image. One will find a variety of (old and new) terms to describe services in the world of spiritual accompaniment (Americans tend to be quite entrepreneurial), such as spiritual guide, spiritual soul friend, as seen below (with various levels of formation and training).

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As in psychotherapy, for example, we can distinguish between counselors, psychotherapists, psychologists, clinical psychologists, and psychiatrists based upon their training and services. We may find a parallel model in the world of spiritual accompaniment from a weekend workshop to become a companion or a director with years of education and formation for spiritual direction is a charism, a calling, and with that understanding, we see the Holy Spirit working on all different levels of in this ministry.

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Developing Models of Spiritual Accompaniment in the 21st Century

New Terms and Roles

Accompaniment is a term used today to describe the service of one person walking alongside another. It is an umbrella term (used as a noun and verb) that is applied to many different roles in the secular or religious worlds. Here are some examples I have found being used today associated with the ministry services of spiritual direction.

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• Spiritual director - Click here for What is a Catholic Spiritual Director 

• Spiritual counselor - (the technical term is Pastoral Counselor- licensed by States)

• Spiritual coach - programs available now (Catholic coaches)

• Spiritual mentor - programs available now (Catholic mentors for teaching and guiding)

• Spiritual companion - parish based programs training helping another

• Spiritual shepherd - a person who role is of support

• Spiritual friend - a friend who you pray together with and for each other - mutuality 

• Faith companion -  can be any level 

• Accompaniment practitioner  - A new term to imply training in areas related to spirituality in the mental health field 

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Secularization - Generic Spirituality​​

• Spiritual Care Providers - (some chaplains now us that title, and one no longer needs to be clergy or have a religious affiliation or belief in God to be a spiritual care provider to work as a hospital chaplain)  

• Spiritual Therapists - (not yet a licensed  practice, yet I have come across a hint of this usage) 

• Psycho-Spiritual Therapists - Today those who practice psychotherapy such as licensed social workers,  psychotherapist or counselors - are being drawn into acknowledging the spiritual dimension of the person and working with a variety of issues based upon their clients needs using the skills found in 'secular chaplaincy' models. ​​​

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The Call: A Future Association? 

Today, there are national (and international) associations of Catholic chaplains, counselors,Lay ministers,  coaches, therapists, doctors, nurses, lay ministers, bioethicists, etc., offering their members shared tools and resources. Though much is happening quietly in small networks of Catholic spiritual directors sharing, yet  there is no central location or a national ministry association or an association of the faithful, especially for the lay directors to locate each other. 

 

A Growing Need for Structure
Unlike national Catholic associations for chaplains, campus ministers, lay ecclesial ministers, or counselors, there is no centralized Catholic association for spiritual directors, particularly for laypersons. While some networks exist, there is no comprehensive body to:

• Connect unaffiliated directors

• Listing of supervisors or formators

• Offer consistent formation and credentialing guidance

• Assist the public in finding Catholic-trained directors

Without such a structure, formation programs continue to vary widely in their standards, and those seeking spiritual direction often lack the criteria to evaluate the qualifications of those offering such services. As in other professions and ministries, which distinctions are made based on credentials and formation, we believe a similar approach is needed in spiritual accompaniment to preserve the integrity of the Catholic tradition.

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