Bishops accused of institutional deception. Parishes ripped apart
by rival factions. Dioceses verging on bankruptcy. Generation Xers
exiting parish life.

These are among the challenges facing Church leaders today, problems arising only partly from the clergy sexual abuse crisis. While there is cause for feelings of desolation, there is also the reality of God acting in the events of our day. But how should we discern God's presence and call amid the challenges of church as well as society?

Spiritual Exercises for Church Leaders - two new companion books - offers a practical method of reflection geared especially to leaders at all levels of the church in these demanding times. Written by Dolores R. Leckey of the Woodstock Theological Center and freelance writer Paula Minaert, this publication is the first of its kind to tap the
considerable resources of Jesuit spirituality and theological
discernment.

Specifically, the books draw upon the spiritual insights of St. Ignatius of Loyola together with the theological method of Bernard Lonergan, S.J. Published by Paulist Press, the companion set includes a book for readers and participants in small groups as well as a
facilitator's guide (each of which are 96 pages).
As a prerequisite to fruitful discernment by Church leaders, the authors suggest the need for historical perspective, which leads to an understanding that the present problems and conflicts are not "the whole
story" of Catholicism today.

"The Church has always had to deal with division, corruption, and
apathy. But it has also been a way of nurturing people to great love and
self-sacrifice," says the participant's book.

The four-fold aim of Spiritual Exercises is to help Church leaders:

1. Become more attentive to their experiences of leadership.
2. Understand themselves and their surroundings in the context of God's
redemptive presence.
3. Understand the dynamics of human consciousness and see how this
dynamism is essential to authentic Church leadership.
4. Become more adept at discerning how God is calling them and their
communities to live as disciples.

As its main tool for helping Church leaders reach these goals,
Spiritual Exercises presents "The Examen of St. Ignatius of Loyola," a
five-step examination of conscience that has ancient roots.
This meditation begins with a quiet awareness of God's presence,
followed by prayer for insight. It includes two steps of reflection upon
one's experiences in a given segment of time or period of a day. And, it
ends with the participant making concrete plans for collaborating more
effectively with God as He acts in our lives.

Gratitude is at the heart of this discernment. Participants are
asked to give thanks to God for His gift of great love, as well as for
the occasions when we have been graced enough to cooperate with God and
God's plan.

Spiritual Exercises also introduces an alternative way of doing the
Ignatian Examen, as developed by Dennis Hamm, S.J. Father Hamm puts a
special emphasis on feelings and an added emphasis on gratitude in his
five-step version of The Examen. For example, the second step involves
reviewing the day in thanksgiving.

"Gratitude is the foundation of our whole relationship with God,"
Father Hamm writes. (Elsewhere in the book, participants are asked to
reflect on the words of St. Ignatius, "Every sin, at its heart, is a sin
of ingratitude.")

Several chapters of Spiritual Exercises -- and several sessions of
the small-group process -- follow the trajectory of Jesuit theologian
Bernard Lonergan's method of achieving genuine understanding and human
authenticity.

These chapters and sessions guide the reader through stages of
being attentive to experience, posing questions in pursuit of
understanding those experiences, evaluating those understandings, and
making decisions or taking action. The stages are summed up in
Lonergan's four transcendental precepts: be attentive, be intelligent
(or exploring), be reasonable (or discerning), be responsible.
People and communities progress when they arrive at shared meanings
by way of this dynamism that inheres in human consciousness. Decline
sets in when they fail to follow the dynamism of consciousness.
Concluding with a chapter on community, authors Leckey and Minaert
show how the Church embodies sociologist Robert Bellah's definition of
community - a group of people with a history and hope for the future.
Community involves storytelling and ritual, according to Bellah.
The authors write, "The Church passes on a story: at every liturgy, we
retell our history and proclaim our hope."

Throughout the book and guide, passages from Scripture - especially
the Acts of the Apostles - reveal how leadership developed in the early
Church and how today's leaders can learn from that experience.
The authors bring into play other lessons from history, as well as
other disciplines, particularly the arts and sociology. Together with
reflective exercises, these resources are selected to show how change
occurs, how culture affects our religious understandings, and how
creative solutions to contemporary problems are fostered.

Although the intended audience is Church leaders, all can benefit
from these exercises. Writing in the foreword to both book and guide,
Auxiliary Bishop Robert F. Morneau of Green Bay, Wisconsin, says
Spiritual Exercises for Church Leaders provides "a vision and a
methodology for ongoing personal and communal development."

The Project and the People:

Spiritual Exercises is an outgrowth of the Church Leadership
Program of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University in
Washington, D.C.

Inaugurated in 1996 with financial support from the Raskob
Foundation for Catholic Activities, the project brought together small
groups of Church leaders who prayerfully reflected on their experiences
of leadership in light of the call to discipleship. Former Woodstock
director James L. Connor, S.J., and former fellow Msgr. Richard Liddy,
designed the retreat workshop format and played key roles in guiding the
work.

Leckey coordinated the project. The recipient of numerous honorary
degrees and awards, she has worked in the area of spirituality as a
retreat leader, lecturer and writer in the United States and abroad. She
served as director of the Secretariat for Family, Laity, Women, and
Youth of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Co-author Minaert is a freelance writer and editor who has written
for Catholic Charities USA and the Holy Child Association, among other
organizations. She holds degrees from the University of Bridgeport and
Regis University, and is particularly interested in the balance of work
and family, parish vitality, and the intersection of science and faith.

About the Woodstock Theological Center:

The Woodstock Theological Center, located on the Georgetown
University campus, is a nonprofit independent research institute
sponsored by the Society of Jesus. The Center addresses topics of
social, economic, business, ecclesial, and political importance from a
theological and ethical perspective.

To order copies of the participant's book ($9.95) and the facilitator's
guide ($12.95), call 1-800-1903 or use Paulist Press web site at
www.paulistpress.com. Members of the press may request review copies by
calling Paulist Press Publicity at (201) 825-7300 Ext. 228, or
emailing: publicity@paulistpress.com.