Church Groups, Lay Leaders Apply Woodstock's Spiritual Exercises

A Wisconsin parish is taking lay leaders through a series of spiritual exercises aimed at helping them discern their calling as a community during this Lent.

The Diocese of Brooklyn is incorporating these exercises, inspired by the Jesuit tradition, into the formation of lay ministers throughout the diocese.

The Cursillo program in northern Virginia has turned to this same spiritual source as one way of enhancing continuing education of its leaders.

These are examples of how parishes, dioceses, and Catholic movements are drawing on two companion books, Spiritual Exercises for Church Leaders, written by Woodstock senior fellow Dolores Leckey and freelance writer Paula Minaert. The books were produced by Woodstock through its Church Leadership Program, which Leckey coordinates.

For centuries, Jesuits have undertaken such exercises as a way of helping them to see how God is acting in their lives and to cooperate more effectively with God's plan. Now, Spiritual Exercises for Church Leaders is helping to bring these methods of discernment to a wider community of leaders seeking guidance in troubling times.

Written against the backdrop of conflicts and crises in the church, it is the first publication of its kind to tap the resources of Jesuit spirituality and theological discernment. (Separately, Woodstock has published an occasional paper titled "Restoring Trust in Church Leadership," also produced by the Church Leadership Program.)

Specifically, the books draw upon the spiritual insights of St. Ignatius 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 ($9.95) as well as a facilitator's guide ($12.95).

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 in the church 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:
- Become more attentive to their experiences of leadership.
- Understand themselves and their surroundings in the context of God's redemptive presence.
- Understand the dynamics of human consciousness and see how this dynamism is essential to authentic
church leadership.
- 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 Woodstock's version of "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.")

That is what Father Daniel Pakenham manages to experience - in the face of sorrows - as pastor of St. Mary's Church in Elm Grove, Wisconsin, which is using Spiritual Exercises in its Lenten program.

Father Pakenham speaks of the anger and rage in his parish over incidents of child sexual abuse by clergy. But he also gives thanks for, "This brilliant idea of parishes. That parish is there for people, to help them with their lives, to help people find a way to holiness," as he explained at a Woodstock forum last year.

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 with 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."

Leckey points out that the Ignatian Examen
in particular offers a means of facilitating profound spiritual reflection among
individuals as well as groups. "It really provides a spiritual foundation for leadership in the church," she said, referring to both the Examen and overall process related in the book.

She would like to hear from friends of Woodstock and anyone who has used the books, especially in small groups, and invites them to get in touch with her at 202 687‑3532, or send an email to leckeyd@georgetown.edu

To order copies of the participant's book ($9.95) and the facilitator's guide ($12.95), call 1‑800‑218‑1903 or use the 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 e-mailing: publicity@paulistpress.com.

THE PROJECT AND THE PEOPLE

Spiritual Exercises is an outgrowth of Woodstock's Church Leadership Program. 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.