INTERNSHIP IN IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY

Manresa has offered an Internship in Ignatian Spirituality since 1995 under the leadership of Fr. Bernie Owens, SJ. The program’s many graduates have become spiritual directors, chaplains and pastoral ministers, active throughout the Archdiocese of Detroit and elsewhere. These men and women are both a testimony to the program’s success and instruments through whom Manresa extends its ministry beyond our campus. We are grateful to them and to Fr. Bernie for the fine work they’ve done and continue to do.

With Fr. Bernie’s impending departure for Africa, the Internship in Ignatian Spirituality will undergo a necessary transition. The first year of the Internship will be changed to a series of mini-courses which will constitute a Seminar in Ignatian Spirituality. The Seminar will consider three topics: Ignatian Spirituality, Jesus and Discernment, and will include two weekend retreats: the first on the Discernment of Spirits and the second on Discerning God’s Will. The Seminar in Ignatian Spirituality will be open to any and all interested persons. Participants may take as many or as few of its topics as they wish.

Module One: Ignatian Spirituality, September 11 - November 6, 2013

The second year of what has been the Internship in Ignatian Spirituality will become an Internship in Listening Ministry. The newly defined Internship will focus on the skills used in spiritual direction, chaplaincy, pastoral counseling, etc. (Of course, many of these skills are also used in parenting, teaching, coaching – in almost all situations where one needs to hear another and respond authentically.) The curriculum will include presentations and workshops; participants will also engage in spiritual conversation under the guidance of supervisors. The Internship in Listening Ministry will be open only to those who have completed the entire Seminar in Ignatian Spirituality, described above, as a prerequisite plus a synthesis seminar.

Both the Seminar and the Internship will be facilitated by Ann Dillon and Fr. Steven Hurd, SJ of Manresa’s Ministerial Staff. More detailed information will be forthcoming soon in Manresa Matters, here on our website and in other notices and flyers. In the meantime, if you have questions, please contact Ann Dillon at Manresa.

We hope you will be as excited as we are at the prospect of the Seminar and the new Internship. We also hope you will join us both in thanking Fr. Owens for his service to the Manresa community and in praying for his new ministry in Africa.