PRIESTHOOD AND SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

FROM TIME TO TIME I am aware that questions are raised about the advisability of clergy offering Spiritual Direction.  Like many priest-directors, whilst recommending such a ministry to my parishioners, I made it a rule of thumb never to offer myself in that role: as Sr. Madeleine de Saint-Joseph wrote to ‘A Cleric’ (Berulle and the French School):

‘First, then, I tell you this, sir, about the direction of souls.  It is very dangerous to meddle in it.  One  must be constrained and called to it by God …’ (p.208)

Her observation points out that which it is natural to want to help another, such help – especially when concerned with matters of the Spirit – needs to be approached with humility and a willingness to not only recognise we’re all ‘sinners on the way’, but that we all need to be learners in the kingdom.   

My own experience of offering direction began as a lay Franciscan (Society of St. Francis), but it took me some time to recognise that there’s as much difference between offering a listening ear, reflective advice and spiritual direction, as there is between offering to nurse someone when they are ill and being a nurse.  For that reason, I sought training on the Ignatian Spirituality Course, during which I was invited to assist in the formation of spiritual directors, something that lasted for over 12 years. 

In their important book, The Practice of Spiritual Direction, Fr’s Barry and Connelly SJ define Christian spiritual direction as: ‘… help given by one Christian to another which enables that person to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God, and to live out the consequences of that relationship’.  Another Jesuit, James Keegan, said it is ‘the contemplative practice of helping another person or group to awaken to the mystery called God in all of life, and to respond to that discovery in a growing relationship of freedom and commitment.’  Do all clergy have that contemplative call?  Does it come automatically through the grace given in Ordination?  Or is it, surely, a separate, distinctive charism, not limited to ordination?

“Priests may have that gift but that gift needs to be developed, like any talent we have.  Somebody could be a born athlete but they would still have to practice and become good at the sport that they play, and its like that with the priesthood as well.” (Fr. Greg Cleveland, Obl. BVM)

Whilst it’s true that clergy need to help parishioners deepen their relationship with God, there are dangers and pitfalls in so doing.  It’s one thing to be asked to preach and another to be a preacher – unfortunately there are many who don’t really have that calling or would benefit from proper training.  Just so with spiritual direction.  Many of us who are deeply involved in the ministry realise that, if you’re going to offer the ministry of Spiritual Direction, you need a calling to do so and the humility to know you need some formation – it doesn’t come as part of the grace of ordination, any more than does the ability to be an effective preacher or teacher.  

Nor is the ministry to be confused with the Sacrament of Confession (Reconciliation). In the latter, penitence is required, and the seal is inviolate as the penitent calls to mind their sins. That is not the case with spiritual direction; it may be that the directee might be advised to taker a matter top confession and a penitent to explore a matter in Direction for both have their proper ambit.

Over the years I’ve had to acknowledge that some people should not be offering this ministry, and I know some bishops who are deeply concerned with the way many directors are not supervised in what they do: their naïve approach can be a danger to others.  Much sensitivity is involved in dealing with another’s soul, for the place where we stand is holy ground.  Whoever is prepared to offer this ministry needs to realise the primary importance of their own conversatio morum though their ongoing, deepening relationship with God. 

In all the time I’ve given direction, taught its arts and supervised many, I’ve come to recognise that there is much we need to come to terms with, not least the –

              •  urge to be too directive;

              •  temptation to want to ‘rescue’ people or to focus into ‘problem solving’;

              •  need for a broad understanding of the Christian spiritual tradition;

              •  need to trust in the ‘slow work of God’ in a directee’s life;

              •  importance of insights from other therapeutic disciplines, especially in the areas of             transference, counter-transference and projection and the dangers of rejecting these insights;

              •  legal issues surrounding the ministry (aspects of confidentiality, safeguarding etc…);

              •  importance of knowing how to listen contemplatively, and the danger of not properly listening;

              •  temptation to ‘go it alone’ and think we don’t need help (supervision).

             

The dynamic between priest and parishioner can be quite complex.  Unlike the boundaried relationship between confessor and penitent, or director and directee, this relationship can complicate matters further.  Spiritual Direction requires both involved to feel they are free to bring to the relationship what needs addressing and there needs to be a certain distance between them.

But the proximity between priest and parishioner in weekly services, meetings etc. leave both vulnerable to becoming inappropriately close in many ways, which can be a problem where, consciously or not, levels of attraction begin to emerge, issues of confidentiality are involved or any of the host of personality issues occurring in parishes begin to impinge.  It’s for all these reasons, not least the many psycho-spiritual dynamics involved, it’s held that clergy ought not to direct members of their congregations.