For over 25 years, the Dominican Center has been training people called to be a Spiritual Director in the sacred vocation of deep, sacred listening and accompanying others on their spiritual journeys. As an ongoing formation opportunity for directors, we host “Tending the Call” each fall and spring where we gather to share learnings from a book we read together.
On May 4th, we hosted our first “Deepening the Call” opportunity which provided a day-long retreat to deepen awareness of ourselves and God within the spiritual direction peer supervision space. Sr. Janice Bachman, OP, joined us from Columbus, Ohio and led twenty-five directors deeper into self-awareness in the peer supervisory process. Through teaching, “real play” (roleplaying a direction session but with our real lives), discussion, and reflection, the directors developed a clearer understanding of the contemplative posture required in peer supervision, the facilitation of such groups, and how self- and God-awareness is the focus of peer supervision.
The directors who gathered for this retreat were grateful for the community and the wisdom shared, feeling much better equipped to facilitate their groups to be places of sacred transformation. We at the Dominican Center are now working on some other “Deepening the Call” retreat days for spiritual directors to follow this rich experience.
