• Registration Information

March 9-11, 2009

God Is Into Groups: Thinking Systemically about Spiritual Direction

Human beings live and interact on the intra-personal, inter-personal and systemic levels. The focus of spiritual direction is most often an individual's relationship with God on the first two levels. This Colloquium will invite us to consider how we might help individuals collaborate with God insofar as God is at work in organizations, communities, and, yes, committee meetings! The colloquium will also invite participants to move to the balcony to view the role of the ministry of spiritual direction itself in the ongoing life - the dance floor - of the Church.

We will explore the following:

• God's project in the world and the dynamics of authority and leadership in organizational life
• What evolution teaches us about what God is up to in organizational life
• The paradoxes of organizational life and God's involvement in those paradoxes
• God's action amidst dysfunctional patterns that block real growth and learning in organizational life
• The unique role of this ministry in the life of the Church

Presenter:

Brian McDermott, SJ, a Catholic priest and a member of the Jesuits, the Society of Jesus, is currently the Rector of the Jesuit Community of Loyola College in Maryland, Research Professor in the Department of Theology and Affiliate Professor in the Department of Pastoral Counseling. He received his doctorate in systematic theology from the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, in 1973.

From 1973 to 2000, he was a member of the faculty of Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, MA, one of the two national theological centers sponsored by the Society of Jesus for the training of Jesuits, other religious and lay persons for ministry in the Church. While at Weston, he taught systematic theology, Ignatian spirituality and authority and leadership. For eight years (1991-1999) he was academic dean at the school.

Fr. McDermott is the author of two books, What are They Saying About the Grace of Christ? (Paulist Press) and Word Become Flesh: Dimensions of Christology (Liturgical Press) and numerous articles and reviews.

Since 1996 he has been the director of tertians for the Maryland and New York provinces of the Society of Jesus. (Tertians are Jesuits in their last phase of formation prior to pronouncing final vows.)

Location:	Dominican Center for Religious Development at St. Paul of the Cross Retreat Center, Detroit, MI
Registration:	Monday, March 9 at 1:00 p.m.; Opening Session: 2:00 p.m.; Closing: Wednesday after lunch
Resident Fee:	$310.00 ( conference, room, meals) January 16, 2009 or later: $350.00
Commuter Fee:	$210.00 (conference, meals) January 16, 2009 or later: $250.00