Spritual Director

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I am wondering if there is such a thing as an online spiritual director. The parish I belong to has a shortage of priests and there is not much opportunity for more personal spiritual direction.

Thanks.
 
It is possible to have spiritual direction by letter (many of the saints did this), but I would definitely NOT do it online. Remember that no information you send over the internet is truly secure. Spiritual direction can involve discussion of very personal, private matters. Don’t send anything over the internet that you wouldn’t want seen on the front page of the newspaper.
 
PhilotheaZ said:
It is possible to have spiritual direction by letter (many of the saints did this), but I would definitely NOT do it online. Remember that no information you send over the internet is truly secure. Spiritual direction can involve discussion of very personal, private matters. Don’t send anything over the internet that you wouldn’t want seen on the front page of the newspaper.
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I correspond with my director via e-mail since he has been out of the country for a few years, but we have been meeting for years before he left and we meet whenever he is back home. I think it is very difficult, at least for me to be directed by e-mail (and this would be the same with letter writing) because it lacks the personal interaction that I think is so necessary. It’s not like a conversation where I say something, he says something and then I respond. In this situration, it might be a long time before he responds to my questions or to some difficulty I am having. By the time he does respond, I may be onto something else.
 
PhilotheaZ said:
It is possible to have spiritual direction by letter (many of the saints did this), but I would definitely NOT do it online. Remember that no information you send over the internet is truly secure. Spiritual direction can involve discussion of very personal, private matters. Don’t send anything over the internet that you wouldn’t want seen on the front page of the newspaper.
Click to expand...
Letter writing isn’t secure, either.
 
i would be a bit leary of obtaining a spiritual director without interviewing him or her first. It is not just a question of getting a director but choosing the right one. I knew my director three years before I asked him to be my director. The one I had before him I went to for about 4 months and then decided we were not a good match. I was getting no where in my spiriutal journey. But that was OK. We had that time to get to know a bit about each other and found out we didn’t match. You don’t have to have the exact same spirituality as your director, but a good director helps you to develop your spirituality, not match his or her’'s. The one I had before my present one was nice enough, but I needed someone to challenge me more, and she didn’t do that. Even though I knew my present director for a few years in a different capacity, I met him a few times in direction sessions before WE decided it was good to continue on an ongoing basis.
 
Any advice on how to obtain a spiritual director? As I said, my parish is woefully understaffed with priests right now, and, to be honest, as I just recently returned to the Church I don’t know hardly a soul at the Parish. I really think I need another Catholic person to mentor me, to guide me, to talk with me. Somebody similar to an AA sponsor but a Catholic. . .
 
Below is a link to a website I stumbled across a while ago, and I visit it frequently since it has tons of links to good information.

They do spiritual direction by email, but for the reasons others have mentioned in this thread, I’d try to find someone I could meet with face-to-face, or by phone first.

But here’s the website if you want to check it out.

CatholicSpiritualDirection.org
 
Agent said:
Any advice on how to obtain a spiritual director? As I said, my parish is woefully understaffed with priests right now, and, to be honest, as I just recently returned to the Church I don’t know hardly a soul at the Parish. I really think I need another Catholic person to mentor me, to guide me, to talk with me. Somebody similar to an AA sponsor but a Catholic. . .
Click to expand...
Most parish priests are not trained to be spiritual directors. THey many have a course on pastoral counseling that includes a section on spiritual direction but that is abou it. THose who decide they want to include spiritual direction as part of their ministry will usually go on for more training. The Jesuits really have the best training since all Jesuits have to make the 30 day retreat and study the spiriutal exercises. Most do some form of spiritual direction. They also offer courses of study in spiriutal direction so if you can contact a Jesuit retreat center or parish in your area they might be able to help you locate a director.
 
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