What is Enneagram?

[RoseLynn]

A RC church on the other side of town is offering a workshop on the teachings of St Evagrius. The topic is the seven deadly sins. A part of the core teaching is the enneagram. I’ve only heard of enneagram in passing and it seemed to be a very negative thing that should be avoided. Could anyone explain this to me - or is this a good class to take?

 

[Dorothy]

A RC church on the other side of town is offering a workshop on the teachings of St Evagrius. The topic is the seven deadly sins. A part of the core teaching is the enneagram. I’ve only heard of enneagram in passing and it seemed to be a very negative thing that should be avoided. Could anyone explain this to me - or is this a good class to take?

A lot of unusual things have crept into workshops taught at Catholic churches. The enneagram is one of them.

Read this short review on a book by Father Mitch Pacwa titled “Catholics and the New Age.”

crossroadsinitiative.com/resource_info/90.html

 

[Dorothy]

Here are some good insights into the origin of the enneagram from this ewtn website:

ewtn.com/library/NEWAGE/ENNEAGRA.HTM

 

[Samuel63]

An enneagram is a type of numerology. It is related to witchcraft and the satanic.

This should tell you a little about the people in the management of this local church and their “leader”, the pastor.

Welcome to the spiritual battlefield! When you get up to speed on this please get engaged. Start a discussion with other members of the parish to begin “waking them up.” You may want to start with people that display behavior that is considered devout or orthodox. Examples are genuflecting before the tabernacle or before entering the pew and toward the tabernacle. Another one is receiving the eucharist on the tongue. The best one is anyone that is a consistent user of the Sacrament of Penance. These people will have the best ability to really see what you are talking about.

Persuade through friendship. Keep the faith!

 

[Vincent1984]

The USCCB did a draft report on the subject; its language is too diplomatic to make an outright condemnation (and in any case, the report was made at a time when Enneagram culture was much more powerful in the US church) though it is very cautious and pessimistic. I don’t know if the report was every completed or approved.

Catholic Culture, as usual, has an excellent article on the subject.

I suffered through an “anger-management workshop” run by a lapel-pin nun heavily influenced by enneagram ideas. She described herself as a ‘redeemed rhinosorous’ on the enneagram – whatever that means. Anyway, I think it’s total hogwash and I would walk out if I ever accidentally found myself in a similar situation again.

 

[Luigi_Daniele]

The USCCB did a draft report on the subject; its language is too diplomatic to make an outright condemnation (and in any case, the report was made at a time when Enneagram culture was much more powerful in the US church) though it is very cautious and pessimistic. I don’t know if the report was every completed or approved.

Catholic Culture, as usual, has an excellent article on the subject.

I suffered through an “anger-management workshop” run by a lapel-pin nun heavily influenced by enneagram ideas. She described herself as a ‘redeemed rhinosorous’ on the enneagram – whatever that means. Anyway, I think it’s total hogwash and I would walk out if I ever accidentally found myself in a similar situation again.

At best it’s nonsense, at worst satanic. Avoid like the plague.

 

[GertrudeofN]

I have worked with the enneagram for many years and am surprised to find it regarded as dangerous by the Catholic Church, which I joined this past Easter.

The Enneagram is a powerful tool for analyzing personality. Indeed, it is the only method I have found that fits people accurately. Sometimes knowing a person’s “type” can reveal an almost embarrassing amount of information about why they do what they do. I do not make it a practice to “type” others for that reason.

Its value is in self-revelation and it calls for personal growth. Very simply, a “type” is a pattern of behavior set in childhood to deal with stress. As the person grows and leaves behind the original situation, the pattern has become automatic and thus becomes a distorting template laid upon the real world. Clearly, the task is to recognize the distortions and free oneself from them.

Now, as for workshops that relate the types to sins, etc., this began with an early book by Helen Palmer. Her interest was in proving that the Enneagram lined up with other schools of psychology. Included in that was religious thought – but Ms. Palmer added two deadly sins so that she’d have one for each of the nine Enneagram types, so I wonder what the sins-to-Enneagram-diagram does about that!

I have been sorry to see this valuable tool used to “type” others and then call them on their behavior. It is supposed to be for work on one’s self, not chiding, evaluating, or measuring others.

As for its mystical origin among the Sufis, there’s no evidence of it. Gurdjieff (excuse spelling) may have used it, but that only describes what he did, not the essential nature of the ennegram.

I do not write this to urge anyone to use the enneagram – that’s up to you. Because I do, however, have years of experience with it, I thought my perspective might be of interest.

 

[BluesPicker]

The Vatican’s article titled “Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life,” offers an insightful analysis of the New Age movement and its incompatibility with sound Christian doctrine and practice. It specifically cautions against using the Enneagram, which in recent years has enjoyed some popularity among Christian groups and has even been promoted by some Catholic religious communities. The Enneagram, a pseudo-psychological exercise supposedly based on Eastern mysticism, introduces ambiguity into the doctrine and life of the Christian faith and therefore cannot be happily used to promote growth in an authentic Christian spirituality.

Jesus Bearer of the Water of Life

 

[studyer]

The best one is anyone that is a consistent user of the Sacrament of Penance. http://addled.info/g.gif

 

[thistle]

I have worked with the enneagram for many years and am surprised to find it regarded as dangerous by the Catholic Church, which I joined this past Easter.

The Enneagram is a powerful tool for analyzing personality. Indeed, it is the only method I have found that fits people accurately. Sometimes knowing a person’s “type” can reveal an almost embarrassing amount of information about why they do what they do. I do not make it a practice to “type” others for that reason.

Its value is in self-revelation and it calls for personal growth. Very simply, a “type” is a pattern of behavior set in childhood to deal with stress. As the person grows and leaves behind the original situation, the pattern has become automatic and thus becomes a distorting template laid upon the real world. Clearly, the task is to recognize the distortions and free oneself from them.

Now, as for workshops that relate the types to sins, etc., this began with an early book by Helen Palmer. Her interest was in proving that the Enneagram lined up with other schools of psychology. Included in that was religious thought – but Ms. Palmer added two deadly sins so that she’d have one for each of the nine Enneagram types, so I wonder what the sins-to-Enneagram-diagram does about that!

I have been sorry to see this valuable tool used to “type” others and then call them on their behavior. It is supposed to be for work on one’s self, not chiding, evaluating, or measuring others.

As for its mystical origin among the Sufis, there’s no evidence of it. Gurdjieff (excuse spelling) may have used it, but that only describes what he did, not the essential nature of the ennegram.

I do not write this to urge anyone to use the enneagram – that’s up to you. Because I do, however, have years of experience with it, I thought my perspective might be of interest.

I second the other poster’s recommendation to read Father Pacwa’s book called Catholics and the New Age. I have that book and Father Pacwa goes deeply into the Enneagram. He can do so because in his student days he studied it and participated in it.
He can clearly tell you that Catholics and other Christians should avoid any involvement with the Enneagram. What he writes certainly disagrees with your perspective on it.