THSP635 - Spiritual Exercises Praxis B

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

THSP632 Spiritual Exercises Theory A

Incompatible

THSP507 Spiritual Exercises: Praxis B

Teaching organisation

Students should anticipate undertaking 150 hours of focused learning in this unit. This may include online activities, reading, webinars, preparation of assessment tasks and so on. Webinars may be offered either weekly over a twelve week semester, or in intensive blocks.

Unit rationale, description and aim

Graduates of programs in Ignatian Spiritual Direction need to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in this discipline in this discipline and be able to reflect critically on the ways in which their personal development impacts upon their professional roles. In this unit, students will be prepared for the ministry of spiritual direction in the Ignatian tradition and for giving the full Spiritual Exercises under supervision. Students will practise spiritual direction skills in daily triad groups, learn how to use Ignatian frameworks and adapted forms of the Spiritual Exercises to help directees understand their method and dynamic, and practise the giving of the Spiritual Exercises. The aim of the unit is to develop students’ skills in giving the Spiritual Exercises and to enable them to reflect critically on the implications of their learning for their practice of spiritual direction.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Provide advanced descriptions of the ways in which the Spiritual Exercises, in its different forms, can be used as a resource for spiritual directors in the Ignatian tradition (GA10)

LO2 - Demonstrate foundational dispositions, attitudes and key skills required for spiritual directors in the Ignatian tradition (GA3)

LO3 - Apply the Spiritual Exercises creatively, including the use of electronic media, as a means of aiding others in their ongoing individual personal discernment (GA3, GA10)

Graduate attributes

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Content

Topics will include:

• The First Week: introduction to the method, process, and dynamics of the First Week; some particular elements and the role of the director;
• The Second Week: introduction to the method, process, and dynamics of the Second Week; particular elements and the role of the director;
• The Third Week: The Role of the Director;
• The Fourth Week: and the Role of the Director;
• The Contemplation to Attain Love;
• Defense mechanisms including: transference, resistance, projection, and rigidity;
• Practical skills in spiritual direction.

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit involves 150 hours of focused learning, which reflects the standard volume of learning for a unit in a university qualification of this Australian Qualifications Framework type.

The unit is normally offered in scheduled online mode, a way that blends the use of online delivery of learning materials and activities that can be undertaken synchronously and asynchronously. This means that students can undertake some learning activities on their own at times that do not depend on the availability of others, and other learning activities that are undertaken interactively with other students and teaching staff at the same time. Using scheduled online delivery means that students do not have to be at the same place as each other, but can interact remotely.

In order to benefit from this mode of learning, students need to be independently motivated. Units offered in the course normally follow a cycle: students complete preparatory activities before meeting together; in webinars, students work collaboratively with each other and the lecturer to clarify, extend and apply what they have learned; and after each collaborative session, students reflect critically on their personal experience and observations in light of materials covered in the unit. As the cycle is repeated, students bring new understandings to bear on further issues and ideas, so that each cycle of learning deepens the one before. Students co-construct a supportive and encouraging learning community through their active participation in classes as well as through offline engagement, such as through discussion boards or quizzes.

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment strategy of this unit has been designed to advance students in the practice of giving the Spiritual Exercises and to help them to become adept at the full range of skills required for this specialised ministry.

In order to pass this unit, students are required to complete all assessment tasks and achieve an overall minimum grade of a distinction. All assessment tasks are designed for students to show their achievement of each learning outcome and graduate attribute. They require students to demonstrate the nexus between their learning, dispositions, and the practice of spiritual direction, and the evidence on which this demonstration is based.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Barry, William A, and William J. Connolly, The Practice of Spiritual Direction. San Francisco: Harper, 2009.

Buckley, Suzanne, ed. Sacred is the Call. New York: Crossroad Publishing, 2005.

Dyckman, Katherine, and L. Patrick Carroll. Inviting the Mystic, Supporting the Prophet: An Introduction to Spiritual Direction. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1981.

Guenther, Margaret. Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1992.

Hansen, Michael. The First Spiritual Exercises: A Manual for Those Who Give the Exercises. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2013.

Harborne, Lynette. Psychotherapy and Spiritual Direction: Two Languages, One Voice? Boca Raton, FL: Routledge, 2018.

Munitiz, Joseph, and Philip Endean, Eds.. Ignatius of Loyola: Personal writings, Reminiscences, Spiritual Diary, Select letters, the text of the Spiritual Exercises. London: Penguin, 1996.

Palmer, Martin E. On Giving the Spiritual Exercises: The Early Jesuit Manuscript Directories and the Official Directory of 1599. St. Louis, MO: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1996.

Rahner, Karl. Ignatius of Loyola Speaks, Translated by A.S. Kidder. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press, 2013.

Tetlow, Joseph A. Choosing Christ in the World: Directing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Louis, MO: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2000.