O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appears.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

While Israel would have sung the song in expectation of Christ’s first coming, the church now sings the song in commemoration of that first coming and in expectation of the second coming in the future.  (www.christianity.com)

Advent retreat, commentaries, and prayers during this holy season:

www.sacredspace.ie 

Daily Advent retreat with Cardinal Ranier Cantalamessa and Chris Stefanick:

Unshakeable JOY CV (reallifecatholic.com)

The Office of Spirituality and Formation for Ministry is an integral part of the Secretariat of Evangelization and Education of the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina. Spirituality and Formation for Ministry collaborates with the offices of central administration and provides coordinated, thorough and consistent preparation for ministry throughout our large diocese. Spirituality and Formation for Ministry helps lay women and men to understand the process of formation, as they use their gifts and talents in becoming Missionary Disciples.

Learn More: 2019-2020 Annual Report

On Saturday, November 14, 2020, the Bishop commissioned the new Spiritual Directors for the Diocese of Charleston. As students, they studied for two years and completed their practicum with Spring Hill College. The group met with Fr. Christopher Viscardi, SJ once a month at Our Lady of the Hills in Columbia and once a month on ZOOM. The second year of study was a practicum where they met with people seeking spiritual direction. Mass was followed by an appreciation luncheon. The diocesan liaisons for the program are Sr. Kathy Adamski, OSF and Deacon Tom Whelan.

This first class included nine people. The next class, which began in September has 17 individuals being trained to be spiritual directors or mentors. It is thrilling to see that more Catholics are seeking to be trained and more seeking to be mentored so that each grow deeper in their intimate relationship with Jesus.

Anyone who feels they may be called to be a spiritual director should contact Sr. Kathy Adamski at 843.261.0498 or kadamski@charlestondiocese.org.

Pictured Left to Right: Dcn. Kurt Herbst, Sister Nelida Naveros-Cordova (Spring Hill Professor) Marilyn Mauriello, Bishop Guglielmone, Fr. John Bosco, Carole Nicolini and Deacons Barry O’Brien and Bert Chavez. Not Pictured: Elena Ziegler, Sue Hinderlinder and John Sarpy.

These are anxious and stressful times.  Many are burdened by heightened insecurity, isolation and loss as well as generalized anxiety and fear.  Where can we find healing, peace and renewed hope?  Coming in the first part of the New Year, Sr. Terry Rickard, OP, will offer a timely webinar to help us lean on our faith to cope, find peace and healing when she speaks on “Finding the Peace of God in Anxious Times.”  Please stay tuned for details regarding the date and time.

Sr. Terry Rickard is President of RENEW International.  Last Lent, the Diocese of Charleston and RENEW offered Healing Our Church, a small-group process created by RENEW to help the faithful face the clergy sexual-abuse crisis and take steps to renewed discipleship.  Unfortunately, COVID-19 halted that process and parishes were unable to finish or in some cases even begin .  We plan to reboot Healing Our Church when the pandemic eases.  In the meantime, the Diocese of Charleston and RENEW are pleased to bring you “Finding the Peace of God in Anxious Times.”  For more information, please contact the Office of Spirituality and Formation for Ministry at 843.261-0504 or cathy@charlestondiocese.org.

“FRATELLI TUTTI”   With these words, Pope Francis addressed his brothers and sisters on October 3 and proposed to them a way of life marked by the flavour of the Gospel.

Click Here for a Video Summary of Fratelli Tutti

The Diocese of Charleston has partnered with the University of Dayton virtual learning community to offer continuing education courses.  For more information or to apply for a tuition grant, please contact Sr. Kathy Adamski, OSF at (843) 261.0498 or kadamski@charlestondiocese.org.

Now Registering!

Cycle 8: November 29 – December 19, 2020 (Registration: Opens October 21; Closes November 25)

Formation for Mission and Ministry is a staff-development process for all chancery, parish and Catholic Charities staffs who minister in the Diocese of Charleston which includes the entire state. Our shepherd, Bishop Guglielmone, recognizing the role of the laity in the church established Spirituality and Formation for Ministry under the Education and Faith Formation Secretariat in August of 2016. At that time, our bishop was responding and recognizing the upcoming 50th Anniversary of the great Ecumenical Council Vatican II. One of the sixteen documents of Vatican II was the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, Apostolicam Actuiositatem.

His Holiness, Pope Paull VI promulgated the document and in its Introduction, one reads about the “proper and indispensable role of the laity in the mission of the Church.” The Christian vocation by its very nature is a vocation to the Apostolate.” #2. The laity’s major duty is union with Christ.

When the Office of Spirituality and Formation for Ministry began over five years ago, we delved into the formation pillars that originated with the writings of St. John Paul II—human formation, intellectual formation, spiritual formation, and pastoral formation.

The first three years, we concentrated on intellectual formation.  Specifically, we discussed Revelation and Catholic identity.  Second, we explored the sacraments and Models of the Church.  The third year, we examined the social teachings of the church and how we make moral decisions.  The fourth year, we transitioned into human formation as we learned about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and each participant took the full MBTI and either learned or re-learned their personality traits; and, last year, we concentrated on spiritual formation and had a retreat entitled Formed to Live Joyfully Our Time, Talent and Treasure.  Materials for this retreat are still online should a parish decide to offer to their parishioners.  We also collaborated with the Office of Stewardship and Mission Advancement.  We wanted to extend an invitation to all stewardship representatives from parishes, and several parishes sent people.

This year, our concentration will be human formation, as we review the importance of one’s IQ, EQ and LQ;  respectively,  Intelligence Quotient, Emotional Quotient and Love Quotient. As we do so, we will also explore how Jesus exemplified intelligence, emotional, and love quotients.  What do we mean by these terms?

IQ – Intelligence Quotient: a number used to express the apparent relative intelligence of a person: such as a score determined by one’s    performance on a standardized intelligence test relative to the average performance of others of the same age (Merriam Webster). The average IQ on many tests is 100 and 68% of scores lie between 85 and 115.

EQ – Emotional Quotient: Psychologist, Daniel Goleman, defined EQ as “the ability to employ self-control, zeal, persistence, and the skill to “motivate” others in one’s personal and work life” (Emotional Intelligence Why It Can Matter More than IQ).  Salovey and Mayer, first came up with the EQ theory by stating that emotional intelligence is “the part of social intelligence that involves the ability to discriminate and use information to guide one’s thinking and actions.

LQ – Love Quotient: A person’s ability to be kind and loving to himself and to others. Love Quotient is the newest of the intelligence paradigms following IQ and EQ. LQ, as defined by Chris Wise, a leading authority on LQ, is a person’s ability to be kind and loving to him/ herself and to others.  It’s about how deeply we love ourselves.  Having done the work on ourselves and having raised our love quotients, others may become more aware of the importance of LQ. (weforum.org).  Love Quotient: living a life embodied with love and consistently being aware of how we are caring for others at home and in the work place (Jack Ma former CEO of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd).

Many leaders in business believe that high emotional intelligence is key in today’s workplace (ministry). According to the Mayo Clinic the person you report to at work is more important to your health than your family doctor.