Celebrating 35 Years
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Celebrating 35 Years
“In the mid to late ’80s, I was a board member of the Western Association of Spiritual Directors (WASD). WASD was the West Coast portion of the National Federation of Spiritual Directors who worked in Roman Catholic seminaries. I was working in a seminary at the time, and was elected to head WASD. Our annual conference drew upwards of 100 spiritual directors, but they didn’t all teach in seminaries. In fact, most didn’t.
By 1989, there were no longer enough seminaries to warrant a separate West Coast WASD, so we were merged with the Midwest region. Yet I was still aware of all those spiritual directors out West who felt they needed their own group for support. There were people from states like Nevada who had no gathering place. I felt a nudge from God to help provide a networking opportunity for them.
With consultation, I gathered a national committee—a ‘discernment circle’—to talk about this kind of networking. Every person we approached agreed to be on the committee. For months, committee members interviewed people in their own geographic areas about what they felt was needed. We put the results of our survey together and they indicated the need for a larger, national network.”
Mary Ann Scofield, as quoted by Carol Ludwig in Presence Journal, “A Brief History of Spiritual Directors International Part I”, February 2002, Volume 8, Issue 1.
In this, our 35th Anniversary Year, there is no better time to become a member of SDI, as celebrating our community will be the main focus of 2025.
Become part of a global, supportive network that nurtures your practice, spirit, and commitment to lifelong learning. For those of you who are not yet members, we can’t wait to welcome you into the SDI community! And for those of you who already are, now is a perfect time to extend your membership.
If you have a memory or story from the past 35 years of SDI to share, please do so in the comments below – we’d love to hear from you!
Join us as we celebrate SDI’s 35th Anniversary! Come to Niagara Falls in May 2025.
I completed my month internship at Mercy Center, Burlingame, and it was a most wonderful experience. I was in Fordham’s graduate program and was unable to do the full day trainings each Friday because I was in the classroom. Sister Janet Ruffing sent me here to complete my training and I’m ever so grateful for this gift.
Please remember Brother Jack Mostyn, co-founder, who died on April 27, 2025 after a long bout with Parkinson disease. He continued his ministry of theological thought, spiritual direction and formation, writing and art until his last moments.
“The devout Christian of the future will either be a ‘mystic’—someone who has ‘experienced something’—or will cease to be anything at all.” Karl Rahner
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Albert Einstein
It was at an SDI conference that I heard a call to open my heart more fully to the vastness of the Holy. I was already committed and faithful but this was a clear summons to expand my awareness, let go of building, “religion”, and any preconceived Idea of who God is. I took a sabbatical from church and spent some time with the One who called me by name. I believe I am a better Spiritual Director for having heard and listened to the invitation. I am grateful to SDI for that.
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