Dear Friends,
Over the past few months things have been going on behind the scenes. Joe Scaglia had been finishing up our 501-c3 application. This was completed and reviewed and has finally gone off to the IRS and the fee paid. He and I have also been working on our business plan for the next two years. This year we will simply look to hold one or two fundraisers (one of which is a Bike Blessing sponsored by our church – Church of the Archangels). Next year we will more aggressively seek to establish ourselves by either leasing or buying a piece of property for the program. Of course, that doesn’t mean I have stopped looking. We have one or two places in mind but it is too early to talk about those yet.
I have also spent the last few months expanding the Soul Care offered through the Center for the Cure of Souls (which at present is just me and an office). But I have been seeing a few people for either spiritual direction or pastoral counseling. In fact I have been working with some new paradigms in pastoral counseling, taking an integrative approach and calling it “Integrated Soul Care”. This “Integrated Soul Care” is essentially a Christian therapeutic process that takes the tools of Ignatian spiritual direction, biblical counseling, inner-healing and an Eastern Orthodox understanding of the intellect, emotions and spirit and integrates them all. In response to the interest I have received in talking about this I have begun the process of creating teaching materials for Integrated Soul Care so that I can share it with others.
Another noteworthy milestone has been the completion of a course in Ignatian spiritual direction. The course is offered by the Center for Spirituality and Justice in New Rochelle, NY. They have been teaching spiritual direction for nearly thirty years and have trained directors across the country and in other nations. I began this course in September and graduated with a certificate in spiritual direction on May 5th. This course included several good books and many articles, class work, group and individual supervision, role playing and the development of skills. We also learned how to write process notes and do verbatims for use in supervision. The course was wonderfully enriching, both on a personal level and professionally. Through this course I grew as a person, developed useful skills and insights, and it better equipped me to understand the unique contexts I was using these tools in.
As we move forward over the next year we will continue to need support and prayers. I ask for your prayers as I work towards creating materials for an Integrated Soul Care System, for financial provision, for guidance and for property.
Yours,
Fr. Matt
