Year
2024Credit points
10Campus 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.
| Learning Outcome Number | Learning Outcome Description | Relevant Graduate Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | GC2 |
| LO2 | Demonstrate foundational dispositions, attitudes and key skills required for spiritual directors in the Ignatian tradition | GC4 |
| LO3 | Apply the Spiritual Exercises creatively, including the use of electronic media, as a means of aiding others in their ongoing individual personal discernment | GC8 |
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
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
Reflective practice review on triad work (linked to the literature) (1500-words). This task is designed to provide students with the opportunity to evaluate their learning from the triad groups. Students must incorporate the feedback provided by their unit supervisor who has observed their practice. | 30% | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
15-minute presentation, with accompanying notes (1500-word equivalent) on the student’s experience in triad groups of adapting the Exercises to exercitants. This task is designed to give students the opportunity to share with others these learnings from their experience as a director, directee and observer in the triads. Students must incorporate the feedback provided by their unit supervisor who has observed their practice. | 30% | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
Integrative essay on the theory and practice of giving the Exercises (3500-words). This task is designed to assist students to consolidate their learning by reflecting critically on their experience of this apostolic instrument. Students must incorporate the feedback provided by their unit supervisor who has observed their practice. | 40% | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
Hurdle Task In order to pass this unit, students are required to complete all assessment tasks and achieve an overall minimum grade of a distinction (75%). | 0% | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
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.