Council Spiritual Advisor

Background

The American Manual of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul states that in addition to bearing witness by its acts of charity to the poor, the objective of the Society is the sanctification of its members. Prayers said together, meditation on the scripture and the teachings of the Church, and mutual example to each other, are the means offered for advancing in the love of Jesus Christ.

The Society must promote this objective or it fails in its duty to its members. Occasionally, conferences become so wrapped up in the details of service to other people, that they neglect to serve the needs of their own workers. Often "there is not time" for spiritual readings and sometimes the need for considering the goal of sanctification of the members is ignored or given the lowest priority.

The Council Spiritual Advisor
The Spiritual Advisor should have a commitment to the value of lay ministry, knowledge (or willingness to learn) of the Vincentian Charism, and willingness to actively participate in the work of the Society.

The Spiritual Advisor of the council is responsible for the spiritual animation and moral counsel for the entire council. He performs the following at the Council, Trustees, and other meetings.

• Leads the opening and closing prayers.
• Obtains, prepares and reads, or assigns to read, a spiritual reading for each meeting
• Leads discussion after each reading.
• Ensures that all meetings are conducted a spirit of Christian love and charity.

He performs the following in coordination with the Spirituality/Formation Committee:

• Recruits Conference Spiritual Ad-visors.
• Organizes training sessions and materials for conference Spiritual Advisors.
• Frames the spiritual portion of quarterly festivals and other meet-ings of the whole Council. (This requires attendance and participation at these functions.)
• Supervises the spiritual growth and development of the conferences.
• Arranges retreats, days of recollect-ion, special spiritual study opportunities, etc.

He also:

• Guides Conference Spiritual Advisors on matters of faith and morals with both collective and individual counseling.
• Is the direct liaison and advocate on spiritual matters with the bishop.
• Attends regional and national meetings (if possible), and participates actively in the spiritual aspects of these meetings.
• Provides resource material to the conference Advisors to aid membership in personal spiritual development

Commitment
The tenure of office for the council Spiritual Advisor parallels that of the council president (currently ends 9/06. Reappointment is permissible.

The Spiritual Advisor supports approximately eight Trustee, seven Council meetings per year, the Lenten Retreat, and monthly Spirituality Committees meetings.