DSLRCB Respect for differences. proposed new programme

DSLRCB Diploma in Spiritual Leadership,
Ritual and Community Building

Respect for differences: just notice how different we all are from one another!

Ever since Fr Abbot gave permission in October 2013, a small group has been considering and working on this new programme of studies in the area of ‘Becoming Human’. The proposal has been put to Fr Abbot and he will soon decide whether to accept and take the proposal to the monastic community

DSLRCB

Respecting difference is a way of practicing spiritual leadership.
Respecting difference demands ritual ways of recognising and affirming.
Respecting difference is one way to begin building community.

26 days in one year
120 hours contact time

Unique

This unique and challenging programme would be created and jointly sponsored and managed by NAOS and the Ealing Abbey monastic community.

One-Year Diploma in Spiritual Leadership, Ritual and Community Building

Leadership is the art of helping people work together in common purpose;
it is a critical factor in the work of advancing community health and development.

Community leaders are gifted at using rituals to provide cohesion and purpose to communities and organisations.

This one year training intensive brings together three distinct activities (leadership, the use of rituals and community building) and explores these as a response to the problems of living in a fragmented, multi-ethnic and multi-faith society.

Spirituality as we understand it is not only relational but it is also connected to the skills and abilities to convert day to day living, relating and living to a worldview which frames relational dynamics. It is not only about my ability to relate to self, others and the transcendent but also the source of ideological constructs which form a coherent perspective on the world (Weltanschauung)

We are hoping that the course will be offered collaboratively for the public in 2014-15 with the Ealing Abbey community hosting the course over twenty days of study (120 hours contact time). Study and learning will involve teaching, hospitality, workshops and work placements.

Funding and University accreditation are being sought

This unique and challenging course has been created by the Ealing Abbey Community and the NAOS Institute. It would be designed for professionals or volunteers who are required to lead in public or private groups, organisations or rituals. The course could also be taken for personal development.

This programme of study would include the art of helping people make their personal contribution to a shared common project. This is a critical factor in the work of advancing community health and development. Working together in a common project requires that each participant already has a differentiated self representation – that is, how each one sees oneself and presents oneself to others while each one works collaboratively to further a shared project.

The way in which participants understand how and what they and others contribute to the common project of the programme of study is of great importance.

Three interrelated disciplines

This one year training intensive brings together three distinct activities
(leadership, the use of rituals and community building) and explores these as a response to the problems of living in a fragmented, multi-ethnic and multi-faith society.

Community leaders are gifted at using rituals to provide cohesion and purpose to communities and organisations.

Market & Stakeholders

The course will be designed for professionals or volunteers who are required to give leadership in public or private groups, organisations or rituals. The course could also be taken for personal development.

Faculty

Some members of the monastic community and other experts in the field representing the stakeholders would offer this course collaboratively for the public in 2015-16 over twenty six days of study (120 hours contact time). Study and learning will involve teaching, hospitality, workshops, activities and work placements.

Needs

Faculty, Funding, Board members and University accreditation are being sought.
We must search for £20k to pay for rent, office material, costs, financing first meetings, trainings.
The training programme will generate income later to pay for teachers and many other costs.

Location

Heathrow T5 arrivals hall

The work of the shared project could occupy and denote a transitional space, like a medieval gatehouse, connecting monastic living and wider society. Such an arrangement would allow space for encounter, and working together. It would allow arrivals and departures from and to monastery and wider society – (perhaps something like an airport arrivals or departure hall that accommodates and facilitates arrivals and departures, greetings and farewells, the joys of encounter and sadnesses of loss; or like an on-line group; a personal, face-to-face conference as FaceTime).

Life enhancing

1. Such a collaborative project could enliven both the Ealing Abbey monastic community and the NAOS-Institute.
2. The two organisations remain distinct and autonomous, yet could also learn from each other. The project would also embody a dimension of reaching out to work with other groups and organisations.
3. The project could provide an opportunity and material for a university research project. Funding for a research bursary is being sought.
4. Any possibilities already discussed need to be worked on in detail, and then the shape of the project becomes organic, through working together. Our ideas are very open for change: change / adapt / prune / dig / fertilise

Consulted

Small group: Bernd Leygraf and Jaap Westerbos (NAOS), Abbot Martin Shipperlee, Dom Dominic Taylor, Dom James Leachman, Dom Alexander Bevan (Ealing)

Representatived from 4 Benedictine Congregations and 3 continents consulted: Fr Gergely Bakos OSB (Hungarian – Pannonhalma) Fr Bernard Sawicki OSB (Annunciation – Tyniec) Fr Pachomius Okojie OSB (Annunciation – Ewu), Fr Daniel McCarthy OSB (American Cassinese – Atchison, KS), Br Simon Stubbs OSB (Swiss American – New Orléans, LA)

Occasional: Ms Catherine Pepinster (The Tablet on 23 Feb 2014) Br Jonathan Rollinson OSB (Belmont on 23 Feb 2014) Fr George Guiver CR (Mirfield on 24 Feb 2014)

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Diploma in Spiritual leadership, Ritual and Community Building