A Brief History of SDN

A brief history of the Spiritual Directors Network (SDN) centered in mid-Michigan (*compiled by Pat Zandstra, September 19, 2022)

The Spiritual Directors Network was established in 2007. Founding members and/or early members included, in alphabetical order:

April Allison
Peggy Caputo
Charlie Homeyer
Carol Ingells (Served as first president of SDN)
Carolyn Lucas
Sharon Mick McAuley
Anita Smith Buckwalter
Merry Stanford
Sr. Marlene Taylor
Denise Waytes
Patricia Wilson-Perkowski
Paula Young

Current Membership

There are currently ten dues paying members as of 2022.
There are currently forty-four people are on the mailing list as of 2022.

Meeting Places, over the Years

The idea for SDN was initiated in Patricia Wilson-Perkowski’s home.
A few meetings were held at St. Casimir.
For a while the meetings were held at Gone Wired, a coffee shop on E. Michigan Avenue in Lansing.
For another period of time meetings were held at Schuler’s Book Store Cafe at the Meridian Mall in Okemos.
Two or three SDN-sponsored retreats were held at St. Francis Retreat Center in DeWitt.
For a number of years now meetings have been held at April Allison’s home in Okemos.
During the Covid pandemic we met online on Zoom.

Meeting Times, over the Years

Initially the group tried to meet either monthly or every-other-month, but the group finally settled on a Fall, Winter, and Spring rhythm, which we maintain to this day. Currently we meet from 10 a.m. until noon on the second Friday of October, January, and May.

Organizational Structure

The group started out with Carol Ingells as president. In these early years members took turns facilitating the meetings.
Eventually a secretary and treasurer were added to the Executive Committee. These three officers met between the seasonal meetings to plan the agenda and they reported to the membership at each meeting.
In 2021 we combined the secretary/treasurer position and added a program coordinator to the Executive Committee.

Purpose of SDN

From the beginning a high priority was placed on the following four things:

Maintaining the professional standards of spiritual directors, which includes receiving reputable training, receiving spiritual direction, and participating in a peer supervision group.
Sharing helpful spiritual direction resources with each other.
Deepening our supportive and caring relationships with each other.
With the help of the website, we have been able to provide a list of well-trained spiritual directors with their biographies, for those people seeking qualified spiritual directors. This is at the minimum cost of $15, with biographies sent to the website coordinator.

General Meeting Agendas (at various times of history)

Early meeting involved a check-in time to find out how everyone was doing, followed by a devotional, a short business meeting, sharing spiritual direction experiences, questions, concerns, a sharing of resources, followed by a time of prayer.
As time went by a teaching/learning component was added, usually led by a member or a guest speaker.
In 2021 with the creation of a program director position the following guidelines regarding seasonal programming were established:
- A Statement of Values & Intentions for Programing
  - to improve our skills as spiritual directors.
  - to utilize our own members as resources.
  - to expand our horizons in the field of spiritual directors.
  - Format for Fall
    - Lecture presentation on a given topic: 40 minutes.
    - Interaction, 20 minutes.
  - Format for Winter
    - Sharing spiritual direction resource by facilitator: 15 minutes.
    - Sharing resources by group members: 45 minutes.
  - Format for Spring
    - Workshop presentation on a given topic. (different than a lecture).
    - Facilitator: Introduction and Instructions: 10 minutes.
    - Activity: 60 minutes.
    - Sharing and Wrap up: 20 minutes.

Milestones of the Group

We registered the website domain name in November of 2008. That was a significant step in the establishment and growth of SDN.
- Current website for “Spiritual Directors Network: Centered in mid-Michigan” is spiritualdirectorsnetwork.net.
- Website table of contents includes:
  - Welcome
  - What is Spiritual Direction?
  - Find a Spiritual Director
    - Spiritual Director Biographies
  - Events and Resources
    - Retreat Locations
    - Internships and Training
  - Contact Us
A grant of $3,000 was awarded to SDN by the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence (SPE) program on May 27, 2009. As a result of the grant, a day-long retreat titled “The Art of Being a Healing Presence,” sponsored by SDN, was held at St. Francis Retreat Center on May 29, 2009. The leader of the retreat was the Rev. James Miller of Willowgreen in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Forty-six participants attended.
At some point in the early years Jannel Glennie gave a presentation for SDN at St. Francis on the topic of “Pilgrimage” after returning from her own personal pilgrimage that she took in Europe the previous year.
An MSU Credit Union account was set up for SDN on May 27, 2009. It was closed June 2014 and the SDN treasurer started handling the funds for the group informally.
SDN was registered as a non-profit from 2011 until 2014.
April Allison’s invitation to meet regularly in her home was invaluable in adding a sense of peace, tranquility, and privacy to our time together.

*Contributors to this brief history include:

Sharon Mick McAuley
April Allison
Peggy Caputo
Carol Ingells (Served as first president of SDN)
Denise Waytes
Pat Zandstra

Appendix

A. 2012 Survey Questions

The purpose of the survey was to discover the status of the 84 individuals who had graduated from the Dominican Center for Religious Development Training previous to 2012. No one had tracked these graduates and we thought it would be useful information for both the SDN and the SPE program at St. Francis.

Questions asked on the 2012 Lansing Area Directors’ Network Survey in conjunction with the SPE Spiritual Deepening Task Force (May 12, 2012) Pat Zandstra:

Are you currently receiving Spiritual Direction?
Are you currently serving as a Spiritual Director?
If so, are you currently in a Peer Supervision Group for Spiritual Directors?
If you are currently in a Peer Supervision Group are you open to adding any more people to your group, or splitting your group if it has become too large, providing a few more openings for others?
If you are currently a practicing Spiritual Director, but are not in a Peer Supervision group, are you interested in joining a local group?
As part of a recent decision to restructure the “Sustaining Pastoral Excellence” (SPE) program at the St. Francis Retreat Center in DeWitt, three target groups have been formed. The first target group will focus on “Creative Expression”*. The second target group will focus on “Personal/Transformational Relationships”+. The third target group will focus on “Spiritual Deepening.” Currently the four components of the “Spiritual Deepening” target group includes: 1) Spiritual Direction, 2) Labyrinth, 3) Sabbath Time Retreats, 4) Resource Center.
- In the area of “Spiritual Direction” is there anything you would like to see the SPE program explore to help you in the area of spiritual direction?
- In the area of “Walking the Labyrinth” is there anything you would like to see the SPE program explore or help you with (or your directees with) in regards to using the labyrinth as a movement toward spiritual deepening?
- In the area of “Sabbath Time Retreats” have you (or would you) consider attending a Sabbath Time Retreat for your personal spiritual deepening?
- In the area of the “Resource Center” have you (or would you) consider refreshing your skills and deepening your spiritual growth by utilizing the Resource Center more fully?
Please include any other ideas, suggestions, comments on how this Target Group might help you deepen spiritually?

What we found out:

Of the 84 graduates, only 30 were on the mailing list for SDN. 14 people on the SDN email list were trained elsewhere.
Only 14 of the 44 people on the SDN email list responded to this survey.
Only 14 of the 44 people were still serving as spiritual directors (SD), receiving SD, or participating in Peer Supervision groups. Only a few stated that they would be open to adding more people to their Peer Supervision group.
In regard to the SPE program, many expressed appreciation for the Resource Center at St.Francis that was run by SPE. A few had never even visited the Resource Center. A few who had never participated in SPE’s “Sabbath Retreats” said they were kept away by the cost and the noise level at the Retreat Center.

B. 2018 Survey Questions

The Purpose of the Survey was to get answers to the following questions from all those on our mailing list in 2018.

Questions asked of those on the SDN mailing list in 2018.

Do you want to remain on the mailing list?
Are you aware of the website https://spiritualdirectorsnetwork.net?
Would you like a bio added for a $15 fee?
Would you like to list any programs or activities you are involved in?
Would you consider being more active members and join us 3x a year for learning, sharing, support and prayer?