When Your Spiritual Director Is A Priest...

[Totus Tuus]

I PM'ed Cappie:

[quote name='cappie']It would depend on the qualifications of the person concerned. I am not a qualified SD and so I would freely help someone, however if someone does SD on a professional basis and by this work supports say their order then a fee can be charged. In Australia it is set by the Congregational Leaders of Religious Institutes and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. At present it's $64 AUD per session. I stress it's SD by a person who is qualified and not just giving their opinion (however good that may be). Remember St Paul...The laborer deserves his wages smile.gif but then it's entirely up to the person concerned[/quote]

[cappie]

[quote name='stuckinamo' post='1171486' date='Jan 21 2007, 08:49 AM']
priests (and nuns!) DO take the vows of castity,[b]poverty[/b] , and obedience!


[/quote]

People do eat you know and that usually costs

[-I---Love]

When I looked into a spiritual director years ago I came across a good few who (because they had specific degrees) charged various fees and some were not small. So, it's definitely a practice in the U.S. as well.

[LouisvilleFan]

Interesting... this came up in a conversation just last night. One girl said she looked into getting a spiritual director, but it cost about $400 (guess that's an annual fee?). Another guy wanted one for priesthood discernment (same reason I have a SD), but was frustrated about not being able to get a recommendation from the list of archdiocese approved SDs. All I know is I got the list, didn't know any of them, so I called one who pastors in the same end of town as my own parish.

My only guess is spiritual direction is on the archdiocese tab for people in discernment for religious life, but others have to pay and that contributes towards the SD's salary.

And I think the other guy grew up Catholic, so he sees red tape in the few places where it doesn't exist. I got a phone number, called it, scheduled an appointment... done deal. Not sure what to tell him.


As for the average person seeking spiritual direction, I think you could find any spiritually mature Catholic (or another Christian, for certain cases) could also be very helpful. If nothing else, get together once a week with one or two other committed Christians so you have a regular opportunity to be intentional about sharing your prayer life with others.