Australian Ecumenical Council for Spiritual Direction

Preface

Codes of ethics for spiritual directors have been developed in many parts of the world. The Australian Ecumenical Council for Spiritual Direction (AECSD) offers a national code so that agreement on standards for the practice of this ministry might be achieved among spiritual directors within Australia. While this code follows the lines of other codes, it has added important norms associated with the education, formation and supervision of spiritual directors. Norms for ethical conduct within the Christian ministry of spiritual direction are essential. As this code provides guidelines for all aspects of the practice of spiritual direction ministry, may it also offer spiritual directors valuable material for prayer and reflection.

Introduction

What is spiritual direction?

Spiritual direction is a process by which one person helps another grow in intimacy with God and in right relationship with all creation. This ministry has a long and revered history in the Christian tradition and has been practised by lay people, religious and ordained ministers. The focus of this ministry is the relationship between God and the person seeking direction.

Who is a spiritual director?

A spiritual director is one who helps the person coming for direction to notice how God’s Spirit is moving in his or her life. Spiritual directors act as spiritual guides or enablers rather than as organisers or instructors.

Spiritual directors have a sense of call to their ministry, a call that is complemented by appropriate gifts and recognized by the faith community. They are able to listen contemplatively and respond appropriately from a depth of personal experience of life and faith. They are able to allow their Christian faith to grow and mature with an ever-deepening awareness and understanding of struggle, paradox and mystery. They are able to develop a wide vision embracing the various traditions of Christianity.

Spiritual directors cherish and foster an active life of faith and prayer, and regularly seek spiritual direction and supervision for themselves.

Spiritual directors have formal qualifications in their practice or, alternatively, have had long experience and demonstrated equivalent competence.

Why do spiritual directors need a code of ethics?

In common with persons who, in a professional capacity, engage in deep personal contact with others, spiritual directors have responsibilities and are exposed to risks. A person seeking spiritual direction is vulnerable. Any personal interaction between a trained and experienced person and someone without those qualities involves an exercise of power. Without the power that comes from training and experience the practice of spiritual direction would be impossible. The possession of this power exposes the person being directed to the possibility of its abuse.

The practice of spiritual direction takes place in private and potentially places both parties at risk. Directors have consequent public responsibilities. Spiritual directors share these issues with other professionals such as medical practitioners, psychologists, social workers and counsellors.

Spiritual directors need to be prepared in advance for what they may meet in the course of their practice. They may meet ethical issues in unfamiliar guises. They may need to react quickly. This code provides behavioural standards for spiritual directors, so that legal consequences, such as litigation against a director, can be avoided.

Spiritual direction, being set in the context of the Christian faith, has values that are derived from the nature of God in creation and incarnation. Individuals must be regarded as those bearing the image of God and beneficiaries of the sacrificial love of Jesus. They cannot be used for the pleasure, satisfaction or benefit of others.

For all these reasons, a code of ethics is an essential part of the practice of any group that sets out to be involved in the lives of others.

About the code

This code is based on the responsibilities pertaining to the spiritual director’s exercise of power within this ministry.

It is divided into sections that reflect the different areas of responsibility. Although it begins with responsibility towards the director’s own self, there is no order of priority in the code. Each area will assume its own importance on different occasions.

Terms defined

1. Directee: a person seeking spiritual direction from a spiritual director;

2. Spiritual direction: the process by which one person helps another grow in intimacy with God and in right relationship with all creation.

3. Spiritual director: the person who helps the directee become more aware of God’s self-communication, respond to that self-communication, and live out the consequences of that relationship.

4. Evaluation: an intentional process by which a spiritual director and a directee assess the progress of spiritual direction and agree on its future.

5. Termination: an intentional process by which a spiritual direction relationship is brought to an end.

6. Education and formation: a process involving the provision of the necessary knowledge, the learning of skills and the development of personal qualities necessary for the proper practice of spiritual direction.

7. Professional qualifications for spiritual directors: those formal requirements that enable directors to exercise their ministry. (see AECSD Formation Guidelines: Recommendations to Foster, Support, and Recognise the Formation of Spiritual Directors in Australia  (Revised June 2008) 

8. Supervision: the processing of the inner experiences of the director during direction sessions so that, growing in awareness of his or her reactions and responses, the director might maintain a contemplative focus and be freer in attending to the needs of the directee. Other secondary tasks and benefits may occur through teaching, consultation and in gaining personal insights and healing

9. Supervisee: the person receiving supervision.