Distance
is no barrier for a group of retreatants from the rural Australian Diocese of
Lismore who have completed the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises using Skype.
The
16 retreatants completed the 30-Week Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius in
Daily Life course last year, using the Skype program to connect with their
retreat director via webcam each week.
Steve
Cunningham, from the Faber Centre of Ignatian Spirituality (CIS) in Brisbane,
says that while others had offered spiritual direction online before, this was
the first time a coordinated retreat had been offered over Skype. A free
downloadable program, Skype allows users with a webcam to talk to each other
over the internet.
‘Best
of all there is no cost involved for the connection', says Steve.
The
program ran from April to November last year, and was coordinated by team
members from the Faber and Canisius Centres of Ignatian Spirituality in
Brisbane and Sydney, with assistance by the Loyola Institute.
‘The
16 retreatants were allocated to seven directors - two from the Faber CIS in
Brisbane, 230 km north of Lismore, and five from Canisius CIS, 700km to the
south', he said.
The
directors travelled to Lismore to meet ‘face to face' with the retreatants at
the beginning of week one, between weeks four and five when new material was
presented, and between weeks 27 and 28. There was also a concluding meeting and
evaluation after week 30.
‘Each
director uses Skype to ‘meet' with his or her retreatant each week at a
mutually convenient time', says Steve. ‘One retreatant - a busy mum - said that
she had received direction on her laptop in a quiet corner of a sports ground
in the evening while waiting for her son to finish baseball practice!'
He
said that a broadband connection was essential. One retreatant in an area
without broadband found the connection too slow and had to resort to telephone
direction only. There were occasional frustrations with signals dropping out.
‘I
have an understanding with my retreatants that if it happens more than three
times in an interview we will stop the Skype and continue by landline', he
said.
Despite
the occasional hiccups, Steve says Skype has great potential to allow all of
the Centres of Ignatian Spirituality to reach even greater numbers of people.
‘Being
able to communicate over distance from a home office (or any location if
holidays intervene) is a great benefit and a real blessing', he says. ‘We think
Ignatius would have approved.'
The
Diocese of Lismore is in the sixth year of a 10-year process to deepen the
Ignatian Spirituality of its constituents. Participants were selected and
invited by the Lismore Catholic Education Department for the retreat based on
their geographic spread, a discernment process and a desire to take part.
Steve
says it is hoped that some of the participants from last year will continue and
do the Arrupe Program, training to offer the Spiritual Exercises themselves.
For
more about the Centres of Ignatian Spirituality, go to www.cis.jesuit.org.au.