In this blog post, Fr. Boniface Hicks, director of the Institute For Ministry Formation, offers a comprehensive overview of the IMF’s vision of accompaniment and how we’re fostering a culture of accompaniment within the church.
In the Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium—EG) Pope Francis wrote: “The Church will have to initiate everyone – priests, religious and laity – into this ‘art of accompaniment’ which teaches us to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other (cf. Ex 3:5)” (EG 169). In response to Pope Francis’s summons, our Institute for Ministry Formation (IMF) at Saint Vincent Seminary is building a culture of accompaniment. The Church considers this to be foundational for the reception of the Gospel, for genuine spiritual encounter, for growth in holiness and for the development of the Christian community. That naturally raises the questions: what is accompaniment and how is the IMF building a culture of accompaniment?
What is accompaniment?
The starting point and foundation of accompaniment is a posture of active receptivity. The one who accompanies develops a vulnerable openness that makes room for the most vulnerable parts of another’s heart. Pope Francis described this in terms of God’s revelation to Moses in the burning bush (cf. Ex 3:5), describing it as ”remov[ing] our sandals before the sacred ground of the other.” He uses this image to illustrate the reverence that is due to every human heart. Every human heart is a revelation of God. God is in the life of every person. One who accompanies learns to find God in the life of every person. For this revelation of God to unfold, it requires a lot of vulnerability, which in turn requires a lot of trust.
The one who accompanies must be trustworthy and learn how to earn the trust of the one being accompanied. How? “The pace of this accompaniment must be steady and reassuring, reflecting our closeness and our compassionate gaze which also heals, liberates and encourages growth in the Christian life” (EG 169). To accomplish this we must learn the art of listening that enables genuine spiritual encounter: “We need to practice the art of listening, which is more than simply hearing. Listening, in communication, is an openness of heart which makes possible that closeness without which genuine spiritual encounter cannot occur” (EG 171). This listening is not just transactional, merely seeking information or collecting ideas. It is not like the “listening” that artificial intelligence can do. Nor is it primarily a matter of analyzing or judging the self-revelation of another. Rather, one must take a posture of discovery, and seek, first of all, to receive and understand what is being freely shared. This helps to affirm the goodness of the person. Such listening is transformational. Pope Francis says it is the necessary condition for genuine spiritual encounter to occur (cf. EG 171).
After the primary movement of receiving, the one who accompanies may also have something to offer. The foundational gift is to affirm the goodness of another’s being. Each person is a gift, but we can only experience ourselves as gift through the authentic delight of another. The one who accompanies seeks to model Christ’s own merciful love. In accompaniment, one gets a taste of how Christ Himself receives and loves each person. This goes hand in hand with a genuine desire for the person’s greatest thriving, which will always be along the way of the Gospel. That desire may lead to a gesture or a word, but always in a way that rises up from a unique love for this unique person: “Listening helps us to find the right gesture and word which shows that we are more than simply bystanders” (EG 171). Our transformation into Christ by grace (cf. Gal 2:20), is what brings us abundance of life (cf. Jn 10:10). That transformation always occurs in the context of Christ-like relationships of accompaniment: ” Only through such respectful and compassionate listening can we enter on the paths of true growth and awaken a yearning for the Christian ideal: the desire to respond fully to God’s love and to bring to fruition what he has sown in our lives” (EG 171).
How is the IMF building a culture of accompaniment?
We learn to accompany others by being accompanied, as Pope Francis pointed out (EG 172). For this reason, the IMF always facilitates an experience of accompaniment when forming others to offer accompaniment. The IMF accompanies individuals, teams, parishes and dioceses. The most robust formation occurs when an individual commits to one of our 18-20 credit certificate or 36-38 credit degree programs. These formation programs include extensive classroom learning experiences from highly educated and acclaimed professors. At the same time, the courses include practice exercises, and the curricula include mentored practica so as to give each student concrete experiences of offering and receiving accompaniment. Furthermore, each student is required to have a spiritual director, in order to facilitate the optimal, relational growth environment that supports his or her studies. The IMF provides asynchronous accompaniment formation through podcasts, articles, videos, and specialized social networking spaces on the Mighty Networks platform.
The IMF accompanies teams, such as parish staffs and ministry leadership teams, through formation workshops. These workshops include a combination of group and individual processes of accompaniment. The IMF provides personalized accompaniment for team members using specialized inventories such as Clifton Strengths, Called and Gifted and our own Spiritual Inventory developed by Fr. Boniface. The teaching on accompaniment that is then provided to the group leverages the personalized experience gained from each member’s individualized accompaniment. This helps the group to learn better and also gives the opportunity for a deeper appreciation of the sacredness and uniqueness of each member of the group.
The IMF accompanies parishes through parish workshops and parish missionizing that include both group and individual forms of accompaniment. Similar to the model used with teams, the IMF aims at providing individual accompaniment as much as possible. This can include forming some members of a parish to use the specialized inventories for providing accompaniment to fellow parishioners. By facilitating as much individual accompaniment as possible, the teaching to a larger group of parishioners in a one-, two-, or three-day workshop or mission can bring about the greatest impact. In order to help a parish shift as effectively as possible to a culture of accompaniment, the formation must be as broad and deep as possible among the pastor, parishioners and the parish staff.
The IMF accompanies dioceses through offering formation workshops to the pastoral staff. These workshops include group and individual forms of accompaniment described above for teams. Then, in collaboration with the diocesan pastoral staff, the IMF helps to cascade this process throughout the diocese. By working with the pastoral staff, the IMF can help the diocesan staff to practice accompaniment with parishes. This models a culture of accompaniment for the parishes. Furthermore, the IMF provides formation of individuals and helps to initiate parish processes of transformation as described above in order to bring about a culture of accompaniment throughout the diocese.