2022 Spiritual Assistance Class

People who are eligible to take the course:

• Friars
• Seculars who have been professed a minimum of 5 years and recommended by their local fraternity council
• Franciscan religious
• Clergy and members of other religious Orders
• Spiritual Assistants who wish to upgrade their knowledge

• Those wanting to serve the Queen of Peace Region in a local fraternity
• Seculars who have been professed for a minimum of 5 years and recommended by their local fraternity council
• Clergy and members of other religious Orders

• Franciscan Family Connections, revised edition 2011
• Handbook for Spiritual Assistants to the Secular Franciscan Order, revised edition 2012
• Essential Documents of the Secular Franciscan Order, revised edition 2014
• Handbook for Secular Franciscan Servant Leaders, revised 2010
• Elements of Formation, 1992

• Ritual of the Secular Franciscan Order, 1985

• Bible

• After ordering the Franciscan Family Connections book, read pages i-iv.
• Page ii, #3. REGISTRATION will be done through the Regional Spiritual Assistant, Kathy Taormina, OFS. kathysfo@hotmail.com
• DO NOT send your “Letter of Intent” directly to the Provincial Spiritual Assistant [PSA].
• Send ALL of #3 to Kathy and she will forward it to the appropriate bonding Province.
• Kathy Taormina, OFS, 920 Whitney Drive, Apple Valley MN  55124 or kathysfo@hotmail.com
• Registration materials MUST be received by March 31, 2022.

• The course is primarily accomplished by correspondence.
• The coursework will be sent, preferably via email or post mail if necessary.  One chapter per month.
• We will meet face to face at the beginning of the course and at least once a year, preferably twice a year if feasible.
• The face-to-face classes will be held with ALL of the students in the SA Class.  In this way, we will have time to share, learn, and mentor each other.  This time will be a resource for each of us as we serve the OFS.

STEPS TO BECOME A SPIRITUAL ASSISTANT in the Queen of Peace Region

FOR OFS:
1. Discuss this with your fraternity, for they will/must recommend you in writing.
2. Understand the seriousness and the commitment required to be a Spiritual Assistant (SA)
FOR ALL:
3: Contact the Regional Spiritual Assistant (RSA) to begin the procedure.
4. Begin the SA class by procuring all the required paperwork and documents.
5. Begin the class. The class is mainly by correspondence, but there will be times when we meet in person.
6. The SA class takes three years to complete, along with two in-person interviews.
7. No one is guaranteed certification just by taking the class.
8. During the time of the SA class, the person is required to attend all of their own fraternity meetings.
9. When the person is certified, the RSA, with recommendations will consider the person for commissioning.
10. If the RSA states the person is well-prepared, they will be commissioned as an SA.
11. After the commissionoing, the person will intern with a seasoned local SA in a fraternity of the directors choosing. The internship will be no less than 6 months.
12. A fraternity Council then sends a request to appoint the SA to their fraternityu to the RSA.
13 The RSA will then begin the process of getting the person officially appointed by the Provincial Spiritual Assistant.
14. Once the official appointment is made, the person will be installed as the fraternity's SA.
15. SA terms are usually for three years, up to a totral of 12 accumulated years.

Rewminders:
*** Costs of the class are the individual's responsibility.
*** A person taking the class, or passing it, does not ensure an SA appointment.
*** This is a long process, which enables the person to become a "well-trained" SA for the OFS.
*** Friars and Franciscan Sisters should take the course to be "well-trained" in the OFS governing docuiments (Rule, Constitution, USA Statutes, the QOP Regional Guidelines, the Statutes for Spiritual and Pastoral Assistants to the OFS, and the Handbook for Spiritual Assistants to the OFS) and to clearly understand secular spirituality, and moreover Franciscan secular spirituality. The life in fraternity experiences of the friars and Franciscan sisters is invaluable to the whole class.
*** A commissioned SA in our Region will not be appoined to serve their own fraternity if there are other SA choices available.