People who are eligible to take the course:
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.