Summer SD1 Students Share Testimonies

Every year the Institute for Ministry Formation hosts SD1: The Art of Accompaniment at St. Vincent Seminary. The course is offered in a 5-day intensive format with students staying on campus. The in-person option for this course becomes an immersion retreat in accompaniment with opportunities to participate in the Liturgy of the Hours, chanted by St. Vincent monks and to attend Mass with the monks each morning. This summer, seventeen students gathered at Saint Vincent Archabbey to take the course. Here are some testimonies of their experience:

“I just completed The Art of Accompaniment and I wanted to give a big thank you to Fr. Boniface & Fr. Thomas. The week was packed with information but couched in prayer and attention to the presence of the Holy Spirit. Thank you both!” – Sandy Trimble

“SD1 changed my life when I learned that I could never hear the Spirit speak to me through my intellect and its offspring, “pride” and “self-reliance.” Only in my heart, natural, vulnerable, and thirsting for the Lord, would I be able to able to hear the still, quiet voice of the Holy Spirit. My prayer life has changed as I learn to listen and pray with my heart.” – Doug Maser

“I found the SD1 class to be the base for establishing honest connections in our interior where God dwells in love. The connections are between spiritual director, God and the spiritual directee.” – Joe Koeberle

“Attending SD1: Art of Accompaniment honestly changed my life. The content, prayer, fellowship with the community of those who attended, and the opportunity to receive from Fr. Boniface and Fr. Acklin was so life-giving and healing for me. I grew not just in knowledge but in my own receptivity to being accompanied in vulnerability, and have realized that I can only give accompaniment to others if I allow myself to be accompanied, too. I received so much from just this one week, and I’m so grateful to now be able to share what I received with others! The formation provided at SD1 is absolutely transformative and so needed everywhere in our Church today. This would absolutely change our Church from the parish up if every parish could experience this!” – Miara Cash

To learn more about SD1: The Art of Accompaniment and the Spiritual Direction Program, click here.