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John Shea

Resources for Spirituality, Formation and Mission
If you are part of a faith-based community
            and seek to deepen its communal life and further its mission, 
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or if you are part of a faith-based organization 
            and seek to integrate its mission into its life and service,
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and if you suspect storytelling is central to  making this happen,  
            you have come to the right site

ABOUT THIS SITE

To understand what is on this site, it is necessary to understand where I have been. So please accept this personal introduction as the basis of what this site is about.  

 

For more years than I care to count, I have been involved in Catholic Pastoral Life and Catholic Health Care. 

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In Catholic Pastoral Life, I have been an associate pastor, given parish retreats and missions, taught seminarians and ministers, and given talks and workshops at religious education conferences throughout the United States as well as in Canada, England, and Ireland. 

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In Catholic Health Care, I have designed and implemented formation programs for sponsors, boards, Executives, Mission Leaders, and frontline caregivers as well as     consulted on patient care, and organizational development.           

 

Although my experience is predominantly Catholic, the resources I want to share with you are relevant to all Christian communities of faith and Christian organizations. They can be summarized in the website subtitle: spirituality, formation, and mission. 

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Wherever I found myself, I was always carrying the same double agenda.

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First, I wanted to help grassroots people in communities and organizations integrate their faith into their personal and work lives, to help them bring what they most deeply believed into how they thought, felt, willed, and acted. Anything I wrote, I wrote to give them the knowledge and skills to do this.

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Second, storytelling was central to this faith-integration process.  People told their experiences in story form and we brought forward stories from the Scripture and traditions of Christianity and other faith traditions to dialogue with them. Out of this dialogue came faith-based convictions, values, and strategies to guide them.  

 

For the pastoral life of communities of faith, you will find:

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Pastoral Interpretations of Christian Beliefs

Resources for Teaching and Preaching the Gospels 

Gospel Reflections for Bulletins and Website

Methods for Grassroots Theological Reflection

Personal Stories of Faith Development

Spiritual Teaching Stories of Faith Traditions

Poetry to Inspire Spirit

Spiritual Practices for Contemporary Living

                                                 

For faith-based organizational life and service, you will find:

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How to Use Storytelling in Formation Processes

How to Resource Formation Processes

How to Implement Formation Processes

How to Work with Values Integration

How to Use Heritage and Tradition to Meet Challenges

Spirituality in the Workplace: Theory and Practices

Reflections for Newsletters and Websites

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In each category of resources, there will be a Guide introducing the resources and explaining their content and rationale.

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I hope these resources will become good dialogue partners for you and contribute to your knowledge and skills in spirituality, formation and mission.

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