Spiritual Abuse: A Conversation on Recognizing and Preventing it

What is spiritual violence and spiritual abuse? There’s still so much to discover about accompanying each other on our faith journey, and living a spirituality of unity should never be an excuse to manipulate or exercise power over other people. With this webinar, we hope to raise awareness by talking openly about how to both prevent spiritual abuse and build healthy relationships.

Speakers

• Renata Furst teaches at the Oblates School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas. She specializes in the areas of scripture and spirituality and gives retreats to dioceses on a local and national level. She is particularly interested in teaching human formation and spiritual direction from an intercultural perspective. Dr. Furst also teaches in Magis, a program to train spiritual directors to accompany others in the format of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
• Nancy O’Donnell started her career as a nurse specialized in child psychiatry. She holds a PhD from Yeshiva University in New York in clinical psychology and specialized in treatment of drug addiction and sexual abuse disorders. Lecturer in psychology courses, particularly women’s psychology, at Marist College, New York. She is a single focolarina and lives currently at the formation center in Loppiano, Italy.
• Birgit Oberhofer is a focolarina from Germany who has lived in various parts of the US for almost 15 years. She currently lives at Mariapolis Luminosa, the Focolare’s little city, and is one of the Coordinators of the Youth Center for North America (YCNA). She has a degree in pedagogy/science of education from Ludwigs-Maximilians-University in Germany and a Masters in Pastoral Ministry with concentration in Spiritual Direction from St. John’s School of Theology and Seminary in Collegeville, MN.
• Kevin Kelley is a member of the Focolare Movement and lives in Woodstock, IL. He is the program coordinator for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults program for the North American Zone of the Focolare Movement. He served in the U.S. Army for 25 years and taught Junior ROTC and History at the high school level in Chicago Public Schools for 13 years. He currently practices regenerative farming, raising various breeds of livestock in a humane manner to produce clean food and replenish soil health.