Emmaus Programme

The Emmaus Programme is a venture to train and provide spiritual guides for Catholic Headteachers who would appreciate such support.

This project arose out of the National Retreat. After experiencing retreat, many Headteachers asked for spiritual direction or accompaniment – there were not enough spiritual directors or guides adequately to respond to these requests.

The Emmaus programme is a collaboration between the Catholic Independent Schools Conference (CISC), EducareM and the Jesuit Institute.

The training programme consists of half-day sessions once a month over nine months. It also includes a residential individually guided retreat and a residential weekend of training.

Training includes sessions on spiritual accompaniment, led by Ruth Holgate (Director of Loyola Hall Spirituality Centre) and sessions on basic psychological skills, led by Roger Dawson SJ (Director of St Beuno’s Spirituality Centre). The programme is devised and co-ordinated by the Jesuit Institute.

We need a church capable of walking at people’s side, of doing more than simply listening to them; a church that accompanies them on their journey; a church able to make sense of the “night” contained in the flight of so many of our brothers and sisters from Jerusalem; a church that realizes that the reasons why people leave also contain reasons why they can eventually return. But we need to know how to interpret, with courage, the larger picture. Jesus warmed the hearts of the disciples of Emmaus.

Pope Francis, when speaking to the bishops of Brazil, while in Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day in 2013.

They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them. (Luke 24:14-15)

Who are we looking for?

It is difficult to say exactly who might make a good spiritual guide for a serving Catholic Headteacher but it would most likely be someone who:

• is a practising Catholic, with prayer life, and some understanding of spirituality;
• prays each day and will be willing to do some guided spiritual reading regularly;
• is willing to undertake spiritual guidance/accompaniment themselves;
• is a good listener, and can help another person reflect, discern and pray, rather than seeking to solve their problems or propose the answers;
• will understand, and maybe have experienced, the pressures of being a Headteacher, and the context of a school, but understands that this role is not about giving educational advice;
• has the time to give to the training course (the monthly sessions are on weekdays);
• will, once training is completed, be able to give at least one hour each month or half-term to a serving Headteacher;
• will continue to attend occasional training sessions for continuing formation of their own skills.

Course Outline