• Rose Mary Dougherty

    • Rose Mary (1939-2019) was Shalem's Senior Fellow for Spiritual Guidance,  ministered in the area of spirituality for over 30 years and was well known as a spiritual teacher and guide. She authored two books on group spiritual direction and one on discernment and founded Companioning the Dying, an experiential learning program for compassionate companioning.

Conversions of Consciousness

“Jesus is concerned with eliciting a conversion of consciousness from those not yet able to understand, and not with imparting information to a deluded pattern of consciousness.” (John P. Keenan, The Gospel of Mark: A Mahayana Reading) As I reflect on the events of September 11 and our nation’s way of responding, I realize that […]

September 09, 2020 by Rose Mary Dougherty

Please Come Back

by Rose Mary Dougherty A wooden heart hangs on my office door; one side says, “Welcome,” the other, “Please come back.” Sometimes I forget to turn the sign and to leave the door open after my appointment has gone. Other times I choose to close the door and leave the sign turned, because I’m not […]

February 02, 2020 by Rose Mary Dougherty

Discernment as Responsible Love

Article by Rose Mary Dougherty, October 2019 eNews How can I be sure that I am doing God’s will? How do I know that what I discern is really what God wants and not just what I want? How can I be certain that I’ll make the right decision? These are the questions most frequently […]

October 10, 2019 by Rose Mary Dougherty

Wake Up Call

Article by Rose Mary Dougherty (April 2019 eNews) Several weeks ago, I was staying in one of my favorite places—Bon Secours Spiritual Center. It had been a long day, and I was sleeping soundly. At 3:40 am, I awoke with a start to the sound of someone hammering at my door. I could hear a […]

April 04, 2019 by Rose Mary Dougherty

Listen to the Mockingbird

Today’s post is by Rose Mary Dougherty Recently, I have been struck by the song of the mockingbird. I have one (the same one every day, I think) that sits in a tree in my backyard, picking up the song of other birds and singing all evening long. I noticed that even when my neighbor […]

November 11, 2017 by Rose Mary Dougherty 4 Comments

Composting our Lives

by Rose Mary Dougherty* *Excerpted from her article, “Composting our Lives” from Shalem’s News, Volume 33, No. 1-Winter, 2009. The full issue may be viewed here. Several years ago, I was participating in a retreat (where)… we were to spend one day outdoors in the surrounding wooded area. Our instructions were to go outdoors, follow […]

January 01, 2009 by Rose Mary Dougherty 2 Comments

Becoming Who We Are

by Rose Mary Dougherty (from the Shalem Archives, 1996) Several months ago I had what I have come to call “my recurring dream.” I’ve had the same dream periodically over the past ten years. In the dream I am young and I am going to several personal wisdom figures, asking them if they think I […]

December 12, 1996 by Rose Mary Dougherty 1 Comment

Group Spiritual Direction: What Is It?

An Online Version of The Shalem Pamphlet on Group Spiritual Direction by Rose Mary Dougherty Group spiritual direction is a process in which people gather together on a regular basis to assist one another in an ongoing awareness of God in all of life. They are seeking support for their responsiveness to God and they […]

January 01, 1995 by Rose Mary Dougherty 5 Comments