A two-year, four-semester program designed to train spiritual companions will begin in September at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church in Hampden.

“Healing Spiritual Shame: Discovering the Pearl of Great Price” will be led by Tim Achorn, owner of Shepherd’s Path bookstore in Bangor and a parishioner at St. Matthew’s. The program was designed by the Rich in Mercy Institute in Colorado Springs, Colo., the outreach arm of the Mercy Center for Healing the Whole Person.

The organization takes its name from Pope John Paul II’s 1980 encyclical “Dives in Misericordia” or “Rich in Mercy,” which instructed Christians “… to show mercy to others, knowing that Christ accepts it as if it were shown to himself.”

The program is designed to train men and women to help others find and continue their own spiritual journeys, according to Achorn. The courses are designed for experimental learning and include lectures and readings on the theology, psychology, spirituality and social dimensions of mercy.

“Some people can’t find God or don’t know what direction God is pointing them in,” Achorn said in explaining the need for the program. “Others know the way, but are not sure how to get started down the path. The program is designed to enable people to become spiritual companions and help others along that journey. It emphasizes listening, but not interpreting. My wife has been doing this with her friends for years.”

Topics discussed in the first session will include Sacred Images of God, the Mystery of the Prayer Mandala, Masculine and Feminine Archetypes of Holiness, Openness to Change and Healing, Discernment – Understanding God’s Pleasure, and Longing for God’s Will, among others.

The other three-semester programs to be held in spring 2002, fall 2002 and spring 2003 are: Healing Our Images of God: Mercy or Misery; Beyond Guilt into Giftedness: Spiritual Maturity and Holiness; and Madness or Mysticism – Addiction or Ecstasy: The Quest for Holiness.

In his encyclical on mercy, the Pope stated that “Merciful love is supremely indispensable between husbands and wives, between parents and children, and between friends; and it is indispensable in education and pastoral work.”

According to information provided by the Institute, the program “will show the student how to integrate mercy into his or her daily life, to accept and play a subordinate role in the art of ‘listening.’ … Also included as essential to the program will be Veneration of the Cross, spiritual companionship and examination of consciousness that helps us fulfill Jesus’ proclamation that He came to teach us how to ‘live life to the full’ (sic).”

Achorn said training and empowering lay members of congregations to be spiritual companions was one of the ways parishes are trying to meet the shortage of priests it faces. In the past, parishioners turned to priests when they had questions about their personal spiritual journeys. He said the Mercy Institute’s spiritual companion program is designed to allow a trained lay person to be available when a priest cannot be.

“I look at this as gifting the lay people to become more involved in their spiritual community,” Achorn said. “I feel a distinct calling to this. The program is really about learning when to keep your mouth shut and listen to other people, and knowing the time to give input. Often, when people try to tell us something, we interject our own experience rather than listen to what their experience is.”

Classes will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Fridays and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

Sessions are scheduled for Sept. 7 and 8, Oct. 12 and 13, Nov. 9 and 10, and a final retreat to be scheduled later. Cost of the program is $100 per semester and includes course workbooks. For more information, call Achorn at 942-4298.