Hello all!

I just wanted to give an update on some good news. This is Fr. Bryan Ochs, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Lacey, WA, St. Columban Catholic Church in Yelm WA, and St. Peter in Tenino WA. Today we just had our first of 5 classes on Discernment of Spirits and wanted to give an update and encouragement to other teachers.

We had a morning session and Evening Session with 125 people total between the two. This was advertised in our parish bulletin, and I promoted it from the pulpit at Mass, and I offered personal invitations. It was pitched as "Overcoming Spiritual Discouragement," at the suggestion of Fr. Gallagher.

People were able to sign up online. I think we actually had more people there than actual signups. We made the book optional, and I would say about 2/3 of the participants bought the book. We sold the books as a bundle, including The Discernment of Spirits and the Readers guide. Some other people bought books on their own on Amazon. (Sorry Fr. Mark)

Our first session covered a lot of material. I was worried it would be too much, but it worked out well. In total we finished both sessions within an hour and a half. People were seated at round tables in the parish hall.

Here is a breakdown:

1) Welcome

2) Introducing Presenters and then a small group introduction at tables. Name, family situation, what drew you to this?

3) Told some basic but made up stories of people struggling with spiritual discouragement. - This is why we are here.

4) Opening Prayer

5) Introduction to the life of St. Ignatius. "His eyes were opened a little."

6) Title - Intro to Paradigm (Be Aware/Understand/Act)

7) Rule 1 (used Augustine's conversion story, as in the book)

8) Rule 2

9) Small group discussion: "Over the last few days when you thought of coming to this presentation, what thoughts and "voices" did you experience that discouraged you from coming? Were there any thoughts and "voices" that encouraged you?" This helped them integrate the material for Rule 2, and it led to some pretty funny discussions as people shared the reasons that they almost didn't come. (I told them after that if they actually shared any discouraging words they actually might have followed rule 13).

10 Logistics Update and Closing prayer

Pretty much did everything as Fr. Gallagher taught us back in November. People stuck around and talked with each other, and I received some very, very positive feedback. Next week we will cover rules 3-5. Can't wait!

Fr. Bryan