December 2007
Pastoral Care and Counseling:
The Cure of Souls
10-14 December 2007

Pastoral care in our time has come to rely more and
more on the human sciences, in particular
psychology, for its effectiveness. This has resulted in
a basically therapeutic orientation to pastoral ministry
and in a preoccupation with helping people in crisis.
This trend, which shows no sign of abating, has
virtually obscured the primary historic role of
pastoral ministry which is to help people discern the
presence of God in their lives in good times and bad,
to assist them not only in times of crisis but to aid
them with the challenges of their everyday lives, to
teach them how to pray, to provide guidance for their
spiritual journeys, and to help them live more
lovingly and faithfully with themselves and with their
fellows.

This introductory course aims to understand the
ministry of pastoral care and counseling from the
perspective of what has traditionally been called cura
animarum, Latin for the care or cure of souls. Any
responsible retrieval of contemporary care of souls
needs to minister to people's spiritual formation
without neglecting their other needs and wants, and
to do this not only in times of crisis but also in the
course of ordinary daily living, for the purpose of
helping them discern the presence and leadings of the
Holy Spirit.

B.A., Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut
B.D., Yale University
Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary.

• Diplomate and past President of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors
• Supervisor, American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
• Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation
• Associate Priest, Grace Episcopal Church, Elmira, New York
• Spiritual Directors International

Han van den Blink brings to his interest in Anglican spiritual formation many years of experience as a psychologist and pastoral counselor. He is particularly interested in retrieving what has been traditionally called the cura animarum, or cure of souls, tending to peoples’ spiritual needs from a perspective which is based in a practice of prayer and a rule of life, and which is theologically articulate, psychologically informed, and politically aware.

Fr. van den Blink has received training in spiritual direction at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation and is a member of the Fellowship of St. John, an associate order of the Society of St. John the Evangelist. He is also a member of the Society of Pastoral Theology, a Diplomate of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, of which he is past President, and a Clinical Member and Approved Supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. In December 2001 he was elected as the new Chaplain General of the Community of the Transfiguration in
Cincinnati, Ohio.

Application and Registration forms may be found on our web site at www.bexley.edu/forms

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