<p> Congregations often find it difficult to define their purpose, but even more when they are a merged congregation of two different mainline Protestant denominations. Theology, polity, and tradition must be assessed, combined, and relearned in such a way that there is health, growth, and service motivated out of a desire to serve God and bring about his Kingdom, not just self-service as the local church. <b>If we as the local church are to live out our responsibility as</b> <i><b>&ldquo;imago Dei,&rdquo;</b></i> <b>God&rsquo;s image bearers in the world, then we must grow individually and as a collective group in Christian spiritual formation, seeking to mature as disciples of Christ.</b> This begins with fostering a deeper relationship with God and one another through intentional practices that encourage spiritual formation and discipleship. In turn these practices reap the rewards of turning the local church from an insular focus to external responsibility whereby using our hands and feet, we join God in his work of Kingdom building as Christ mandated. </p><p> This project takes an action research approach which studies, implements, and evaluates a four-part system by which a small local multi-denominational church begins to intentionally foster spiritual formation among the congregation over a fifteen-week period. First, the entire congregation will hear sermons presented from the pulpit during Sunday morning worship for twelve consecutive weeks focused on discipleship, spiritual formation and outreach to foster thinking in terms of God&rsquo;s Kingdom. Second, a small group of volunteer participants will meet over the same twelve weeks to go over the material discussed in the following Sunday&rsquo;s sermons and to be intentionally trained in using traditional Christian spiritual disciplines. Thirdly, the small group will participate in a day-long experiential learning retreat putting into practice some of the spiritual disciplines they have studied. Fourth, working together, the small group and larger congregation will host an outreach opportunity with the intention of beginning to build authentic relationships with the surrounding community. </p><p> As disciples who have been intentional in seeking to be spiritual formed, ministry within our local church has been focused on aligning our church&rsquo;s vision with that of God. Here the renewed, healthier, purposeful and mature congregation has begun to function rightly in our purpose of being image bearers of God doing ministry to build God&rsquo;s Kingdom. This project resulted in participants who are committed to growing in their faith and experienced the spiritual disciplines as a means of transformation into Christlikeness. The goals of being disciples who make disciples has begun as we move outside the church walls, attempt to build relationships with our community, and seek to bring others into the family of God.</p><p>

Schizophrenia is a severe and persistent mental illness. Nonetheless, recovery is often possible through pharmacotherapy in conjunction with psychosocial interventions, which help patients and their family members to develop coping strategies that alleviate distress associated with the symptoms of the illness and increase psychological well-being. Religion is one variable that has been strongly linked to the utilization of certain beneficial coping strategies and to greater psychological well-being. In a sample of 112 patients with schizophrenia and 87 of their family members, the present study examines the relationship between religion and two forms of coping that have been linked to positive outcomes in non-psychiatric and psychiatric populations alike: meaning-making and social support coping. While social support has consistently been associated with positive outcomes in the literature, new research suggests that assisting patients and family members to find meaning in the illness also improves psychiatric functioning and increases quality of life. In addition, prior research illustrates that these two coping styles may mediate the beneficial effects of religion on mental health (Chamberlain & Zika, 1992; McIntosh, Silver, & Wortman, 1993; Park, 2005). In line with hypotheses, we found that greater religion was related to less severe psychiatric symptoms among patients, while greater meaning-making coping was related to greater quality of life among patients and family members. Although findings did not support the mediation hypotheses in our sample, these findings have important implications for schizophrenia research and clinical practice. Clinicians should be aware of and sensitive to the ways in which patients and families utilize religion in the coping process. In addition, explicitly encouraging families to find meaning amidst adversity may improve quality of life among this distressed population. This paper also addressed several other interesting findings that replicate and extend previous research in this area.

CONCERNING FATHER LIBERMANN'S COMMENTARY ON ST JOHN'S GOSPEL -- CONTENTS -- Preface - Concerning the Commentary on St John's Gospel: Research and Animation Centre (Pg. 5) -- Father Libermann's Preface to his Commentary (Pg. 8) -- Knowledge of Judaism and Spiritan Spirituality: by Roger Le Deaut, CSSP (Pg. 10) -- Father Libermann and the reading of Sacred Scripture: by Claude Tassin, CSSp (Pg. 22) -- Realistic expectations of Libermann's Commentary on Saint John: by Michael Cahill, CSSp (Pg. 39) -- THE MARRIAGE FEAST AT CANA in the Commentary on St John: by Felix Gils, CSSp (Pg. 45) -- Father Libermann's commentary on Chapter 10 of the Gospel of saint John, THE GOOD SHEPERD: by Felix Porsch, CSSp (Pg. 66) -- Father Libermann's Commentary on Chapter 1 of the Gospel of saint John, THE CALL OF THE DISCIPLES: by James Okoye, CSSp (Pg. 88) -- Spiritan Bibliography 1986 (Pg. 96)

LIBERMANN SPIRITUAL GUIDE -- CONTENTS -- Preface - LIBERMANN SPIRITUAL GUIDE: Spiritan Research and Animation Center (Pg. 5) -- SPIRITAN AFTER LIBERMANN'S HEART: by Joseph Hirtz, CSSp (Pg. 8) -- FATHER LIBERMANN'S MESSAGE OF MODERATION, EQUILIBRIUM AND PEACE: by Mgr. Jean Gay, CSSp (Pg. 36) -- STRENGTH AND GENTLENESS: a page of the ECRITS SPIRITUELS OF Ven. F. Libermann (Pg. 58) -- FIRMNESS AND GENTLENESS IN THE SPIRITUALITY OF FATHER FRANCIS LIBERMANN: by Adrian van Kaam, CSSp (Pg. 59) -- Spiritan Bibliography 1987 (Pg. 85)

DEDICATED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY -- CONTENT -- Preface - &lt;&lt;Dedicated to the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Holy Heart of Mary&gt;&gt;: Spiritan Research and Animation Center (Pg. 5) -- HOLY SPIRIT, IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, MISSION, exegetical approach: by Lucien Deiss, CSSp (Pg. 7) -- THE SPIRIT AND THE HEART OF MARY, historical approach: by Michael O'Carroll, CSSp (Pg. 48) -- PERSONAL TESTIMONIES of some young missionaries concerning our Spiritan dedication (Pg. 76) -- Spiritan Bibliography 1988 (Pg. 88)

RE-READING POULLART DES PLACES (pg 3) -- THE DEATH OF THE VENERABLE FATHER LIBERMANN (pg 17) -- LIBERMANN'S RESPECT FOR HUMAN PERSONS (CONTINUATION) LIBERMANN AND HUMAN FREEDOM (pg 25) -- SOME QUESTIONS ON LIBERMANN (pg 47) -- BIBLIOGRAPHY (pg 55) -- Joseph Lecuyer

RE-READING POULLART DES PLACES (CONTINUED) (pg 3) -- LIBERMANN: THE MAKING OF AN APOSTLE (pg 18) -- HOW LIBERMANN READ THE GOSPEL: A STUDY OF THE COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN (pg 31) -- BIBLIOGRAPHY (pg 45)

Joseph LECUYER : ON RE-READING PULLART DES PLACE (continued) General and Particular Rules (pg 3) -- By means of the Rule which Poullart Des Places wrote for his Seminary, we can gain insight into the life of the Founder himself during his later years, and also get to know the spirit he wanted to inculcate into his work (pg 3) -- Amadeu MARTINS : LIBERMANN'S RESPECT FOR PERSONS (continued) Libermann gives principles for the spiritual direction of souls and for personal conduct, an art of which he was an incomparable master (pg 20) -- John MONTEIRO : FEBRUARY 2 IN NAIROBI, KENYA Holiness of the missionary vocation (pg 43) -- Joseph BOUCHAUD : THIRD MEETING OF THE SPIRITAN STUDIES GROUP (December 29, 30 and 31, 1977) (pg 51)

Amadeu MARTINS: "WHEN THE SPIRIT OF GOD INSPIRES A WORK..." -- From the time of the foundation of the Holy Ghost Seminary and Community to the time of the fusion with the Congregation of the Holy Heart of Mary, we can distinguish - ever more clearly - a central theme of thought and of action: it is the spirit of the Congregation which has its beginning in Poullart des Places and reached its full flowering in Libermann. -- (pg 3) -- "FIORETTI" OF FATHER LAVAL -- Some facts and thoughts drawn from his Process of Beautification -- (pg 26) -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- (pg 61)

SUMMARY -- BEAUTIFICATION OF FATHER LAVAL: -- FORMULA (Pg. 3) -- HOMILY OF HOLY FATHER (Pg. 5) -- HIS ALLOCUTION BEFORE "REGINA COELI" (Pg. 9) -- PANEGYRIC OF THE BISHOP OF EVREUX (St. LOUIS DES FRANCAIS) (Pg. 11) -- HOMILY OF THE BISHOP OF PORT LOUIS (St. MARY MAJOR) (Pg. 17) -- INTERVIEW WITH Fr. TIMMERMANS (VATICAN RADIO) (Pg. 23) -- AND HIS HOMILY (FRENCH SEMINARY) (Pg. 27) -- SERMONS OF FATHER LAVAL (Editor: Fr. LECUYER) (Pg. 33) -- THE TREATMENT FOR NERVOUS AILMENTS (Amadeu MARTINS) - Fr. Libermann suggests to sufferer the strategy her adopted when he began to give himself to God. (Pg. 39) -- BIBLIOGRAPHY (Pg. 59)