Spiritual Accompaniment for
LGBTQ Catholics, former Catholics, and parents
Welcome! If you are seeking a safe place to explore your relationship with the Divine, your LGBTQ identity (or your child’s), and are a former, marginal, or practicing Catholic, The Welcome Table spiritual companionship ministry was created just for you. Here you will find the space and time to truly embrace God's infinite and unconditional love for you, communicate directly with the Creator, listen in silence to Their heart, and see the many ways in which God has been present and active in your daily life and relationships.
Come for healing, for peace, to practice being in the presence of the Divine, to discern next steps in your life, or to discover meaning in your journey with God and others. You are cherished and known. Come to receive this blessing from the Gift-Giver alongside an attentive and prayerful spiritual companion.
Contemplative Presence
Vicki Sheridan - Spiritual Companion
I am a Roman Catholic daily Mass participant with an MDiv, bisexual mother of three LGBTQ young adults, coordinator of an LGBTQ Catholic community, an active contemplative, and a spiritual companion formed in the Benedictine tradition. Most recently I have been shaped by the theological work of Sofia Cavaletti (founder, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd), the spiritual writings of Sr. Ruth Burrows, OCD, St. Francis de Sales, and Jean Paul de Caussade (author of Abandonment to Divine Providence).
As a spiritual companion I strive to lean on God's grace and utilize the most effective techniques of deep listening to assist you in recognizing, acknowledging, and articulating God's movement in your life. The content of our conversation will be your relationship with God as manifested in your prayer practices, relationships, and the events of your daily life. This kind of spiritual conversation differs significantly from pastoral counseling or catechetical instruction, and does not center on the wisdom or experiences of the spiritual companion. Each session allows participants an opportunity to explore in freedom and safety their experience of the Divine.
Contemplative presence is the gift of being drawn into God's Love directly or through another person. This occurs when we cooperate with God's grace to release what we hold too closely so that the hands of our souls, extended and open, are empty and ready to receive. Spiritual companions may offer this contemplative presence to others in sessions by relying on the action of the Spirit and the fruit of their own spiritual disciplines. Practitioners with whom they walk may experience this contemplative presence as a moment of gazing at the Sacred, absorbing how deeply they are loved.
What is spiritual companionship?