This rejoinder provides a response to reactions by Ponterotto, Sue, and Toporek to the White dialectics framework presented in Todd and Abrams's article. The present response focuses on incorporating multidimensionality, the multilevel nature of context, and the potential for transformation in the White dialectics framework. The authors expand…

World Youth Day, a youth-focused Catholic celebration, is the largest recurring youth event in the world. The 10th International World Youth Day (WYD) was held from 15-20 July 2008, in Sydney, Australia and attenders participated in a week-long series of religious events and activities. Little research in English has been conducted on WYD…

Spirituality is a potential area of concern for counseling clients. This study presents the empirical results of a survey completed by 572 counselors to determine if counselors' spiritual beliefs, experiences, or training had an impact on their focus of therapy or self-perceived competence. A counselor's personal spirituality, spiritual…

The qualitative research project, Young People and Spirituality, was conducted as part of my doctoral studies exploring the phenomenon of contemporary youth spirituality. The findings mirrored sociological accounts of postmodern religion, as most participants' beliefs fell into one of two categories: "New Age" or "evangelical". These two forms of…

This research was designed to answer the question, "What are the characteristics of adult to student structured mentoring programs occurring in Christian high schools?" In the process of answering this question, the following two sub-questions were also answered: "What role does the mentor and mentee play in an adult to student structured…

The present study explored a multi-construct model of moral development. Variables commonly seen in the moral development literature, such as family interactions, spiritual life, ascription to various sources of moral authority, empathy, shame, guilt and moral judgement competence, were investigated. Results from the current study support previous…

Although widespread consensus exists that the integration of Christian worldview, faith and learning lies at the heart of effective Christian education, such an aspiration has not always resulted in the embodiment of worldview principles within Christian educational contexts. In response to this dissonance, an alternative approach to integration…

This study describes the development of the Spiritual Competency Scale, which was based on the Association for Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling's original Spiritual Competencies. Participants were 662 counseling students from religiously based and secular universities nationwide. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 22-item,…

This study focuses on what aspects of attributes of spirituality as defined by Martsolf and Mickley (1998) are most salient for female and male survivors of sexual violence. Content analysis of secondary narrative data, provided by 50 participants in a study of women's and men's responses to sexual violence, was coded to the five attributes of…

Bonhoeffer's "Life Together" describes disciplines for Christian formation. Based on communal life, these disciplines assist Christians to take seriously Christ's call to discipleship. This article describes the disciplines of dispersion and community, reading Scripture, prayer, solitude, discernment, service and confession. Disconnected from…

The author describes founding "KidSpirit" magazine and her experiences thus far in engaging a teen editorial board. Of special note are quotations from young people themselves, including one who defines "spirituality" as the "indescribable feeling of connection with everything...the unlimited question and the undefined answer: The Journey."

The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre's critique of modern ethics and his virtue-centered alternative suggest that counseling can be considered a form of applied virtue ethics, helping clients cultivate the qualities necessary to live the good life. Although similar to developmental theory and positive psychology, this perspective also questions…

In the Unitarian tradition, Coming of Age (COA) is the counterpart of confirmations or bar/bat mitzvahs, with much less structure. Unitarians are all about freedom of thought, of belief, of expression, and this young adult rite of passage is an opportunity for each young person to say to the congregation, "This is what I believe." The author…

This article describes what is happening in the world of spiritual supports for children and adults with disabilities and their families. The good news is that individuals with disabilities are being seen all year long in many faith communities, families with kids with special needs are being welcomed and supported, and, best of all, there is…

The Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) program is designed to increase psychological strength and positive performance and to reduce the incidence of maladaptive responses of the entire U.S. Army. Based on the principles of positive psychology, CSF is a historically unique approach to behavioral health in a large (1.1 million members)…