Reflections on the Spitzer Center's Programs from the Diocese of Phoenix

 

 

Fr. Robert Spitzer on the Priestly Vocation

 

Fr. Robert Spitzer Debates the Question, "Did God Create the Universe?" on Larry King Live

 

The Four Levels of Happiness^®

Happiness is the only goal that people pursue for its own sake, which makes it an ideal lens for explaining why people and organizations behave as they do. Put simply, happiness can be sought at higher or lower levels that either lift us up or drag us down.

 

The Four Levels of Happiness model aligns well with the Christian view of the human person. While all the levels are good, happiness becomes more pervasive, enduring and deep as one goes up the scale. Level Four represents the perfect, unrestricted and eternal happiness that comes from union with God. The grace of divine love also helps individuals and groups to enjoy the lower levels in a healthy way.

 

The Four Levels model is also a practical tool for organizational growth. It shows leaders how to elevate the powerful drive for happiness and direct it toward contribution over comparison, trust over suspicion, and optimism over pessimism. Click here for a full description of the Four Levels.

 

 

Why the Spitzer Center Adopted a Catholic Mission

By Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J.

Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J.

Here at the Spitzer Center, the last few years have been a lesson in the Lord’s wisdom. We have been challenged by trying to meet the needs of two very different audiences – faith-based, Catholic organizations and secular, for-profit organizations.  We were founded on the hope the Center could meet the needs of both audiences. In practice, we found ourselves treading a middle path on which it was difficult to manage the different needs of both audiences. So we decided it would be best to serve the Catholic community through the Spitzer Center and the for-profit community through a separate new organization, EPI (www.learnepi.com).

The most obvious change to visitors of this website is that we have a new name and mission. We are no longer the “Spitzer Center for Ethical Leadership.” We are now known simply as the Spitzer Center. Our mission is to strengthen culture, faith and spirit in Catholic organizations for the new evangelization. 

To fulfill this mission, we’re “baptizing” our flagship program, the Journey to Excellence, which is rooted in the Four Levels of Happiness®, but taking it to a whole new level – Level 4 (transcendent, faith-based happiness and purpose in life). Our new curriculum devotes much more time to showing people how to reach and maintain Level 4 happiness and purpose that flows from the love of God. Catholic organizations have a unique advantage. They can actually build a Level 4 culture – a workplace defined by service to God, in which even mundane tasks can become a source of profoundly deep and enduring value.

Our goal at the Center is to help Church organizations to be inspired by a renewed sense of mission and evangelization, and so we are adding two new programs to help people 1) strengthen their faith foundation and 2) develop a deep but practical spiritual life.

1. Strengthening Faith.  Today, there is more evidence for the existence of God from physics and philosophy and evidence for the historicity of Jesus than at any other time in Church history. This evidence has come to light through truly outstanding physicists as well as exceptional New Testament exegetes, yet most of our young people (and our Church administrators and leaders) have not so much as even heard about this evidence. As a consequence, secular philosophy has begun to make its way into the minds of our most educated Catholics, who are seemingly more aware of the work of pop-culture skeptics and atheists than the new evidence for their faith. Our objective in this curriculum is to expose our audience to this remarkable body of new evidence, and to so in an accessible way. This information will not only expose the flaws of pop-culture skepticism and atheism but also open several new intellectual horizons of faith and mission. This will help to stem the tide of skeptical and secular thinking and help Catholics to answer questions they face when evangelizing. Our past clients have considered this information to be truly transformative to individuals and communities.
    
2. Practical spirituality. Faithful Catholics are also eager to deepen their spiritual lives, however many do not know how to do this, and most do not have access to a spiritual director. That need inspired a book entitled, Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life: a Practical Guide to Prayer for Active People. The Center is offering a program with the same title which can be used for both individual and community prayer. It treats five important areas of spirituality:
       a. Mass and the Eucharist,
       b. Following the Holy Spirit (and discernment of spirits),
       c. The examen prayer and the beatitudes,
       d. Spontaneous prayers, and
       e. Deepening your contemplative life. 

In addition to helping individuals deepen their relationship with the Lord, this program can also help Catholic organizations develop a deeper communal spiritual life, in which prayer and discernment become a source of unity, strength, and advancement of a great mission.

We’re grateful for the work of our Board and our partners in the Church who helped us discern this new mission. We look forward to many years of serving the Church by helping her organizations to flourish. 
 

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Last changed: Mar 31 2011 at 8:26 AM