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About ACT

What is ACT?

The Association of Christian Therapists (ACT) is a Christian, professional, non-profit organization with strong Roman Catholic and Christian healing roots. It is made up of health care professionals and associates in physical, mental and spiritual health care disciplines who are committed to Jesus Christ and are open to integrating the gifts of the Holy Spirit into their lives and work. At this time the majority of the members identify with the Roman Catholic church, however, the Association invites and encourages members of all Christian identifications to join in its mission.

What is in ACT for you?

Specialty groups within the Association include: physicians, nurses, medical technicians, dentists, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, therapists, social workers, chiropractors, massage therapists, chaplains, clergy, religious, and lay apostolates with the recognized gift of healing. For more information about Specialty Groups, click on the Specialty Groups menu on ACT's Home page.

In addition, the Association is broken up into Regions spread across the entire U.S.A. as well as internationally. The various regions conduct meetings, gatherings, prayer sessions, retreats and healing conferences throughout the year. This is in addition to the Annual International Conference, usually held in early autumn. For more information about regional activities, click on the Regions menu on ACT's Home Page. That will bring up a map. Then click on the Region of interest box outside the map for that Region.

ACT's Identity Statement

• Vision: "To consecrate and integrate the healing professions under the Lordship of Jesus Christ."

• Mission: "To Support, Empower, and Witness to the healing professions and associates with the Heart and Mind of Jesus."

• Membership: Membership is open to all Christian health and mental health care professionals, clergy, Religious, and associates in healing ministries, who embrace ACT's vision and mission. ACT recognizes that all Christians are baptized into one family of faith. Its members are enriched by the spiritual perspectives and expressions of its members’ various Christian traditions and their openness to the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.

• Foundation/Prophetic Call: The Association of Christian Therapists began in August 1975 at Mount St. Augustine Apostolic Center in Staten Island, New York. As a group of healthcare professionals gathered to pray, study the Word of God, and share Holy Eucharist, they received a vision for the consecration of their disciplines to God. This vision also called for a fellowship of men and women in the physical, mental and spiritual health care fields to make a radical commitment to the person of Jesus Christ and His mission for wholeness and holiness through prayer in the healing professions.

• How We Live Our Christian Diversity: ACT is both Catholic and ecumenical, eucharistically centered and inclusive of the healing traditions of its various Christian members. Living such an identity requires of members a passion for the whole Body of Christ, in its unity and diversity, and a firm, active commitment to prayer, dialogue, repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation between members, on both a personal and faith level. This commitment leads to an intimacy of integrity between members.
  
  The pain as well as the healing of church divisions are felt in ACT. Through worshipping and praying together, and sharing their personal stories, ACT members experience the challenge of differences, as well as the healing of division, and gain a deeper appreciation of God's gifts throughout the whole Body of Christ. This appreciation is fostered in a diverse Christian fellowship. ACT's process lives in the context of the larger movements toward dialogue and unity among denominations, and draws from, as well as adds to, these movements. What ACT will become is yet to be revealed; we remain open to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Statement For Ecumenical Dialogue

In recognition of the passion of Jesus' heart for unity, "that they may all be one as you, Father, are in one and I in you" (John 17:21), and in light of St. Paul's affirmation, "there is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5), we members of the Association of Christian Therapists encourage these attitudes:

• A Readiness to believe that the other is speaking in good conscience and to approach dialogue with prayerful openness.

• A Desire to increase knowledge of one's own Christian tradition.

• An Openness to broader understanding of others and their Christian tradition. This implies: a. An Openness to refine one's understanding of the Christian tradition of the other as self understood and to experience new perspectives in a positive way. b. A Willingness to understand the Christian tradition of the other in its best light rather than in its weakness.

• An Acknowledgement of the collective churches' responsibility for their actions, both past and present, which foster and perpetuate division.

• An Emphasis on recognition of issues that create the need for solidarity, and support for movements that foster unity and healing.

• A Willingness to Approach areas of separation and disagreement with searching compassion, intelligent discussion, and an understanding and forgiving heart.

• A Constant Review of new developments and trends in ecumenism with mutual respect of documents from various Christian traditions. This could include the collected documents of the Christian Churches, the World Council of Churches, and agreed statements between denominations and those resources that provide a context for informed dialogue.

• A Daily Commitment to pray for the unity that Christ wills, "on earth as it is in heaven."

Statement of Purposes

• Support: To create environments in which health care professionals and associates can: grow spiritually; experience physical, mental, emotional, relational and spiritual healing, and; establish mutually and spiritually supportive relationships with other health care professionals and associates.

• Empower: To provide education and training in traditional and contemporary Christ-centered healing practices and in releasing the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and; To encourage and facilitate the ongoing development of leading-edge Christian healing interventions.

• Witness: To train and equip members in outreach and evangelization; To liaise, network and collaborate with individuals and organizations with similar and complementary visions and missions; To initiate, encourage and support scientific research dedicated to testing and demonstrating the holisitc benefits of Christ-centered healing methods and techniques, and; To creatively impact the field of integrative medicine with Christian spirituality.