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Father Nicholas Terico
Major : Certificate of Advanced Study in Spiritual Direction Supervision
Undergraduate Degree : BA French, LaSalle University
Graduate Degree : MS French, Villanova University
Hometown : Paoli, PA
Employment : Spiritual Director, Daylesford Abbey
Fr. Nick Terico’s journey to becoming a graduate student in the spiritual direction supervision program at Neumann College has been long and fraught with some earnest denial and quite a few career reincarnations. Provided with several God-given talents, Terico fell into assorted careers--French teacher, medical association administrator, and restaurateur—that seemed right at the time. He ignored the nagging suspicion that he should be pursuing a religious vocation, an idea that first surfaced during his elementary school days and persisted throughout his life. Thirty years later, after he finally answered God’s call and was ordained a Catholic Norbertine priest, he is a firm believer that, “It’s never too late to improve and grow.”
Certain now that he has found his calling and a personally satisfying career as well, Terico is continuing his journey and growth process prodded by the needs of parishioners from a former VA parish.
While a parish deacon, he was continually approached by people wanting to talk about their spiritual relationship with God. “I interpreted their turning to me for spiritual direction as God’s invitation to be doing this on an ongoing basis. I realized I needed to find out what in God’s name I was doing,” he says.
This time when God called, Terico answered by enrolling in a certificate program in spiritual direction at the Jesuit Center of Spiritual Growth in Wernersville, PA. He eventually became very involved with peer supervision for his own needs. He began to notice that other spiritual directors sought his assistance in processing questions they had with their spiritual direction clients. Attracted by this ministry, he enrolled in the spiritual direction program at Neumann College. Today, in addition to his work as a spiritual director, he assists the lay pastoral Stephen Ministry Program at Daylesford Abbey as peer group coordinator.
The Neumann College certificate program is providing him with tools to use in his current ministry for Daylesford’s Spirituality Center. “The material we cover and the level at which we study it is very helpful. It’s a very contemplative and reflective program that is very connected to the actual work we do every day,” he says.
Father Terico is quite “impressed” by the faculty’s background and expertise, and the diversity of the people in the program. “The faculty’s dedication to their own spiritual lives is inspirational. There is an atmosphere of real care and concern, creating an environment in which people learn spirituality not just as an intellectual pursuit, but as an effective, emotional one. We need to pay attention to how God is drawing us not only through our minds, but through our passions and what we are naturally drawn to” he says.
Terico proffers this advice for anyone contemplating a career change or pursuing an advanced degree, “Pay attention to that little suspicion that you may want to do something. It could be the something for which your life was meant.”
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