The Franciscan Spirituality Center has trained spiritual directors on staff who are available to listen deeply, compassionately and without judgment as you share your sacred stories. Your spiritual director will be a patient, trusted guide as you explore your own spiritual path and discover your inner wisdom. Spiritual direction takes place in a welcoming, peaceful setting, and what you choose to share is held with reverence and confidentiality.
Spiritual direction explores God’s presence in the ordinary activities of daily life. It is available to people of all faith backgrounds and those who identify as “nones”— spiritual but not religious. Meeting with a spiritual director does not obligate you to a certain number of sessions. Your needs and your schedule determine how often you meet. We invite you to contact one of our spiritual directors to learn more. Please click here for a video introduction.
Sister Cathie believes that each person is infinitely valuable and spiritually connected with all beings. She also believes that God (by any name) is intimately involved in our lives, not controlling them but “with us,” loving us, inviting us into a relationship with Godself, even when we do not experience it. She finds that spiritual direction helps us look at and listen to our lives and find meaning, direction and a deepening relationship the Creator, self and others. Her poetic spiritual direction definition is: Spiritual direction is listening with another person to God’s heartbeat in his/her life and supporting that person in listening, understanding and responding to its rhythms and invitations. In addition to being a spiritual director, Sister Cathie is also trained as a grief recovery specialist. She enjoys helping people learn how to understand their night dreams. She has had extensive experience working with people who have been abused, without a home or incarcerated. She is available for listening to 5th Steps, and to offer spiritual direction, retreats and grief work. She holds precious each person and the trust they extend in sacred sharing.
To be alive is to be on a spiritual quest. Sister Sarah Hennessey seeks to journey with people wherever they are on that quest and to find the holy in the ordinary. The Sacred is involved in every aspect of our life, and that is exactly what spiritual direction is about. Sarah lives out a theology of accompaniment, staying at the table with people whatever their journey may bring. In her own life, spiritual direction has helped open the way to staying grounded in the storms of life and finding light in the darkness. She especially values longer retreats and a life imbued with Franciscan values.
More than 20 years ago, Karna was a Lutheran pastor, fresh out of seminary when she met Sister Monica – a spiritual director who listened in love, asked thoughtful questions and prayed with her. Together, they explored the joys, challenges, and sorrows life brings in conversation, silence and prayer. There was a sense of resiliency and hope that came to light in this sacred time together. Many years later, Karna felt a calling to walk with people in a similar way and received training as a spiritual director. She has found it an honor and joy to walk alongside people as they explore their own stories and questions. Karna has a background in both individual and group direction. She has led retreats for congregations, at the Franciscan Spirituality Center, at Holden Village [Chelan, Washington], and Koinonia [Highland Lake, New York]. She serves as a coach for Faith+Lead at Luther Seminary and is grateful for the lens of Family Systems Theory, wellness and resiliency training, and the work of Brené Brown.
Steve Spilde served as a pastor in the Lutheran Church (ELCA) and then spent several years caring for his special-needs daughter. He became a spiritual director because he enjoys helping people through life transitions, either individually or by working in groups. Steve has led programs on the subjects of self-acceptance, self-care, parenting, the Serenity Prayer, the Enneagram, grief and shame. He also has developed retreats around golf and the experience of walking and pilgrimage. Saints Francis and Clare have made a deep impression on him, especially during his pilgrimage to Assisi in 2015. One of his favorite Bible stories is the baptism of Jesus. “It is a model for us all,” he says. “We can do great things once we have heard this message clearly: ‘You are my beloved. With you, I am well pleased.’ ”
