I have always been a spiritual seeker rooted in the Catholic Christian tradition. My early educational experiences introduced me to imaginative prayer, praying with scripture, and Ignatian spirituality.
As a member of the California Province of the Jesuits for fifteen years, I completed the Spiritual Exercises in a 30-day silent retreat, during annual 8-day silent retreats, and in two 9-month "19th annotation" retreats.
I ministered as a Catholic school educator and administrator in California, Arizona, and New York. I taught English, theology, ethics, drama, philosophy, and psychology. I also led retreats, provided adult faith formation, and led international study tours to 28 countries in Europe, Asia, and Central America - experiences which provided the foundation for ministering in multicultural and multilingual settings.
In addition to ministering as an Ignatian educator, I served as a hospital chaplain and directed spiritual care departments at hospitals in Washington and California. I provided pastoral care and grief support to patients, loved ones, staff, leaders, and volunteers as a board-certified chaplain and clinical ethicist.
In addition to providing spiritual direction, I currently minister in the Archdiocese of Seattle as pastoral assistant for liturgy, outreach, and adult faith formation with a vibrant, growing, synodal parish cluster of over 1000 families. I coordinate liturgical ministries, facilitate parish, school, and community retreats, provide pastoral care and counseling, and lead adult faith formation groups, including grief support groups, RCIA/OCIA classes, faith-sharing groups, JustFaith modules, and the like.
Over the years, I have accompanied individuals as a spiritual director on retreats, in workplaces, in prison, and in the community. My training and experience have helped me embody these key skills as a spiritual director:
- Living with authenticity - exploring deep truths, connecting with the Sacred Other, being inclusive and inviting of others, and building bridges rather than walls especially with marginalized and disenfranchised persons;
- Listening deeply - being reflective, patient, noticing, wondering, clarifying, probing, and disclosing;
- Directee focused - maintaining a posture of reverence for the directee and the sacred relationship of spiritual accompaniment, and honoring confidentiality;
- Maintaining my own spiritual practices - including prayer and contemplation, mindfulness mediation, connection with sacred communities, familiarity with personal gifts, limitations, and wounds, and regular engagement with my own spiritual director;
- Honoring healthy interpersonal boundaries - acknowledging assumptions and biases, knowing when to make appropriate referrals, and recognizing when I am getting in the way of the Holy Spirit's action/grace for the directee;
- Ongoing learning - seeking insights from other wise people and traditions, including the study of various faiths, sacred texts, and exemplars of faith, participating in ongoing training, and engaging with a spiritual directors supervision group.
Holistic healing of body, mind, spirit, and relationships informs my approach. I have an affinity with LGBTQ affirming theology and spirituality, Twelve-Step spirituality, some Buddhist and Daoist practices, and Franciscan spirituality by way of Richard Rohr.
