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 Don Bisson, FMS, D. Min.
Don is a Marist Brother, on the leadership team of his province, and a retreat director, spiritual director and presenter in the area of Spirituality and Psychology. He has a Doctor of Ministry Degree from the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California.
 Donna Brunell, OP
A Dominican Sister of Hope, Donna is an experienced teacher, communicator, photographer, and crafter. Inherited from her parents, her love of handcrafting has enhanced her experience of nature and of God as Creator. Her favorite crafts are quilting and paper crafts, including rubber stamping, card crafting, and scrapbooking.
Dianne Carlson, RSM
Dianne is an experienced spiritual director, retreat director and workshop leader. Former co-director of Our Lady of Peace Retreat Center in Naragansett, Rhode Island and Our Lady of Guadalupe Retreat Center in Belize, she is presently at the New Dawn Earth Center in Cumberland, Rhode Island.
 Joan Chittister, OSB
A Benedictine sister of Erie, Pennsylvania, Joan is an international lecturer and award-winning author of more than 40 books. Her latest is The Monastery of the Heart. She writes a regular web column, "From Where I Stand," for the National Catholic Reporter and has received numerous awards and recognition for her work for justice, peace, and eaulity, especially for women in the Church and in society.
 Janet E. Corso, MA
Janet is the Director of Mariandale. A teacher of philosophy for many years, she is a spiritual director and an experienced workshop presenter. She was the founder and director of Sarabrae, Women’s
Spirituality Center.
 Gaynell Cronin, MA
Gaynell is a spiritual director, facilitator of group spiritual direction, and leader of contemplative prayer,
retreats and parish missions. Doorways to Holiness, with co-author Jack Rathschmidt, OFM Cap., Ph.D., is her most recent book.
Carol DeAngelo, SC, LMSW, M. Div.
Carol works part time as Director of Mission Integration for Cabrini of Westchester in Dobbs Ferry and part time in her "One Earth Community" ministry where she networks with others and offers mentoring, facilitation and workshops on eco-spirituality, mind body spirit healing and nonviolence. For two years, she was Coordinator of Eco-Spirituality Programs at Marydell Faith and Life Center in Nyack, NY.
Gail DeMaria, CSJP
Gail has been accompanying people as a Certified Spiritual Director since 1983. She is a Sister of St. Joseph of Peace currently serving as the Congregation Novice Director. She has also served in Formation Ministry, Associate Leadership, and Province Leadership. Gail has facilitated chapters, assemblies, new unions and leadership discernment for several religious congregations. Gail served on the National Board of the Religious Formation Conference and the National Board of the North American Conference of Associates and Religious. Gail has training in Guided Imagery and Mandalas.
Claire Cronin Dinger
Claire, wife, mother and teacher, holds Master Degrees in Art Education and Counseling. She is founder and director of Highland Clayworks and she offers ways to express spirituality through clay at the Mariandale Potter’s House.
 Elizabeth Anne DiPippo, SU
A Sister of St. Ursula, Elizabeth Anne taught college mathematics for twelve years and continues as an adjunct at SUNY New Paltz, where whe also resides. A certified spiritual director, she has presented many programs and retreats at her parish and at Linwood Spiritual Center in Rhinebeck, NY.
 Nancy Erts, OP
Nancy, Program Specialist at Mariandale, holds degrees in Education and Theology and has completed additional work in Psychology, Holistic and Eco-Spirituality. She has been involved in the ministry of adult spiritual development for over 25 years.
Barbara Fiand, SND deN
Barbara is a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur. She lectures in the U.S. and abroad on holistic spirituality, prayer, religious life, feminine spirituality, transformation of consciousness, quantum spirituality, and the psychology and spirituality of human maturation. Author of eight books, and a variety of articles and tapes, her most recent book is From Religion Back to Faith: A Journey of the Heart.
Mary Kay Flannery, SSJ, D.Min.
A Sister of St. Joseph of Philadelphia, Mary Kay is an educator, spiritual director, retreat director and workshop leader. She has a Doctor of Ministry degree in spirituality and cross-cultural ministry from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and serves her Community in a multiplicity of ministries.
 Francis Gargani, CSsR
Francis, a Redemptorist priest, is an experienced spiritual director, retreat leader, and workshop leader. He has served in a variety of ministries as parish priest, campus minister and retreat director. Presently, Francis is engaged full-time in a ministry of social justice.
 Chris Glover
Chris has been a certified yoga instructotr for almost twenty years. She has been trained in the Ashtanga, lyengar and Kripalu traditions. A former student at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, gymnast, and professional circus performer, Chris also runs the annual Circus Arts Camp in Westchester County.
 Rose Marie Harkins, OP
Rose Marie, a Dominican Sister of Hope, is co-coordinator of the “We Proclaim” Institute at Mariandale Center. A pastoral minister and preacher, she trained in spiritual direction and retreat ministry at Fordham University and at Mariandale Center.
Connie Koch, OP
Connie is a Dominican Sister of Hope and Co-Coordinator of the “We Proclaim” Institute at Mariandale. A graduate of the Aquinas Preaching Institute at St. Louis University, Connie has done youth retreats and parish missions and is a preacher, storyteller, pastoral minister and spiritual director.
Justine Lyons, RSCJ
Justine, a former co-director at of Our Lady of Peace Retreat Center in Narragansett, Rhode Island and at the Spiritual Ministry Center San Diego, California, is an experienced spiritual director, retreat director and workshop leader.
 Julia Masseo
A mother, grandmother, retired teached and creator of designer cards, Julia is a spiritual director, retreat leader and facilitator of home-based Parish Retreats.
 Janet Marchesani, OP
Janet, who is a Dominican Sister of Hope, holds degrees in Education, specializing in ministry with the hearing impaired, with whom she has worked for many years. She is a certified spiritual director and instructor of sacred dance. She has a background in classical ballet as well as sacred dance.
Nancy McAward, OP
A Dominican Sister of St. Mary of the Springs, Nancy currently ministers as a member of the Dominican Preachers of Ossining, New York. Formerly associate director of the Diocesan Spiritual Life Center of Providence, Rhode Island, her ministries have taken her to South Africa, Belize, El Salvador, Canada and through much of the US. In addition to graduate degrees in French, Theology and Social Work, Nancy is certified in pastoral counseling.
 Beth McCormick, OP
Beth, a Dominican Sister of Hope, is a spiritual director and leader of retreats and workshops. Her special interests are a spirituality of ageing and the spiritual life of preachers.
 Maria McCoy, SSJ, D. Min.
A long-time staff member of the Jesuit Retreat Center in Wernersville, Pennsylvania and the Director of the training program for spiritual directors in the Ignatian tradition, Maria is a member os the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chestnut Hill. Her doctoral project explored the interfacing of feminist scholarship with Ignatian spirituality, which she has applied and developed into numerous workshops and retreats on praying with feminine imagery for God. She is a seasoned spiritual director and program presenter.
Father Neil McGettigan, OSA
Neil has a degree of Doctor of Ministry from New York Theological Seminary. A professor of theology at Villanova University for more than twenty years, he teaches an introduction to Christianity from the Roman Catholic perspective. Thematically, his presentations focus on the different experiences of loss in life and how all loss draws us deeper into the mystery of human life and its ultimate destiny.
 Kathryn Morgan
Kathryn is a retired widow and the mother of four sons and grandmother of three. She was active in Cursillo for many uears and has geen involved in the Kairos Prison Ministr at the Beacon Correctional Facility for Women since 2000, as well as being busy with her ongoing ministry of knitting prayer shawls. She resides in Fishkill, NY.
Michael Morwood
Michael is from Australia, a former priest who received his MA at Boston College. He is an inspirational challenging speaker on the need to re-shape Christian imagination, thought and liturgical language. Michael is the author of Is Jesus God? Tomorrow's Catholic: Understanding God and Jesus in a New Millennium, and Praying a New Story.
Bevery Musgrave, Ph. D.
Beverly is an experienced spiritual director, retreat director and workshop leader. Founder of "Partners in Healinog," an out-reach ministry of trained volunteers for the grieving, Beverly is a retired Professor of Mental Health Counseling in Pastoral Counseling at Fordham University.
 Andrea Naitove
Andrea, a certified Kripalu Yoga instructor, has been immersed in the practice of yoga for 16 years. A teacher in several New York yoga studios, schools, and corporate settings, she believes in bringing the benefits of yoga to all people.
 Carol Otto
Carol Otto is a lay woman, engaged in the ministry of spiritual direction, directed retreats and is a workshop presenter. She has a bachelor’s degree in pastoral counseling and teaches in the Catechist Formation Program of the Archdiocese of New York. Carol is a graduate of “We Proclaim: Ministry of the Word Institute.”
Nancy Pluta
A spiritual director for twenty-seven years, Nancy is a wife, mother and grandmother, Reiki master and bereavement counselor. Nancy is active in Women's Spirituality and Justice and Peace Ministries in her home parish of Sacred Heart, Bayside, Queens.
Jan Phillips
Jan is a writer, photographer and multi-media artist. She is the author of The Art of Original Thinking-The Making of a Thought Leader Divining the Body; God Is at Eye Level - Photography as a Healing Art; Marry Your Muse; Making Peace and A Waist is a Terrible Thing to Mind. She has taught in over 23 countries and conducts workshops nationally in creativity, consciousness, and spirituality. Her photographs have been exhibited widely, nationally in several international venues. She is a co-founder of Syracuse Cultural Workers, publishers and distributors of artwork for social justice, peace and global communion.
 Amy Prisco-Ring
Amy Prisco-Ring has been teaching yoga to children and adults for 3 years. Many yoga poses remind us of our connection to the earth; as a teacher, she explores the idea of our connection to our breath as a way of balancing the mind and body, leading us to soften our global footprint. Amy is assisting in the creation of a local food co-op in Orange County, where she has lived for six years in New Windsor with her husband and two daughters.
Eleanor Ramos
Eleanor holds a MS in Gerontology from the College of New Rochelle and is trained in bio-spiritual focusing. She is the Executive Director of tahe New York Citizens Committee on Aging, and advocacy organization for aging issues. Formerly Director of Ministry to Seniors for Catholic Charities of NY, she oversaw the development of six models of parish for the Elderly, including outreach to the homebound, senior spirituality groups, andcaregiver support.
 Jack Rathschmidt, OFM Cap.
Rev. Jack Rathschmidt, Ph.D., a Capuchin Franciscan Friar, is Director of Post Novitiate Formation for the Capuchin Franciscan Friars of New York/New England. Writer, teacher, and spiritual director, he is vitally interested in empowering lay people in the church.
Andrea Raynor
A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Andrea is a United Methodist minister and hospice chaplain. As chaplain to the morgue at Ground Zero after 9/11, she bacame sensitive to the phenomenon of compassion fatigue. Author of The Voice that Calls You Home, she has lectured throught the metropolitan area and has appeared on public radio and television.
 Linda Rivers, OP
Linda Rivers is a Dominican Sister of Hope. She is active in Music Ministry and is currently the Registrar at Mariandale.
 Judy Schiavo, MA
Judy holds an MA in Secondary Education from Seton Hall University and an MS in Religious Education with a concentration in Spirituality and Spiritual Direction from Fordham University. After retiring from 43 years in both Catholic and public education, Judy is now a full-time spiritual director and retreat director.
Mary Schneiders, OP
A Dominican Sister of Hope, Mary is a full-time staff member of the Berakah Renewal Center for Women in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, doing spiritual direction and teaching courses in scripture, women's spirituality, theology and Christology. She has a MA in Religious Studies from Providence College and a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from The Catholic University of America.
 Lucianne Siers, OP
Lucianne is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Currently she is the Director of the Partnership for Global Justice, which is a network of religious congregations serving as an NGO at the United Nations. She is also a sculptor working in stone.
 Anne L. Simmonds, D. Min.
Anne is an ordained United Church of Canada minister who offers spiritual direction and couseling, workshops and retreats. She is adjunct faculty at Emmanuel (Theological) College, University of Toronto, where she teaches in the areas of grief, death and dying and prayer. As a facilitator, Anne draws on her extensive experience in congregational ministry, hospital chaplaincy and nursing.
 Maureen Sullivan, OP
A recent recipient of the prestigious Sapientia et Doctrina award from Fordham University's Graduate School of Religion and Religious Studies, Maureen is a Dominican Sister of Hope. She is a Professor of Theology at St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH. In addition, Maureen has also given numerous presentations to Catholic school teachers, parish groups and catechists, and at diocesan religious education conferences. A scholar and expert on the Second Vatican Council, she has written two important works: 101 Questions and Answers on Vatican II and The Road to Vatican II: Key Changes in Theology, both published by Paulist Press.
Veronica Tizio
A member of the International Enneaagram Association, and a student of it for over twenty years, Veronica used her expertise in her work with students, parents and teachers as a school psychologist. She holds certificates from the Brooklyn Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, an MS in Psychology in Education from Columbia College Teachers College and a Masters in School Psychology from Brookly College. Now retired, she continues to attend Enneagram conferences and workshops.
Christian Ulrich
Chris is a licensed social worker with 30 years of experience in healthcare, primarily in oncology and end-of-life settings. She has co-authored an artical on nursing burnout, and developed and offered staff and patient stress reduction programs in hospitals, hospices and also for the American Cancer Society. She has taught, was well as practices, contemplative practices for many years.
Patricia Werner
Patricia learned to sew in 1965 at St. Joseph’s Mission in Texas where she also taught migrant Mexican women how to turn simple scraps of fabric into beautiful garments for children. Patricia began quilting in 1998. |
