Over four hundred years ago, Ignatius of Loyola underwent a process of conversion that changed the course of his life. This account of his experiences and plan for sharing them with others became known as the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, or the Extended Ignatian Exercises (EIE). Since that time, the Ignatian Exercises have been a source of transformative encounter with Christ.

Susan Stabile and Dan Johnson will lead this course designed for spiritual directors who have themselves made the Spiritual Exercises and now want to learn how to lead others through the EIE. The course is also useful for spiritual directors who are already leading people through the Exercises and would like to deepen their understanding of the EIE’s dynamics.

To be eligible to take the course, students must have made the Spiritual Exercises in their full form (the 30-day retreat or the Extended Ignatian Exercises over at least 32 weeks) and have been providing spiritual direction to others for at least one year.

To be certified by Sacred Ground to direct others in the EIE, one must take this course and direct at least two people in the EIE under Sacred Ground supervision.

The course will be offered on 8 Wednesday evenings from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. beginning January 29, 2025 through March 26, 2025. There will be no class on Ash Wednesday, March 5.
(1/29, 2/5, 2/12, 2/19, 2/26, 3/12, 3/19, 3/26).

The course will meet at Loyola Spirituality Center at 389 N. Oxford Street in St. Paul, MN. However, out of town students may participate online by zoom.

Please register by Dec. 10, 2024.

Cost for the program is $480 for the 16 hours. Payment may be made online or by check. If paying by check, please mail it to Sacred Ground, 1890 Randolph Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105

Susan Stabile is an experienced spiritual director and retreat director trained in the Ignatian tradition, who offers retreats and other programs of spiritual formation in parishes, retreat houses and other venues around the country. She teaches in the second year of Sacred Ground’s program for the training of spiritual directors and also trains people to direct the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. She is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the University of St. Thomas School of Law and an adjunct Instructor in Theology at St. Catherine’s University, where she co-directs a Lilly Grant secured by that university to bring contemplative practices to congregations and parishes. Susan previously served as Director of the University of St. Thomas’s Office for Spirituality, and is the author of numerous publications, including Growing in Love and Wisdom (Oxford University Press 2013).

Dan Johnson has practiced spiritual direction for over 25 years and is the Managing Director at Loyola Spirituality Center. Dan was introduced to Ignatian Spirituality early on in that practice and has since gone on to study its application in spiritual direction at Creighton University in Omaha. Through the years, Dan’s practice as a spiritual director has been bi-vocational. Early on he worked in construction management during the week and would do direction in the evenings and on weekends. Dan has been an instructor and group facilitator for the spiritual direction training program at Christos Center for Spiritual Formation, where he also served four years as executive director.